This year's United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues focused on listening to Indigenous youth's interests and concerns.
The young leaders from across the globe expressed a wide array of concerns, from the dual vulnerabilities of Indigenous and LGBTQ+ communities in Greenland due to climate change to struggles for self-determination exacerbated by external political pressures and environmental concerns.
Key quote:
“When we listen to the land, the land will listen to us. It’s a language. Climate change is creating a language barrier.”
— Jakirah Telfer, representative of the Kaurna peoples in Australia.
Why this matters:
Many indigenous communities rely on natural resources for their livelihoods—such as hunting, fishing and agriculture. Changes in climate patterns can lead to resource scarcity, affect food security and disrupt traditional economic activities.
A network of young volunteers that translates climate information into dozens of languages is being boosted by new artificial intelligence tools designed by Google.
Climate crisis could be the ‘nail in the coffin’ for half of languages spoken by the end of the century, say linguists, as coastal communities are forced to migrate.
New and borrowed words from the worlds of art, academia and activism can help us to better “imagine how to adapt and flourish” amid the challenges of the climate crisis.
Climate change is causing more extreme weather than ever, but Spanish-speaking U.S. residents don’t always understand weather warnings because of language barriers.
