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Ghana: Indigenous responses to climate change.

Environment   Oct 12, 2017 by Maame Adwoa Adom Ocran

Majority of the elders in my community lack the knowledge on climate change as according to the survey, they attributed it to God or gave an ‘out of this world’ definition. They also believed that it was the job of an environmentalist to reduce the rate of climate change.

My country, Ghana, has majority of its elders uneducated so it is thought highly of them to have such a perspective.

Climate change, according to their answers, is the doing of the Lord and have little to do with the activities of humans.

  • How is this representation of climate change similar to the other things you’ve read/viewed? How is different?

This representation of climate change depicts the same but deeper information compared to other videos, pictures or talks on climate change. What I found different was the representation of the major involvement of carbon dioxide molecules in climate change. In other videos I have seen, they are merely mentioned. The representation opens the eyes of the watcher ie the watcher is able to visualize the heavy impact what we are doing.

  • Where do you see the influence of Indigenous peoples in this video? Where is it missing?

I notice the acknowledgement of their rights where they are allowed to keep their land and other resources. The point at which the possibility of the close down of forests showcases the UNDIP article 8 where the people’s right the force to let them join a religion.

  • What solutions to climate change does this video propose?

Creating an agreement in contract form with the developing countries such as mine to prevent them from cutting their forests down. And due to the cost of maintaining and reforestation, the factories have to pay reparations in the form of maintaining the trees.

  • Do you agree with the representation of Indigenous peoples and climate change action in the video? Why or why not?

I believe the animations encouraged me to watch the video, pertaining to the fact that a variety of colors as well as mood music attracts me. However, the problem is the length of the video. I must agree that all information of the video is highly important but how about we break it into a form a series, with each episodes ending in a format that make watchers hungry for more information.

I honestly applaud the valid and almost ditto representation of the indigenous people as I barely knew that they existed

  • What are the opportunities and challenges in taking seriously Indigenous perspectives of climate change? Consider factors that facilitate or hinder ethical responses to climate change, including social and economic inequities, political dynamics, marginalization, discrimination, state, military/police power, etc.

The problem is we may not be able to accomplish some of the goals of REDD+. This is because at some point, they might request the unbelievable when they realize their importance. This is less likely to happen but however it must be finalized with their gains from this. An example, with the part of the REDD+ contract that stated that the places of the people would be improved and made suitable for living. The people at some point would always present their personal problems as well as unnecessary maintenance issues such as the peeling of the paint on their walls and other petty stuff as the wall would not be peeling off in the first place due to their never painted walls.

However I believe it is very important to put these people into consideration as it is their habitat. They are different from us and may not understand things the way we do. The indigenous people have, according to the United Nations Declaration to Indigenous people (UNDIP), the right to know about any activity that involves and approve of such. Therefore one opportunity I can decipher is the reduction in the likelihood of the proposal to be not accepted or debatable by opponents like factory owners. 


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