By Ndatenda Njanike (Press and Communications Officer)
THE United Nation (UN) This Monday declared its commitment to protect the rights of Indigenous people all over the world as they are the ones most vulnerable to the Climate crisis.
, UN Secretary-General António Guterres in his address at the opening of the 2023 session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) paid particular attention to the ways that indigenous peoples are denied their human rights, and saluted them for the pioneering role they play in efforts to protect nature and preserve biodiversity.
“Indigenous peoples “hold many of the solutions to the climate crisis and are guardians of the world’s biodiversity,” in places as varied as the Amazon, the Sahel, and the Himalayas,
“The United Nations is committed to keep promoting the rights of Indigenous Peoples in policies and programming at all levels and amplifying your voices,”
“Let us learn from and embrace the experiences of indigenous peoples. “called the UN Chief.
Indigenous people struggle to adapt to the climate crisis, and face the exploitation of their resource-rich territories, eviction from their ancestral lands, and physical attacks.
Zimbabwe has had a series of evictions of ordinary people of the land they have possessed for centuries and evicted from their ancestral homes for the sake of what they call economic revival projects.
Forced displacement without compensation, or forced evictions, violate section 74 of our Constitution.