Gilbert: Indigenous People, What About Them...?

Back in December, Friday of the second week of the COP 21, Jill, Greg, Prakriti and I spent the day waiting for the announcement that an agreement had been reached. Everyone was going to adopt the Paris

http://www.triplepundit.com/2015/12/cop21-paris-agreement-art-possible/

Agreement. But when I say everyone, does it really mean everyone?

Number of countries in the world:195 (Sorry Taiwan)
Number of parties represented (COP21):195           
                                                  Difference =  0

But what's wrong with my math there? I'm saying that there were 195 countries in the world and all 195 of them were represented at COP21. Who wasn't accounted for?

The indigenous people that aren't a part of a country. The definition of an indigenous person is someone who has a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory, and their cultural or historical distinctiveness from other populations that are often politically dominant. (1) Now under this definition people such as Native Americans on a reservation are included, and while they are definitely affected by climate change (everyone is), those who live in a non-developed region are not taken care of at all. 

If you're wondering if they were mentioned at all in the Paris agreement click here to learn more.

Many indigenous people are taking a stand and spreading the awareness of exactly how large the impact of climate change is to their people. A few of us were lucky enough to meet Kisilu, a farmer from Kenya. He has documented the effects of climate change with a video camera and you can watch his documentary  "Climate Change Diaries" and read more here.

Sources:

1. ​http://www.indigenouspeople.net
2. https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/annexed-rights-indigenous-peoples-un-climate-change-conference-2015
   
3. http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/witness/2015/12/kisilu-climate-diaries-151202130224609.html