Africa’s Indigenous Peoples and Their Special Role in Adapting to Climate Change'

Our friends at Gaia have a packed events schedule this year with some amazing guest speakers. Here are details of a great talk coming up on 10th April 2008:

You are invited to a special evening on 'Africa’s Indigenous Peoples: Their Special Role in Adapting to Climate Change' with Dr. Nigel Crawhall, Director of the Secretariat for the Indigenous Peoples of Africa Coordinating Committee (IPACC). Please find a flyer with directions attached.

Thursday, 10th April 2008

6.30pm Drinks and buffet at Gaia House (18 Well Walk, London, NW3 1LD)

7.30pm Talk and discussion at Burgh House (Opposite Gaia House, New End Square, London NW3)

Nearest tube, Hampstead, Northern Line.

Africa’s indigenous peoples have been pushed ever further into marginal lands over the centuries. But over the last decade they have been linking up into what is becoming a movement of the indigenous peoples of Africa. They are engaged in struggles to protect the last remaining intact forests and other fragile ecosystems, which they have guarded despite external pressures. They have also been participating in United Nations initiatives to recognise the rights of indigenous peoples, challenging the dominant view that development is rooted in industrial agriculture, which, inevitably involves capital-intensive extraction of the Earth’s precious resources.

Dr. Nigel Crawhall will explain how they are helping to create new spaces for dialogue around the relationship between cultural and biological diversity. He will show how the vast and diverse pool of Africa’s cultural knowledge, practices and languages play an essential role in reviving Africa’s biodiversity. Recognising Africa’s rich knowledge and cultural heritage is a vital dimension for any strategy dealing with the challenge of increasing climate instability.

For more information or to book a place, please contact Sarah Nicholl on sarahn@gaianet.org or 02074280055.

A contribution of £10 will be appreciated

Dr. Nigel Crawhall is Director of the Secretariat for the Indigenous Peoples of Africa Coordinating Committee (IPACC), a network of 120 indigenous peoples’ organisations covering 20 African countries. He is currently Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Social Anthropology at the University of Tromso, Norway. Nigel has an MPhil in Linguistics from the University of Zimbabwe and a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Cape Town, South Africa.