Review and Reflect
Prospective Involvement of Indigenous Communities in Carbon Farming within the Framework of Malaysia's Net Zero Ambition View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Evgeny Guglyuvatyy
Malaysia enjoys several natural advantages that position it favourably to attain net-zero emissions. Among these advantages is its abundant carbon sinks, primarily the natural forests that play a pivotal role by sequestering approximately three-quarters of the country's total carbon dioxide emissions. Nevertheless, several challenges impede the effective protection of forests in Malaysia. This paper provides an evaluation of the current state of forest protection in Malaysia, focusing on major obstacles hindering effective conservation. It examines regulatory gaps pertaining to forest protection and addresses regulatory issues related to land use change, as well as the protection of indigenous people's land rights. The discussion advocates for the strengthening of legislation governing the conversion of forest for alternative land use, with a promotion of carbon credit production as a sustainable alternative that preserves forest integrity. It is argued that these measures could contribute to Malaysia's goals of conserving and protecting forest cover. Recognizing the intricacies of Malaysia's demographic and political landscape, the study emphasizes the need for legal reforms concerning forest-dependent communities, as well as their active involvement in carbon activities, to adequately safeguard the livelihoods and rights of these communities and further advance forest protection.
Featured Ethics of life for Inclusive Conservation - Amazonas, Atrato and Cauca cases: An Integration for the Development of More Inclusive Strategies for Adaptation to Climate Change by Organizations and Decision-makers
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Daniel Felipe Marín Vanegas
Climate change is a wicked problem that societies are facing. Several organizations at a global level are driving their purposes to transform their practices into strategies that foster capacity building for adaptation to climate change. Change agents leading transformations in ecosystems and technosystems are crucial in this multidimensional and complex context. Transformations expected in human technological systems (such as transportation and energy sectors) must include climate justice that stops these inequalities. One way to address the vulnerability of affected societies is the inclusion of ethical dimensions of human rights and of the rest of nature in the adaptation strategies implemented by communities and states. Such ethics, integrating the rights of nature and life with humans, allow us to move from the predominant anthropocentric paradigm towards an ecocentric and even a biocentric one (an ethics centered on life). This approach focuses on all levels of life and its change agents (individuals, communities, organizations, etc.) so that socio-ecological systems are articulated with technological systems to achieve what Ostrom called "a governance of the commons". By integrating biocentric ethics in climate justice, this proposal shows the influences of ethics of life in expanding decision-makers' discourse to formulate adaptation strategies that foster systemic protection of life. A judgment from Atrato and real cases from field trips in Amazonas and Cauca, that address conservation from more inclusive ethics, are exposed, demonstrating the potential of a new ethical paradigm for climate conflict resolution generated in the Anthropocene era.
Featured Environmental Factors Influencing Suicide - Itaporã Indigenous Reserve (Dourados, Brazil): A Comparative Analysis of Climate-related Health Determinants and Health Endpoints View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Pedro Diaz Peralta, Claudia Ribeiro Pereira Nunes
Environmental pressure could be linked with the dramatically increased of the number of suicides in the Guarani ethnical groups living in the suburban areas of Dourados where recurring nutritional and mental disorders were found in the at-risk population. Although periodic population surveys have been carried out in Brazil since the 1970s, no specific tracking has been recorded of those indicators that affect indigenous populations other than a few limited regional studies. In any event, the increase of adverse health indicators associated with environmental stress as diarrhea or pneumonia, the emergence of nutritional disorders and the high prevalence of suicide rates have been identified as common trends by independent studies. The purpose of this analysis is to evaluate the impact of environmental factors, traffic-related pollution and relevant health determinants in populations living in a suburban and nearby urban environment such as the Guarani-Kaiowá community of Dourados-Mato Grosso do Sul- Brazil. A qualitative document analysis based on the synthesis of existing literature has been complemented with the critical review of relevant outcomes of health surveys on health determinants. The opening of highway MS-156, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil has further worsened the health status and chronic health problems of the indigenous population of Itaporã reserve, which this road has split in two. The traffic-related air & noise pollution exacerbates the existing health problems impacting the health status of the Guarani-Kaiowá community, including mental health. A progressive increase in suicide cases has been observed. This is a global trend affecting indigenous communities worldwide
