TakingITGlobal

Indigenous Land Rights and Forest Management Our Earth is a planet of water. About 70% of the Earth's surface is covered with water. Land compro- mises the remaing portion, and of that, only a third is forested land, an incredibly small fraction to support a planet's worth of demand. ere is no question regarding the urgency which must be placed in restoring and protecting this vital resource. We have a duty to preserve the world's vast ecological diversity and ensure future generations have the ability to learn, adapt, and prosper. In order to ad- dress this urgent issue, we are calling for: • Enact regulations designed to protect and involve indigenous peoples' ideas, beliefs, and rights to climate change decision-making. • Establish and protect national parks, through creating and enforcing laws designed for these areas. • Create foundations and programs that maintain forest areas and reclaim abandoned urban sites. www.decarbonize.me Every effort must be made to include the Indigenous peoples in the development of regulations and systems put forward by governments and NGO's. As the orginal, and , in many cases, prsent legal authority over the land, countries are bound to develop these ideas further and ensure indigenous peoples have a voice in the battle against climage change. Further to this, we have an obliga- tion to safeguard Indigenous people's basic rights as human beings and protect the lands and waters all living things share - rising to the challenges presented by the illegal mining and deforestation on indigenous land already prominent in such coun- tries as Brazil, Canada, and the Philippines. Rec- ognizing the right of indigenous peoples to par- ticipate in policy development will not only give light to a voice that has been actively suppressed, but will also provide a means of extending the monitoring of forested lands. rough this model of respectful collaboration, countries with a more restricted capacity may have a greater ability to address the environmental challenges they face. "Every state should care and be held responsible for climate change issues. No exceptions; no nation le behind" Affiliate High School of Chung-Hsing University - Taichung City, Taiwan

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