ADMINISTRATOR POWER: Thank you, Secretary Haaland. To share this moment with you, the first Native American Cabinet Secretary in United States history—it is such an honor.
Now, Secretary Haaland hasn’t mentioned this, but I gather that every now and then for inspiration and affirmation she looks at a photo from 1948. The photo, in black and white, depicts George Gillette, chairman of a North Dakotan tribal council, standing beside the U.S. Secretary of Interior Julius Krug as Krug signed the 1948 Garrison Dam agreement, through which the tribe sold 155,000 acres of its most fertile ancestral land to the federal government so the government could build a dam. This dam, Gillette must have known, would flood his tribe’s richest ancestral land.
In the photo, Gillette—of the Mandan, Hidatsa & Arikara nation—is standing above Krug who is happily signing the agreement. Gillette is not in traditional garb; he is wearing a pinstripe suit and tie. And the picture captures him taking off his glasses and…weeping into his hand. As Krug and the government assume control over 155,000 acres of this tribal land, and Gillette watches it happen, all he can do is cry.
How many times has this scene played itself out around the world? How many times has this story been written, and these pacts been made, more often in blood than in ink? How much more could the rest of us have done to preserve the lands than indigenous communities had toiled and nurtured and loved over countless generations?
We are here at COP-26 to talk about climate change, but we cannot talk about climate change without talking about justice and injustice. And we cannot talk about justice and injustice without transforming the way we engage with Indigenous communities, without acknowledging the history that has brought us to this existential planetary crisis, without seeing all that we have to learn from people who have cared for their land in a way that the rest of us too often have not. At this COP, adaptation is finally getting the attention it deserves. And equity, too, is a topic of conversation in a way it hasn’t been in the past. But this is not just a moral imperative; it is also 100% in our collective interest. Because the truth is we can’t meet a single one of our objectives if we do not learn from those who are light years ahead of us in practicing nature-based conservation. Or, as they would likely put it, in simply respecting nature.
Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities globally who rely on the environment for their livelihoods, for sustenance, and healing have been adapting for decades. Indigenous Peoples own and manage about a quarter of the Earth’s lands, and their territories intersect with 40 percent of land-based Protected Areas.
Proof that indigenous and local populations are effective stewards of critical ecosystems is clear: On lands Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities legally control, deforestation rates are lower and the amount of stored carbon is higher than on neighboring lands and forest areas. And, a quarter of the world’s above ground carbon is stored in tropical forests on land managed by Indigenous Peoples. But despite that, we have not actually looked to the knowledge and understanding of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities in the fight against climate change.
Despite having Indigenous populations in mind when we work with partner governments, too often we impose ideas rather than source them; we see local communities as beneficiaries of our programs instead of leaders with the capacity to develop and implement their climate-smart solutions.
At USAID, we have made some strides in recent years to bring Indigenous communities into the center of our environmental programming, honoring their need to make a sustainable living, while following their lead in conservation. In Peru, we’ve worked with seven Indigenous communities in the Amazon and a local NGO to form a Forest Alliance that helps local peoples earn a living while restoring their environment. Last year, when COVID-19 reduced law enforcement presence in the Amazon dramatically, the world witnessed a rise in illegal incursions and logging. At the same time, traditional market links were broken making it harder for these local Indigenous groups to sell goods and earn a living.
So we formed a cooperative with Indigenous women who use traditional methods to make artifacts and handicrafts, and we have helped them get these items to market. At the same time we enlisted these same Indigenous communities in the monitoring of land deforestation and degradation, and connected them with regional and local authorities to report illegal activity. In Madagascar, we’ve taken similar steps, helping forest communities grow and sell spices like vanilla that thrive under thick forest cover, so they can earn a living while restoring their local forests. These efforts are important, but we must do more to make sure climate protection happens in partnership with Indigenous communities.
And today, beside Secretary Haaland, I’m pleased to announce USAID’s new Global Action for Climate Equity Initiative. This is a commitment to work with at least 40 countries by 2030 to increase engagement, leadership, and benefits for those who are on the front lines of the climate crisis; those who have had the least to do with causing it—Indigenous Peoples, local communities, women, and youth.
Instead of designing programs for these communities—or worse yet, around them—they will be core partners of work under USAID’s new Climate Strategy and in fulfillment of the pledge we made earlier this week to better protect, restore, and manage 100 million hectares of land—an area twice the size of California—by 2030.
And we look forward to working with all of you to make that happen.
Thank you.