The 32,000 indigenous Kuna on the San Blas archipelago off of Panama´s Caribbean coast will be forced to abandon their communities for the mainland as the rising sea level destroys their lands.
The Kuna General Congress, the indigenous people´s highest administrative body, has drawn up a plan to begin moving communities this year.
The entire relocation will take between five and six years and includes a pilot program to move two communities within the next few months, according to reports.
“We should take the initiative,” said Ariel González, the Congress´ secretary, adding that they cannot wait for the government to act. “What we want to avoid is doing it without planning, en masse and in a disorderly fashion.”
González blamed the sea water levels on climate change.
“If we didn´t cause climate change, if we didn´t burn large quantities of coal and oil, why do we have to move, change our way of life? Who is responsible?,” he asked.
During the first Indigenous Peoples Initiative on Biocultural Evaluation of Climate Change, held in the Kuna village of Ustupu in April, participants from countries from Ethiopia to Ecuador to the United States discussed the Kuna´s predicament.
“The idea is that these communities, by doing their evaluations in a participatory manner, with their experience and traditional knowledge, help determine what would be the best way to adapt to the climate conditions that are changing,” said an indigenous Peruvian Quechua, Alejandro Argumedo, who coordinated the summit. Source:Latinamerica Press.
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