Proponents of action on climate change typically advocate such steps as converting to clean energy, encouraging compact development patterns and producing low-carbon materials and foods. Vicky Tauli-Corpuz, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, shares the growing view that such steps must also include respecting the rights of indigenous communities to collective land tenure and forest management. Tauli-Corpuz is a social-development consultant, indigenous activist and member of the Igorot, one of several Austronesian ethnic groups in the Philippines. Under the Ferdinand Marcos regime, she helped organize indigenous communities in their fight against the Chico River hydroelectric dam and a logging company, Cellophil, whose operations threatened the livelihoods of tribal communities. She was chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues during 2005-10. EcoAméricas correspondent Louisa Reynolds spoke with Tauli-Corpuz recently in Honduras. [Log in to read more]

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