Indigenous Peoples Global Summit on Climate Change 

Anchorage, Alaska

  April 20-24, 2009

Indigenous Peoples ended their first Global Conference on Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples in Anchorage Alaska on Friday April 24, with a strong call for “…an immediate end to the destruction and desecration of the elements of life” that is being caused by climate change”.

The call is contained in a hard-hitting, 4 page, Anchorage Declaration which was adopted by about 450 Indigenous Peoples from 80 countries who gathered in Alaska between April 20-24, 2009.

Asserting their belief that Mother Earth “… is no longer in a period of climate change but climate crisis” Indigenous Peoples demanded that there be “…decreasing dependence on fossil fuels and a just transition to decentralized renewable energy economies, sources and systems owned by local communities to achieve energy security and sovereignty”.

Director of the OAS Department of Sustainable Development, Cletus I Springer, who served on the Planning Committee for the Conference and who facilitated one of the Conference’s Thematic Sessions, hailed the conference as an unqualified success.

“It was no surprise to me that the participants at the Conference displayed such keen awareness of climate change impacts because after all, they are the ones who live closest to nature; but I was deeply moved by the passionate and forthright manner in which they expressed their alarm and concern over the effects of climate change on their way of life”.

The highlight of the conference was the ceremonial signing of the Alaska Declaration in the presence of the President of the UN General Assembly, His Excellency Miguel D’Escoto Brockman.

Secretary-General of the Organization of American States, Excellency Jose Miguel Insulza in a video-taped message to the Conference pledged the full support of the OAS for the efforts of Indigenous Peoples to adapt to the effects of Climate Change.

Click here for Conference Declaration

Click here to see Message from OAS Secretary-General, Excellency Jose Miguel Insulza

This page was last updated on Thursday April 30, 2009.