UN Secretary-General António Guterres delivered a powerful message on the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples (August 9), calling for urgent action to protect their rights to \"live in peace and dignity.\" 🌿 With an estimated 476 million indigenous people across 90 countries—representing 5,000 cultures and 7,000 languages—their survival is \"our survival,\" he emphasized.
Indigenous communities, though only 6% of the global population, safeguard 80% of the world's biodiversity. 🦜🌳 Guterres praised their role as \"guardians of the environment\" and keepers of ancestral knowledge, but warned of growing threats: mining, deforestation, and forced assimilation. \"Their ancestral homelands are under siege,\" he stated, urging nations to uphold the UN Declaration on Indigenous Rights.
This year's theme focuses on protecting groups in voluntary isolation, whose contact with outsiders risks exposure to disease and cultural erasure. Guterres stressed: \"Their rights to self-determination must be respected.\"
🔍 Why it matters: From the Amazon to the Arctic, indigenous practices hold keys to combating climate change. Yet their voices remain sidelined. The UN chief's rallying cry? \"Stand behind their right to chart their own futures.\"
