Who are minorities?
They are non-dominant ethnic, religious and linguistic communities, who may not necessarily be numerical minorities.
Most Forest-dwelling communities or pastrolists are minorities who are mostly indigenous people and are not effectively included in the Climate Change discussions. "Indigenous peoples have for centuries adapted to changing environments and would be able to contribute substantially to adaptation strategies the UN is trying to include in a new climate change treaty."
The impact of climate change hits indigenous and minority communities the hardest because they live in ecologically diverse areas and their livelihoods are dependent on the environment.
Inuits in the arctic are seeing people fall through melting ice, long droughts in east Africa are resulting in food shortages for pastoralists and Khmer Krom rice farmers in the Mekong delta in south Vietnam are seeing their crop yields fall.
Minorities are often amongst the poorest and most marginalised communities and are most likely to face discrimination when climate-related disasters occur, as is the experience of lower-caste Dalits in India.
"There has been a lot of attention paid to the damage climate change is doing to the environment and the loss of certain plant or animal species, but we aren't sufficiently recognizing the impact on people. There are entire communities that could be lost. Cultures, traditions and languages could be wiped off the earth".
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