The Saami Council calls for global change
In the COVID-19 recovery, the Saami Council urges all governments, international institutions and business to make ambitious, transformative plans of action for the next 30 years.
– These plans should be based on green based sustainable development and circular economy, to bring us to a point where we are once again living in harmony with nature. If not, we risk a nature crisis that will make the COVID-19 pandemic pale in comparison, states the Saami Council President, Christina Henriksen.
The Saami Council expresses concern for the impacts of the COVID-19 disease on indigenous peoples’ communities, and the revealing lack of access to health care and infrastructure in indigenous peoples’ communities worldwide. This must be prioritized by authorities in the states in which these communities exist. At the same time, while the COVID-19 crisis is defined primarily as a health crisis, it also offers important insights into the societies created by humans.
– What the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated to the world is that we can transform when we see the urgency, and this goes for all of us. We share the responsibility, but world leaders and business should take a lead in implementing actions directed towards a sustainable future, says the President.
The Saami Council is concerned that in the recovery, the world will go back to short-term thinking and a vision of the world based on plunder and exploitation.
– Indigenous peoples have long held a vision of the world that is based not only on reciprocity, but also long-term thinking and the interconnectedness of all life. Now more than ever, it is critical for these teachings to be brought to the fore, says Henriksen.
The fact that we have been able to shut down our economies in an effort to stem the spread of the virus, was previously inconceivable. Yet, it has also underscored examples from around the world, leading to cleaner waters with marine life going to places where they have never been seen before; cleaner skies where mountain tops can be seen from hundreds of kilometres away where they were not visible previously; and cleaner air with less pollution from planes and cars across all major cities.
– These are abrupt changes seen by human eye, one can only imagine the unseen feedback nature will provide by this rest, closes Henriksen.
