Today the UN has proclaimed to be International Day of the World’s Indigenous People – an occasion to celebrate the stories, cultures and unique identities of indigenous Peoples around the world.

In following a few links about the Day, I came across an interesting project that I would like to make more people aware of due to it’s simplicity, communicative power and importance.

The Project is called If Not Us, Then Who and consists of a series of documentary films where various indigenous people, on different continents, describe their personal battles to protect their lives, their cultures and our forests – and our planet!

Although our forests play a major role in arresting the effects of our rapidly changing climate by annually absorbing an estimated 2.4 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, they are under dyer threat from a resource ravenous world. It seems their only protectors are the few remaining indigenous people who call these forests their ancestral homes.

These stoic indigenous people are the frontline troops in the fight to provide a sustainable environment for our grandchildren and their cause demands our support. To quote Naderev Sano:

Who will stop ‘this madness’ of climate change, ‘if not us, then who, if not now, then when?’

 By Chris Gandy – Chris is the Founder and Principal of Cause & Effective. He is also the non-indigenous custodian of 150 acres of temperate rainforest.