The Bhutan Declaration on Climate Change and Mountain Indigenous Peoples

Indigenous peoples in mountain areas are specially affected by climate change and diversity loss, both biological and cultural. On May-June 2014, over 100 community members, from 25 different countries, met in Bhutan and agreed together a declaration to keep their lifestyles and its environment. The declaration also announces a strategy for exchange seeds and knowledge between communities, respecting local cultures and ecosystems, highlighting the sacredness and inherent rights of Mother Earth and the sacred origin of the seeds. It also remarks the need to preserve indigenous languages as a source of knowledge and vehicle to maintenance biocultural heritage.