The impact of climate change on indigenous people – the implications for the cultural, spiritual, economic and legal rights of indigenous people

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• The changes have resulted in increasing stresses on water supplies and agriculture, natural ecosystems, reduced seasonal snow cover, and glacier shrinkage and substantial economic losses caused by droughts, floods, fire, tropical cyclones and hail

• As a result of reduced precipitation and increased evaporation, water security problems are projected to intensify by 2030.

• Production from agriculture and forestry is projected to decline by 2030 over much of southern and eastern Australia, and over parts of eastern New Zealand, due to increased drought and fire.Footnote

• Climate change particularly affects indigenous people in the north. These include low-lying areas of the Torres Strait Islands and shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria that are vulnerable to sea-level rise, coastal erosion and storm surges; the Kimberley coastal and inland communities that are vulnerable to increased intensity and frequency of cyclones; Cape York communities facing biodiversity loss in tropical rainforests and increased coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef; and communities in central regions across the continent, which face the largest projected temperature increases.

• In particular, climate change poses a catastrophic threat to indigenous people, communities and nations, including the decimation of their hunting, gathering and fishing traditional homelands, the desertification, deforestation and flooding of their traditional homelands, total ecosystem collapse, flora, fauna and species extinction, food and water shortages, famine and disease, forced population transfers and great social and economic dislocation.Footnote