Alaskan Inuits, Australian aborigines and Pygmies from Cameroon have amessage for a warming world: native traditions can be a potent weapon against climate change.

阿拉斯加州因紐特人（原稱愛斯基摩人）、澳洲原住民和喀麥隆的矮黑人想對日漸暖化的世界傳達一個訊息：原住民的在地傳統可以是對抗氣候變化的利器。

At a summit recently held in Anchorage, Alaska, some 400 indigenous people from 80 nations are gathering to hone this message in the hope that it can be a key part of international climate negotiations.

最近在阿拉斯加州安克拉治舉行的一項高峰會，來自80國的400多種原住民共聚一堂，他們希望藉著傳達這項訊息，使其成為國際氣候討論的要項。

"We don't want to be seen just as the powerless victims of climate change," said Patricia Cochran, an Inupiat native of Nome, Alaska, who is chairing the Indigenous Peoples' Global Summit on Climate Change.

阿拉斯加州諾姆市的因紐特原住民派翠西亞．柯克蘭說：「我們不希望被看成氣候變化中無力的受害者。」她主持這次全球原住民氣候變化高峰會。

"Our conference is really stirred by our wanting to become leaders on climate change because we have the ability to bring information from our communities to the rest of the world," Cochran said in a telephone interview from Anchorage.

柯克蘭從安克拉治接受電話訪問時說：「我們這次會議其實主要發想於我們希望成為氣候變化的領袖，因為我們有能力把原民社會的資訊帶到世界各地。」

Indigenous traditions are hardly static, she said, noting that native people have always adapted to their changing and often harsh environments. For instance, Cochran said, Inuit people in Alaska are reverting to traditional dogsleds instead of modern snow machines as the icy region warms.

她指出，原民傳統很少靜如止水，因為原住民得經常適應不斷變化且往往十分嚴酷惡劣的環境。柯克蘭舉例說，隨著冰凍地區的暖化，阿拉斯加因紐特人正淘汰現代化的雪車，回歸狗拉雪撬。

"People go out on their snow machines, fall through the ice and are never seen again," she said. "But our sled dogs will tell you when the ice is not safe and they're a lot easier to feed than (to pay) the gas prices that we have, $10 a gallon in many of our villages."

她說：「有人坐雪車出門，不慎墜落冰層，從此不見蹤影。但如冰層不安全，拉雪橇的狗會警告你，且餵養牠們也比付油錢輕鬆容易多了，我們有不少村落加油每加侖要10美元。」

The summit is taking place about 800 km from the Alaskan village of Newtok, where intensifying river flow and melting permafrost are forcing 320 residents to resettle on a higher site some 15 km away in a new consequence of climate change, known as climigration.

峰會在距阿拉斯加州紐托克村約800公里的地點舉行，當地河川水流湍急，加上永凍層融化，迫使當地320名居民搬遷到15 公里開外一處高地安頓，這也是氣候變化的新後遺症，也就是一般通稱的「隨氣候變化遷徙」。

Newtok is the first official Arctic casualty of climate change. A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers study indicates 26 other Alaskan villages are in immediate danger, with an additional 60 considered under threat in the next decade, Cochran said.

紐托克村是北極圈第一個氣候變化受害者。柯克蘭說，美國陸軍工程兵團一項研究顯示，阿拉斯加州另外26個村落形勢險峻，可謂危在旦夕，還有60個被認為未來10年可能面臨威脅。

Climigration is also threatening the Carteret Islands in the South Pacific, where rising seas are forcing 3,000 islanders to relocate to Papua-New Guinea, said Sam Johnston of United Nations University, a summit co-sponsor.

共同主辦這次峰會的聯合國大學的強斯頓指出，南太平洋加特利島也面臨因氣候變化而遷徙的威脅，當地因水平面上升，已迫使3,000名島民遷居巴布亞紐幾內亞。

In Western Arnhem Land in Australia's Northern Territory, aborigines have used traditional fire control practices -- setting small fires throughout the year rather than letting huge stocks of fuel for bush fires build up -- reducing greenhouse gas emissions as a result. This has enabled them to sell $17 million worth of carbon credits to industry, Johnston said.

澳洲北嶺地西安恆地原住民則利用傳統以火控制的做法，全年放小火，以免叢林野火蓄積後熊熊燃燒，以降低溫室氣體排放量。強斯頓說，這已使他們得以出售1,700萬美元二氧化碳的排放額度給工業界。

In Africa, Baka Pygmies of Cameroon and Bambendzele of Congo have developed new fishing and hunting techniques to adapt to decreased rainfall and more forest fires.

在非洲，為了因應雨量減少和森林大火蔓延，喀麥隆巴卡匹美矮黑人和剛果班本澤人已經發展出新的漁獵技巧。

Because indigenous people are often on the front lines of climate change, they are expected to report to the summit on changes affecting them now. For example, Dayak villagers in Borneo see climate change in observations of bird species, rising water levels and the loss of plants traditionally used for medicine. In the Andes, temperature changes have hit farming and health hard, with more respiratory illnesses and a shortened growing season.

由於原住民往往站在氣候變化前線，峰會希望他們能報告目前氣候變化如何影響他們。例如，婆羅州達亞族村落透過觀察常見鳥種、水平面上升和傳統用來製藥的植物流失等現象，來見證氣候的變化。在安地斯山脈，氣候變化嚴重衝擊農耕和住民健康，原民的呼吸道疾病增加，生長的季節也縮短了。

As the summit ends, participants plan to craft a declaration that will call for world governments to include indigenous people -- as many as 350 million people, or about 6 percent of the world's population -- in any new international climate pact.

隨著峰會結束，與會者計畫草擬一項宣言，並呼籲世界各地政府在所有新的國際氣候協定中納入原住民，他們占世界人口的6%，有多達3億5千萬人。

The 190 countries which are party to the UN Convention on Climate Change are trying to negotiate a replacement in Copenhagen in December to the Kyoto Protocol on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which expires in 2012.

參加聯合國氣候變遷大會的190國正試圖在今年12月於哥本哈根商議一項新協定，取代旨在降低溫室氣體排放量並將於2012年到期的京都議定書。

Bisin Jare, a native Dayak dressed in traditional headdress, poses for a picture in the Indonesian village of Setulang Dayak on the island of Borneo in this undated handout released April 20, 2009. (REUTERS)

上圖（路透）為婆羅州達亞族人比辛，穿戴傳統服飾在印尼波羅州島塞土蘭達亞村留影，這張4月20日發布的照片，拍攝日期不詳。