Area Briefs | More Indigenous representation needed, Grijalva says

WASHINGTON

On Monday, Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva, D-Ariz., leaving for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, also called COP26, said Indigenous people need more representation on the world stage.

“The United Nations are, in some ways, repeating the same tragic mistakes that created the climate crisis to begin with,” Grijalva said. “Climate change is the direct result of industrialized nations exploiting our world’s natural resources and violently stealing land from Indigenous and poor peoples.”

The “global vaccine apartheid” and high cost of travel prevent the full participation of Indigenous and poor communities, he said.

“My own participation in Scotland will be centered on increasing their representation and promoting Indigenous conservation methods, which often have the greatest record of success,” he said.

A news release from Grijalva’s office said a landmark study published in September, led by Dr. Neil Dawson of the University of East Anglia, documented the astonishing success rates of Indigenous land and water conservation strategies across the world.

The study suggested that more environmental policy lessons must be drawn from Indigenous communities.

Grijalva pointed out that Indigenous peoples manage or have rights to about 40% of protected lands worldwide. These lands hold 80% of Earth’s biodiversity and about 25% of the aboveground stored carbon in tropical forests.

“Despite this,” the release said, :policies and management structures in many conservation projects overlook Indigenous expertise and legal rights.”

The lack of full of Indigenous participation at COP26 is directly tied to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its disproportionate impact on Indigenous peoples and nations in the global south.

Nonprofit aims to beautify veterans’ cemeteries through GivingTuesday

CHINLE – The Navajo Veterans Organization, a nonprofit, aims to raise funds to beautify Navajo veterans’ cemeteries.

Through the annual “GivingTuesday,” from Nov. 30 through Dec. 31, the organization hopes to raise $100,000 for this purpose, the organization stated in a Monday news release.

Donations to the organization are deductible as charitable contributions.

“Our Navajo veterans served to defend our homeland and our freedom,” the organization said. “They wrote a blank check made payable to ‘the United States of America,’ for an amount of ‘up to and including his life.’”

Yet, veterans’ cemeteries on Navajoland have much to be desired.

GivingTuesday was launched in 2012 as a simple idea: to create a day that encourages people to do good. Over the past eight years, this idea has grown into a global movement that inspires hundreds of millions of people to give, collaborate, and celebrate generosity.

Those interested in joining the Navajo Veterans Organization’s GivingTuesday initiative can visit https://navajoveterans.org

Business Opportunity Day

WINDOW ROCK – The Navajo Nation received over $2 billion in funding from the American Recovery Plan Act for the recovery of the Navajo Nation economy from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

At the 11th annual Navajo Nation Business Opportunity Day, a virtual event on Dec. 7, the Division of Economic Development will share its plan for this funding and how it will provide contract opportunities as well as financial aid for Navajo small businesses.

Join us for the legislative updates in federal contracting provided by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Registration is free at www.ptassist.com/services/ptac_web_register.php?

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