Final blog as part of the virtual course «Tools to communicate with Impact» that the students developed on a variety of topics including health, COVID-19, connectivity and the internet.
Mexico is home to more than 25 million people who are members of one of the 68 Indigenous Peoples recognized in the country. Faced with the global health crisis that we are going through worldwide, Indigenous Peoples and local communities have faced the impacts of the pandemic with greater difficulties, mainly due to the lack of access to health services, the economic impact, the lack of communication and relevant strategies, the invasion of our territories and the looting of our resources in the face of the greater vacuum that has been created by the suspension of surveillance by different agencies. For a long time, we have been marginalized, omitted, excluded and discriminated against. However, in our ways of life, food systems, our connection with mother earth, and ancestral knowledge, there are keys and contributions to move toward a more sustainable world after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Discrimination, seeking recognition and contributions to development
Indigenous Peoples are the inhabitants, guardians and owners of the best conserved territories where about 80 percent of the planet’s biological diversity is housed. We are also holders and transmitters of vast knowledge and non-consumptive management of the resources of our lands and territories.
Paradoxically, Indigenous communities are among the most marginalized, impoverished and vulnerable on the planet. We live in varied ecosystems, although fragile, and we directly face the consequences of climate change, given our dependence on the environment to survive. We suffer the catastrophic effects of climate change while facing internal and external pressures that have caused us to lose access to and control over the resources we use to face climate change.
For many years, we have been systematically discriminated against, and during this time of confinement, uncertainty and fear, it becomes more evident that this is a strong factor that impedes our social development.
In the case of the pandemic, one of the most notorious disadvantages is that there has been no relevant and differentiated measures to protect Indigenous Peoples and communities, since the current measures that have been promoted are designed for urban areas.
To counteract this situation, Indigenous Peoples play a key role by having inter-territorial diversity and in the use and conservation of natural resources, as well as in our environmental understanding. We have traditional knowledge about biodiversity that supports systems of non-consumptive management and use of the natural resources in the lands and territories that we have traditionally inhabited, possessed, occupied, or otherwise used or acquired. However, the increased vulnerability that we suffer faced with climate change puts social, economic and cultural aspects at risk in an alarming way.
Our fight and challenges
We do not want to be subjects of charity, we want to be subjects of law and get out of the economic, social, cultural and political disadvantage in which we find ourselves.
Indigenous Peoples have demonstrated our ability to adapt to adversity and overcome the adverse situations we experience. We know that we must be prepared to face the challenges to which we are constantly exposed.
Our goal is to advance and achieve the full exercise of the fundamental and specific rights of Indigenous Peoples, recognized in economic, social, cultural, environmental and political spheres, integrating participatory strategies for human, social, economic wellbeing and production.
Relevant COVID figures in indigenous peoples in Mexico
According to the Secretary of Health in Mexico, as of January 28, 2021, there are reported 15,415 confirmed cases of COVID-19 of the population that is recognized as Indigenous and 2,190 deaths.
Written by Paola Quezada – Red de Turismo Comunitario del Valle de Teotihuacán