Indigenous peoples activism on climate change in Southeast Asia: the role of regional scalar bridging organizations

Abstract

Indigenous peoples in Southeast Asia have organized on issues that affect their rights at the local, national, regional and global level. This article argues that one important component of the rise of this activism is the presence of regional scalar bridging organizations that link activism across scales and support the growth of Indigenous movements by providing access to global and regional opportunities for action. In Southeast Asia, the Asian Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) and Tebtebba play this role through their presence in global political arenas and their many activities with partner organizations in the region. Drawing on social movement theory, this article outlines how regional social movement organizations potentially support global activism in the Global South by scale bridging in the areas of (1) resource mobilization, (2) creation of political spaces and opportunities and (3) the diffusion of ideas. To illustrate this, the case of Indigenous peoples activism on climate change in Southeast Asia is presented through an examination of the work done in these three areas by the Asian Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) and Tebtebba

Keywords:

• Global activism
• climate change
• Indigenous peoples
• Southeast Asia
• regional bridging organizations
• transnational social movements
• environmental governance

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the anonymous reviewers and editor of this journal for their insightful comments and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 The term “bridging organization” used in this paper is not the same as that term as it is used (1) in social movement literature referring organizations that bridge of different domains of activism, or (2) in the environmental management literature where bridging is focused on a specific complex problem. While there is some overlap, the main bridging focus for this paper is scalar and focused on activities lead by NGOs/activists.

2 This is not an exhaustive list – it contains IPOs with a strong online presence that have been active in some aspect of climate change politics in partnership with other groups over the past 10-15 years.

3 As stated by Abdon Nababan, then head of the Indonesian group AMAN (see Table 1 for full name), in 2010 to the REDD-Monitor: “Our main mandate is to recover indigenous rights in all sectors of development, in our law, in our national policy. So if we talk about REDD, we talk about it in a way to reach that mandate: to recover indigenous rights on land, on territories, natural resources, on culture, on political sovereignty and so on. Because we have that objective or goal, nothing else. So we see REDD as either an opportunity or a threat to our goal.” See: https://redd-monitor.org/2010/07/04/%e2%80%9cwe-want-to-change-this-threat-to-an-opportunity%e2%80%9d-interview/ (accessed 4/22/2022)

4 Quoted in REDD-Monitor: https://redd-monitor.org/2013/12/07/two-very-different-views-on-the-warsaw-redd-deal-from-indigenous-peoples-organisations/

5 Supplementary Table 1: Funding Sources for AIPP and Tebtebba. Access here: https://sites.gsu.edu/kreimann/indigenous-peoples/table-1-funding-sources/

6 Supplementary Table 2: Selected Examples of AIPP, Tebtebba and Other Indigenous Peoples Organizations (IPOs) Representing Southeast Asia in Recent International Climate Change Meetings. Access here: https://sites.gsu.edu/kreimann/indigenous-peoples/table-2-global-meetings/

7 Among the many NGOs and IPOs formally “admitted” to the UNFCCC process, only AIPP and Tebtebba are recognized as IPO constituency based in Southeast Asia. AIPP’s status allows its member IP groups to register as AIPP and attend UNFCCC meetings.

8 Supplementary Table 3: Selected Indigenous Peoples’ Regional Meetings in Southeast Asia Related to Climate Change. Access here: https://sites.gsu.edu/kreimann/indigenous-peoples/table-3-regional-meetings/

9 Supplementary Table 4: Training Manuals and Tools for Climate Change Activism. Access here: https://sites.gsu.edu/kreimann/indigenous-peoples/table-4-training-manuals/

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kim D. Reimann

Kim D. Reimann is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Georgia State University, Atlanta. Her main research interests are in the areas of the environment, transnational activism, and East Asian politics. She has published work related to NGOs in Japan, regional environmental governance in East Asia, Japanese environmental politics, NGOs and global activism, and transnational peace movements in East Asia.