"Perhaps most tellingly, all the talk of silver linings and "win-win" has failed to win over arguably the most vulnerable constituent in the REDD debate: traditional Indigenous peoples.

From the glacier-fed valleys of the Himalayas and Amazonia, to the thawing Arctic, to the islands of Papua New Guinea and savannah of Kenya, indigenous peoples act as stand-ins for all of us. They are experiencing the first, most direct impacts of climate change (while bearing the least responsibility for them).

Because many of these indigenous cultures depend directly on their local environments for sustenance, they are the most vulnerable to climate disruption, and have the most to lose. So their perspective should give us pause.

To be sure, some poor indigenous peoples have looked to REDD for their economic salvation. But in other communities, the more people have learned about the program, the more divided and concerned they have become.

Increasingly vocal opposition, led by NGOs like the Indigenous Environmental Network and Global Forest Coalition, has called the fast track of REDD into question. "Mitigation policies of the developed world will kill us before climate change does!" Ramiro Batzin, a Keqchikel Maya from Guatemala, recently told the World Bank's Economic and Social Development Policy Section."

Get the Story:
Dennis Martinez: The Missing Delegate at Cancun: Indigenous Peoples (National Geographic Blog 12/8)