Despite representing less than 5 percent of the world’s population, Indigenous peoples steward more than a quarter of Earth’s land and seas and protect 80 percent of global biodiversity. Studies show that when Indigenous peoples have the right to govern their land, biodiversity increases and forests are protected.
In Europe, another indigenous population are the Sami people who live in Lapland, in the far north. They are fishermen, reindeer herders – about 80,000 of them. They believe that all living things and natural elements – which other cultures may not even consider alive such as rocks and mountains – have a connection to one another. And they have recently been a case by NASA on their handling of the environment and how they deal with climate change.
On this episode of Infinitely Curious, the english-language show of Voice of Greece with Katerina Batzaki, listen to filmmaker Dimitra Zirou about her experience from living with the Sami in Norway and how the making her film In the Land of Ice and Fire brought to light the treasures from the knowledge the Sami have on the environment, plants and creatures.