Indigenous Art and the Biodiversity Crisis

Abstract

Indigenous people and local communities play a vital role in the protection of land to foster biodiversity. Peatland is especially important for storage of carbon. Malaysia has a large area of peatland, including areas which are the traditional lands of the Orang Asli indigenous people. These lands are under threat from the development of highways, dams, ports, and plantations. As an artist, the author focuses on the fight of indigenous peoples to protect the land, their identity, and their way of life. Protecting indigenous land rights is a critical environmental strategy, a bottom-up approach to climate mitigation.