A/75/298 43. Climate displacement threatens cultural survival itself and jeopardizes traditional livelihoods. “Mobility in relation to climate change is taking place on a continuum between forced and voluntary migration, and the distinction between the two is rather blurred.” 77 “Some may be unable to depart, others practising ‘voluntary immobility,’ ‘an important coping device, helping to strengthen cultural and spiritual agency among those facing the loss of their homeland’.” 78 However, the cost for this in human rights terms may become unbearably high, leaving people with terrible choices between remaining with the cultures which sustain them and departing to protect their lives and livelihoods. Cultural losses related to migration will be especially serious for those living in entirely unique landscapes. As one expert asked, where can the Inuit find another Arctic environment? It is essential to engage in educational, participatory and consultative processes at the earliest opportunity with populations facing such situations, to consider options. 44. Creative ways to respect, protect, ensure and fulfil the cultural rights of persons who become displaced in the context of disasters and clim ate change must be developed. 79 Cultural rights are a primordial component of “migration with dignity.” 80 This will also require innovative approaches to recognizing, and allowing space for expression and preservation of, the collective identities and shared cultures of large groups which may be displaced, including entire national populations. C. Traditional knowledge and ways of life 45. Climate change negatively affects the practice of traditional knowledge in many places, including the very know-how and techniques needed to respond to such change. This is due to unpredictable weather and changing seasons which impair and may render increasingly obsolete such things as knowledge around navigation, calendars, meteorology, wind patterns, movements of sand, planting and harvests, fishing and food. 81 46. Impacts on food are gendered given the particular nutritional needs of breastfeeding or pregnant women and cultural norms regarding the partitioning of food. 82 When traditional agriculture or fishing is no longer feasible, or is impacted by climate change, women who participate in these practices can feel the loss of cultural ties, as well as food or income. 83 47. Nomadic pastoralism as a way of life may be entirely at risk in some are as. Ways of life that are in harmony with the natural environment, from which we need to learn to deal with climate change, are themselves being eroded, as an environmental human rights defender told the Special Rapporteur in Maldives. Migration and concen tration into urban areas resulting from climate change will have further impacts on every aspect of cultural life. __________________ 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 20-10595 Minority Rights Group International, Minority and Indigenous Trends 2019: Focus on Climate Justice, p. 57. Ibid., p. 64, citing Carol Farbotko, “‘Voluntary immobility: indigenous voices in the Pacific”, Forced Migration Review No. 57, (February 2018), p. 82. UNHCR, Climate change and disaster displacement. Available at www.unhcr.org/en -us/climatechange-and-disasters.html. See www.sierraclub.org/sierra/2016-6-november-december/feature/kiribati-former-catholic-nunhas-become-sort-paul-revere-for. See contribution by Indonesia. World Health Organization (WHO), Gender, Climate Change and Health (Geneva, 2014), p. 17. See contribution by International Action Network for Gender Equity and Law. 13/23