TL/DR –

Indigenous languages are dropping fast thanks to climate change. As extreme weather and changing seasons pardon native vocabularies from the language table, we’re losing valuable ecological insights on everything from the best crop-planting times to pigeon-spotting (who knew the “extinct” black-naped pheasant pigeon was just playing hard to get?). So, while Tuvalu enters the digital realm and the Gwich’in compile a glossary of disappearing environmental terms, remember this: the loss of languages equals the loss of solutions for our climate crisis.

Native Languages: Climate Science’s Hidden Lexicon

Indigenous groups, despite being less than 6% of the global population, speak more than 4,000 of the world’s approximate 7,000 languages. Indigenous languages often hold invaluable environmental insights. However, climate change is driving the loss of these languages, says a growing body of research.

Indigenous languages offer precious ecological knowledge. The Indigenous communities of Papua New Guinea, for instance, helped scientists rediscover the black-naped pheasant pigeon, a bird Western science considered extinct for 140 years. “Local people are [typically] going to know the birds in these areas better than we do,” stated a Cornell ornithologist.

As climate change alters ecosystems, centuries-old vocabularies are disappearing, experts say. Take North Sámi, an Arctic language with over 300 words for snow, in a region warming twice as fast as the global average. Changing ice conditions have affected how the Sámi people talk about snow, with “dálkkádatrievdan”, a word for climate change, now a common term.

A recent report predicts that over 90% of languages could disappear in the next century. The decline is linked not only to climate change but also to colonialism. As a response, the United Nations declared 2022-2032 the “Decade of Indigenous Languages” to draw attention and encourage language revival.

Recording History for the Future

As languages vanish, Indigenous groups are working to record oral history before it’s lost. The Gwich’in people of northeastern Alaska, for example, are compiling a glossary of Indigenous environmental terms. A recent Alaska Beacon feature discussed the project’s importance for helping future generations understand climate change’s impact on ecosystems.

Meanwhile, Tuvalu is creating a digital replica of itself in the metaverse to preserve its history in the face of rising sea levels. Partnerships like these between Indigenous peoples and Western science have shown effective conservation outcomes, but equity and credit will be crucial to their long-term success, experts say. Language loss, after all, implies the loss of vital knowledge for dealing with the climate crisis.

Original Story at insideclimatenews.org