Masrani stood at the confluence of two rivers in Indonesian Borneo as his father recited the most dreadful oath. The extreme form of sumpah adat, a ritualistic nuclear option for Indonesia’s Dayak indigenous peoples, was reserved for dealing with crises nothing else could solve. The forest chattered to the post-daybreak sounds of hornbills and proboscis monkeys as the two-dozen men assembled for the rite.

 

One by one, they beseeched the ancestors to punish those who had shifted their borders and robbed them of their territory.

 

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Several indigenous leaders from Canada are in Paris for the COP21 talks as part of the official delegation, bringing Native concerns directly to world leaders.

Among them are Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Perry Bellegarde, AFN Northwest Territories Regional Chief Bill Erasmus and AFN Manitoba Regional Chief Kevin Hart, who is part of the Manitoba delegation. Also joining them are Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami President Natan Obed and Dwight Dorey, National Chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples.

Question: Dr. Quisumbing, tell us about yourself; what is your professional background?

Answer: I am an economist by training, and have worked on intrahousehold and gender issues, land and property rights for 20 years at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). I came to IFPRI after working at the University of the Philippines and the World Bank. At IFPRI, I led the gender and intrahousehold research program, and co-led work on poverty and economic mobility and gender and assets.