[Music] in parts of africa there are drum languages [Music] some people in the americas can communicate by whistling [Music] in papua new guinea there are more than 800 languages spoken by the various indigenous communities that live there all over the world there were once independent cultures and languages before the europeans or other invaders conquered the regions those who lived there before were mostly forced into submission or driven out many were killed today their descendants are known as indigenous peoples many have held onto their traditions and language and identify as a people group there are thought
to be some 5 000 indigenous peoples worldwide aboriginal australians the gayo in indonesia the sami in northern scandinavia and the pygmy peoples in central africa many indigenous peoples live in poverty and suffer discrimination a lot live in protected territories that are shrinking their right to the land is being contested after all indigenous peoples own or manage around 25 of the world's land surface in areas where they follow a traditional way of life the environment is often better protected around 80 percent of the world's biodiversity is located in indigenous territories [Music] the united nations says the
knowledge and practices of traditional peoples should be integrated into environmental programs that's already happening here in the arctic where scientists are learning from indigenous communities who can drive their reindeer over the ice safely because they understand changes in the weather and nature their knowledge is being incorporated into studies many of the last tropical rainforests are also home to indigenous peoples for the quechua people in ecuador the amazon is both a garden and a medicine cabinet they know which fruits and leaves make good food and which have medicinal properties knowledge that the pharmaceutical industry is now
using to develop new drugs it's true that some indigenous peoples have hunted a number of animal species to extinction and in a few cases forests have been destroyed by burning but the damage caused by the industrialized world is far greater and is driving both climate change and species extinction the human race can only survive if there's sufficient biodiversity so it's vital that we preserve it here the knowledge of indigenous peoples could be a lifesaver
