\n<\/p>\n
For the Kankanaey-Igorot indigenous people of the Philippines, closing off their community to the outside world is an annual tradition known as ubaya<\/em> \u2014 a time of rest before or after the fields are prepared for planting and harvesting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Now, this traditional ritual could be crucial to ensuring the community\u2019s survival, according to Minnie Degawan, a member of the Kankanaey-Igorot Indigenous peoples and the director of the Indigenous and Traditional People Program at Conservation International.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Excluded from most national COVID-19 response measures and government relief packages<\/a>, many Indigenous groups worldwide are forced to enact their own form of quarantine through practices such as ubaya<\/em>, Degawan writes in a recent article<\/a> for Cultural Survival, a U.S.-based indigenous non-profit. She emphasized that these communities face \u201cparticularly challenging times,\u201d sharing dwindling food sources and receiving only limited access to information.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Although many Indigenous peoples \u201cdid not find the idea of quarantine a strange one,\u201d Degawan explains, outside activities on Indigenous lands are making self-isolation extremely difficult for these communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe conversion of forests to mono-crop plantations or to logging and mining concessions means less agricultural lands for communities,\u201d Degawan writes. Compounding the problem: Climate change has decreased crop yields, leaving indigenous peoples vulnerable to food scarcity if the quarantine continues for too long, she added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Indigenous peoples are \u201cno strangers to disease and disasters,\u201d Degawan notes, and many communities have survived disease outbreaks such as Ebola by enacting health measures grounded in traditional knowledge.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n One of the best things that governments can do, she writes, is to make it easier for these communities to help themselves.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIf only Indigenous peoples\u2019 rights to their lands and resources were respected, they would be better able to fend for themselves in times of crisis and would not have to look to outside for help. The communities know best what they will need and how such support should be delivered.”\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Minnie Degawan is the director of the Indigenous and Traditional Peoples Program at Conservation International. Kiley Price is a staff writer at Conservation International. Want to read more stories like this? Sign up for email updates\u00a0here.<\/a>\u00a0Donate to Conservation International\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n