"Our world is changing rapidly. Our ever-growing population and urge for bigger economies have led to both positive and negative developments, such as improved technology and infrastructure, globalisation, consumerism and global warming. Due to technological advances, it feels like we are accelerating into the future faster than ever before, but every day it becomes clearer that we are damaging our planet. To address this we have to inspire all humans to create a deeper connection with their cultural identity and respect for one another. A better intercultural dialogue would then play an essential role in achieving peace and sustainable development. Minority and indigenous peoples have a far greater role in this than they sometimes have been aware of and that we have lauded on them. They have an intrinsic connection with nature and a deeper sense of ritualistic self, which is crucial for all of our progress. Through the inevitable process of change and growing of dominant cultures, the world’s cultural colours are fading and elementary wisdom is on the brink of being lost.
Minority and indigenous peoples all over the world are faced with serious threats, from globalisation to climate change. It is estimated that by 2115 between 50 and 90 per cent of the world’s 7,000 mostly indigenous languages will have died out completely. Many of these languages encompass unique traditions and environmental knowledge that would disappear with them. The loss of these languages is evidence of the actuality of processes of killing and destruction inflicted upon indigenous communities for centuries: genocidal violence (killing of peoples), linguicide (death of languages), epistem (destruction of knowledge systems), cultural genocide (destruction of cultures) and ecocide (destruction of eco-systems). To explain this further we take a look into the subjects of climate change, land rights, and mining, but there are many more unnamed factors involved."
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The British photographer Jimmy Nelson clicked 31 tribes from 2009 to 2012 publishing the incredible book "BEFORE THEY PASS AWAY". A lot of tribes around the world fight to survive in the modern world.
“My dream had always been to preserve our world’s tribes through my photography,” "Their lifestyle is one of much more purity and beauty than ‘ours.’ It is free of corruption and greed. I want the tribes to be proud of their authenticity and defend it in order to preserve it.” Jimmy Nelson
