Indigenous people from all over the world are bringing their stories to the Pierian Centre on Columbus Day, Monday 12th October. They’re taking part in the Indigenous Perspectives Conference, and they’ll be introduced by explorer and adventurer Benedict Allen, familiar to millions of TV viewers.

Indigenous Perspectives is a unique opportunity to hear the inside stories of age-old cultures that are being pushed to the edge of extinction. Ina from the Jumma people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts will describe Bangladesh’s campaign to force them off their ancestral lands to make way for settlers. Benny from West Papua will recount his escape from an Indonesian prison, jailed for defending the age-old customs of his rain-forest people. Beta from the Kiribati islands in the Pacific will reveal that problems don’t end with the gaining of independence. There are accounts of other cultures too: the Mapuche of Chile, the Emberá of Panama, Tibetans, and the Yagan & Kawesqar peoples of Tierra del Fuego.

The Conference will be opened by Benedict Allen, one of Britain's leading adventurers. Allen is the author of 11 books, but is probably best known for his TV programmes of exploration (last seen in March presenting BBC’s Travellers’ Century). His first-hand experience of indigenous people in jungle, tundra and desert qualifies him to speak about the lessons that the developed world could learn form these ancient and sustainable cultures. He’s deeply concerned at our steady encroachment on their lands. Looking back on his first journeys 25 years ago, he says: “I belonged to the last generation that might pass through a wilderness for months on end and not encounter a single person of my own culture. It was a privileged time: never in all those years can I remember coming across a single other foreigner, whilst out on a trek.”

The Conference falls with heavy irony on Columbus Day (12th October) – and marks the 2nd anniversary of the U.N’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It takes place on Monday 12th October, 9.30am–4.30pm – at The Pierian Centre, 27 Portland Square, St Pauls, Bristol BS2 8SA. The delegate rate of £45 includes lunch and refreshments – with limited concessionary places at £25 for low income, and £12.50 for students. It’s a unique mix of academic rigour and warm, individual humanity.

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