The Lifestyle of Indigenous People from the Perspective of Sustainability. The example of an Aeta tribe in the Philippines

Since sustainability and climate crises have become topics of worldwide concern, at times the lifestyle of self-sufficient indigenous peoples (IP) has drawn attention and been taken into consideration as a model of sustainable living. Questioning to what extent this might work and what factors might be limiting it we visited a community of self-sufficient Aeta peoples in the Philippines carrying out expert interviews in- and outside of the community. What turned out most threatening and damaging to their sustainable lifestyle are efforts to involve them into the market system aiming to “support their development”. Certainly, this should not suggest IPs continuing to live as the world’s poorest but rather to reconsider our standards of “poor” and “rich” and pursue the aim of giving all people the chance to live a “rich life” in a more comprehensive sense. Keywords: Sustainable communities, indigenous people, poverty, development, social work