Twenty-two indigenous ethnic groups from 11 countries gathered in the northern Japanese city of Sapporo for a four-day "Indigenous Peoples Summit" that ended Friday, organisers said.

The meeting, which drew hundreds of people, was held ahead of the summit by the Group of Eight leaders starting Monday in Toyako, a mountain resort also on the northern island of Hokkaido.

The summit adopted a resolution asking G8 leaders to "listen to voices of indigenous people, whose lives are most-affected by problems of global climate change."

"Rich nations, which are responsible for global warming, should be aware of the fact that their economic prosperity is realised by the sufferings of indigenous people," said Yugo Ono, one of organisers and a professor at Hokkaido University.

As an example, he said that North America's indigenous Inuit people were "facing trouble carrying on their everyday lives" as global warming causes the melting of Arctic ice.

"Polar bears aren't the only animals who suffer from global warming," Ono told AFP.

Another example of ignoring the voices of indigenous people is the growing popularity of biofuels to fight global warming, he said.

"Many participants were quite angry about deforestation caused by expanding farmland to raise corn used to produce biofuels," he said.

"People should learn more from the traditional lifestyles of indigenous people, who have long harmoniously coexisted with nature," he said.

Hokkaido is the traditional home of the Ainu people, whose faith was based on reverence for nature, particularly bears.

Japanese from the main island of Honshu settled Hokkaido in the 19th century and forced the Ainu to abandon their language and become farmers.

Ahead of the G8 summit, the Japanese parliament last month passed a resolution that for the first time recognised the Ainu as an indigenous people and urged support for the community, which still lags behind in education and incomes.