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4 Ways Indigenous and Community Lands Can Reduce Emissions

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4 Ways Indigenous and Community Lands Can Reduce Emissions

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Countries are largely missing out on a key strategy to fight climate change.

While mounting evidence showcases the emissions-reduction benefits of well-managed indigenous and community lands, few countries actually set targets to protect these lands in their initial national climate plans in 2015 (known as "Nationally Determined Contributions," or NDCs). As countries submit new NDCs this year as part of the international Paris Climate Agreement, helping indigenous peoples and other local communities protect and manage their lands should be high on the agenda.

Here's a look at the many benefits stronger indigenous and community land rights can offer countries as they seek to address climate change:

4 Ways Indigenous and Community Lands Can Reduce Emissions

Today, there is considerably more evidence on the important roles of indigenous and community lands in climate mitigation since the initial NDCs were prepared.

Building on research conducted by WRI and other organizations, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the internationally accepted authority on climate science, recognized the importance of indigenous and community land and customary land governance systems in climate mitigation and adaptation in its 2018 Special Report on Climate Change and Land. A new report by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) provides a review of the current state of knowledge on the importance of indigenous lands in meeting climate goals. While focusing on Latin America and the Caribbean, the report reviews the recent scientific evidence from around the world.

Four findings from this growing body of research are particularly important for the broader climate community:

1. Indigenous and community groups are good forest protectors.

Researchers have established that forests managed by indigenous peoples and other local communities often have lower deforestation rates than similar lands managed by others. For example, research by WRI found that the average annual deforestation rates in indigenous forests in Bolivia, Brazil and Colombia from 2000-2012 were two to three times lower than in similar forest areas not managed by indigenous peoples.

Many indigenous territories prevent deforestation as effectively as fully protected national parks and nature reserves-some even more effectively. Between 2006 and 2011, indigenous territories in the Peruvian Amazon reduced deforestation twice as much as protected areas with similar conditions.

More recently, research shows that at least 36% of the world's "intact forests" - large, unbroken swaths of natural forest - are within indigenous lands, and they are better maintained then in non-indigenous areas. Intact forests play a crucial role in sequestering carbon, as well as in protecting biodiversity, regulating water supply, and providing a range of ecosystem services central to local livelihoods and the wellbeing of society.

2. Strong indigenous and community land rights leads to better forest management.

Legal recognition of customary land and traditional tenure systems, registering of customary land rights in a government cadaster, and obtaining an official land document such as a land title or certificate can provide indigenous people with land security and generate strong incentives for them to invest in their lands. Research shows that indigenous territories with strong land rights in the Brazilian Amazon showed a significant decrease in deforestation between 1982 to 2016. This effect does not exist in indigenous lands without full property rights.

The registration and documentation of indigenous land rights integrates customary rights into official legal systems and establishes them as formal land rights. Formal land documents can help communities convince others of their legal rights, ensuring that they will be recognized and respected. Titles can be used as evidence of legal possession in a court of law when challenges arise, where they commonly carry more weight than oral testimony. Titles can also provide communities critical leverage in negotiations with outside investors, improving the chances that they receive a fair deal in sharing of benefits and reducing the likelihood of conflicts.

3. Indigenous and community lands store significant amounts of carbon.

Recent research found that between 2001 and 2019, the world's forests sequestered about twice as much carbon dioxide as they emitted, providing a "carbon sink" that absorbs a net 7.6 billion metric tonnes of CO2 per year, 1.5 times more carbon than the United States emits annually. The findings, however, significantly vary by region and territories.

Research shows that well-managed forests store significantly more carbon than forests experiencing high forest loss and degradation. In the Amazon Basin, indigenous lands have on average higher carbon density per hectare than non-indigenous areas, partly because their vegetation is in better condition.

Many indigenous lands, including many in the Amazon, are carbon sinks, while other state-managed lands emit more CO2 than they absorb. While Amazonian indigenous lands lost less than 0.3% of their forest carbon between 2003 and 2016, non-indigenous protected areas lost 0.6%, while other areas lost 3.6%.

Given that an estimated 50% of the world's land is occupied by indigenous peoples and communities, these groups manage large carbon stores. An assessment of 52 tropical and subtropical countries found that indigenous peoples and other local communities manage at least 22% of forest carbon and 17% of the total carbon - including soil carbon - stored in forests. Releasing this carbon -equivalent to 33 times the global energy emissions of 2017 - by developing this land would be a climate catastrophe.

In some countries and regions, the total carbon on indigenous and community lands is much higher. In Latin America and the Caribbean, indigenous lands contain about one-third of all the carbon stored in the forests.

4. The economic benefits of protecting indigenous and community lands far outweigh the costs.

The value of carbon sequestration and other local, regional and global ecosystem services from indigenous and community lands far outweigh the costs to governments of securing land rights. For example, researchers estimate that the total economic benefits from indigenous lands over a 20-year period is $54-119 billion for Bolivia, $523-1,165 billion for Brazil, and $123-277 billion for Colombia. The total costs to governments of securing these indigenous lands for 20 years are at most 1% of the total benefits derived.

Sequestering carbon by securing indigenous land is a cost-effective approach to climate mitigation, especially when compared to other methods. For example, the costs of carbon capture and storage (CCS) for coal-fired power plants is 5 to 29 times more expensive than securing indigenous lands and 7 to 42 times more expensive for natural gas plants.

COP26 Is a Key Opportunity for Securing Indigenous and Community Land Rights

Enhanced NDCs will be a focus of discussions at the next UN Climate Change Conference (COP 26), scheduled to be held in Glasgow, Scotland in November 2021. While the conference was delayed a year because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Glasgow climate conference offers a major opportunity for nations to come together to review their NDC commitments and strengthen their climate change ambition.

Building on mounting evidence, governments of countries with indigenous populations and forests should consider including in their enhanced NDCs policies that can mitigate climate change, preserve biological and cultural diversity, reduce social and environmental conflicts, and rejuvenate economies. Key provisions include:

Recognition and protection of communal land rights of indigenous peoples and other local communities and their customary tenure systems. Most of the world's indigenous and community land in not registered or documented with the state, and is held only under custom.

Compensation for the range of ecosystem services generated from indigenous and community lands. For example, indigenous peoples should receive payments for managing their land to provide important ecological services such as carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation.

Support for indigenous groups and communities in their efforts to sustainably manage their land and natural resources. Many indigenous peoples need help monitoring and protecting their land from intruders, such as illegal gold miners and loggers.

Support to strengthen indigenous and community grassroots organizations, with special emphasis on women and youth. Indigenous organizations and federations can be powerful advocates for indigenous causes, but many lack the skills and resources to meaningfully participate in development matters that affect their lives and wellbeing.

Protection of indigenous people and community leaders who are defending their land and environments from threats. While all governments have the obligation and authority to protect defenders, few have prioritized supportive actions, such as stronger punishments for those who threaten or harm defenders.

Indigenous and community lands are crucial for avoiding catastrophic climate change. In addition to carbon sequestration, these lands provide the benefits of global ecosystem services that merit increased protection and financial support, especially if forested countries are to achieve their commitments under the Paris Agreement.

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4 Ways Indigenous and Community Lands Can Reduce Emissions

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Countries are largely missing out on a key strategy to fight climate change. While mounting evidence showcases the emissions-reduction benefits of well-managed indigenous and community lands, few countries actually set targets to protect these lands in their initial national climate plans in 2015 (known as "Nationally Determined Contributions," or NDCs).

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We can save our planet if we look to indigenous communities

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We can save our planet if we look to indigenous communities

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Sonia Guajajara | Ford Foundation | 2016

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We can save our planet if we look to indigenous communities

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Our leaders have been killed, but we fight on

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Our leaders have been killed, but we fight on

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Levi Sucre Romero | Ford Foundation | 2016

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Our leaders have been killed, but we fight on

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Indigenous Communities Are on the Front Lines of Climate Change

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Indigenous Communities Are on the Front Lines of Climate Change

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Indigenous Communities Are on the Front Lines of Climate Change | Hot Mess 🌎

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Crude (The Story of Chevron - Texaco's Ecuador Disaster) 2009, Joe Berlinger

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The story of Native peoples' resistance to environmental injustice and land incursions, and a call for environmentalists to learn from the Indigenous community's rich history of activism

Through the unique lens of "Indigenized environmental justice," Indigenous researcher and activist Dina Gilio-Whitaker explores the fraught history of treaty violations, struggles for food and water security, and protection of sacred sites, while highlighting the important leadership of Indigenous women in this centuries-long struggle. As Long As Grass Grows gives readers an accessible history of Indigenous resistance to government and corporate incursions on their lands and offers new approaches to environmental justice activism and policy.

Throughout 2016, the Standing Rock protest put a national spotlight on Indigenous activists, but it also underscored how little Americans know about the longtime historical tensions between Native peoples and the mainstream environmental movement. Ultimately, she argues, modern environmentalists must look to the history of Indigenous resistance for wisdom and inspiration in our common fight for a just and sustainable future.

"Highly recommended for American Indian studies and environmental justice students and scholars."
- Library Journal

"Gilio-Whitaker takes the reader on a historical journey that, had it been penned about the Jewish Holocaust or the 'ethnic cleansing' conducted at the behest of any number of twentieth-century despots, would be well known. Yet when it comes to the United States's continuing campaign to wipe tribal communities from the map, most Americans are in a state of denial that such a thing could happen."
- Los Angeles Review of Books

"An important and accessible work recommended for students and scholars of political ecology from the undergraduate level up. Gilio-Whitaker's far-reaching work creates a compelling foundation upon which to add specific examples of the ongoing struggle for environmental justice and Indigenous rights during times of anthropogenic climate change. By connecting Native American history with the environmental justice movement in a clear and comprehensive manner, Gilio-Whitaker clarifies the depth of the wrong-doings of the past, while also opening the door to a wide range of opportunities for positive change in the future."
- Journal of Political Ecology

"A masterpiece and a vital road map for the ongoing fight for Indigenous sovereignty. With every heartbreaking example of sacred sites decimated and traditional knowledge suppressed, the power and resilience of Indigenous people, preserving not only their culture but their very lives, shines through. Powerful, urgent, and necessary reading."
-Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, author of An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States

"The process of genocide, which began five centuries ago with the colonization of the Americas and the extermination of indigenous people, has now spread to the planetary level, pushing two hundred species per day to extinction and threatening the entire human species. Dina Gilio-Whitaker's As Long as Grass Grows makes these connections, holding the seeds of resistance, the seeds of freedom, and the promise of a future."
-Vandana Shiva, author of Earth Democracy

"Dina Gilio-Whitaker writes in succinct, powerful, and deeply historical ways about Natives and environmental justice or-almost always-lack thereof."
-Andrés Reséndez, author of The Other Slavery

" As Long as Grass Grows honors Indigenous voices powerfully and centers Indigenous histories, values, and experiences. It tells crucial stories, both inspiring and heartrending, that will transform how readers understand environmental justice. I know many readers will come away with new ideas and actions for how they can protect our planet from forces that seek to destroy some of our most sacred relationships connecting human and nonhuman worlds-relationships that offer some of the greatest possibilities for achieving sustainability."
-Kyle Powys White, associate professor, Michigan State University

"From Standing Rock's stand against a damaging pipeline to antinuclear and climate change activism, Indigenous peoples have always been and remain in the vanguard of the struggle for environmental justice. As Long as Grass Grows could not be of more relevance in the twenty-first century. Gilio-Whitaker has produced a sweeping history of these peoples' fight for our fragile planet, from colonization to the present moment. There is nothing else like it. Read and heed this book."
-Jace Weaver, author of Defending Mother Earth

"In As Long as Grass Grows, Gilio-Whitaker skillfully delineates the stakes-and the distinctive character-of environmental justice for Indigenous communities. Bold, extensive, accessible, and inspiring, this book is for anyone interested in Indigenous environmental politics and the unique forms of environmentalism that arise from Native communities. Indeed, as Gilio-Whitaker shows, these topics are intertwined with a pressing issue that concerns all people: justice for the very lands we collectively inhabit."
-Clint Carroll, author of Roots of Our Renewal

" As Long as Grass Grows is a hallmark book of our time. By confronting climate change from an Indigenous perspective, not only does Gilio-Whitaker look at the history of Indigenous resistance to environmental colonization, but she points to a way forward beyond Western conceptions of environmental justice-toward decolonization as the only viable solution."
-Nick Estes, assistant professor, University of New Mexico, and author of Our History Is the Future

" As Long as Grass Grows, in the way no other study has done, brilliantly connects historic and ongoing Native American resistance to US colonialism with the movement for environmental justice. This book helps teach us the central importance of Native theory and practice to transforming the radically imbalanced world that corporate capitalism has made into a world of balance through extended kinship with the social and natural environments on which human beings are dependent for life."
-Eric Cheyfitz, professor, Cornell University, and author of The Disinformation Age: The Collapse of Liberal Democracy in the United States

"This groundbreaking new book will ignite conversations about environmentalism and environmental justice. Dina Gilio-Whitaker's beautifully written account of environmental politics compels readers to understand how Indigenous people and the nonhuman world are caught in the gears of settler colonialism-and how an indigenized environmental justice framework can powerfully reframe our debate and our relations to one another and to the natural world around us. As Long as Grass Grows is perfectly timed to offer a fresh and captivating take on some of our most urgent issues of environmental and social justice."
-Traci Voyles, author of Wastelanding: Legacies of Uranium Mining in Navajo Country

Author's Note

INTRODUCTION
The Standing Rock Saga

CHAPTER ONE
Environmental Justice Theory and Its Limitations for Indigenous Peoples

CHAPTER TWO
Genocide by Any Other Name
A History of Indigenous Environmental Injustice

CHAPTER THREE
The Complicated Legacy of Western Expansion and the Industrial Revolution

CHAPTER FOUR
Food Is Medicine, Water Is Life
American Indian Health and the Environment

CHAPTER FIVE
(Not So) Strange Bedfellows
Indian Country's Ambivalent Relationship with the Environmental Movement

CHAPTER SIX
Hearts Not on the Ground
Indigenous Women's Leadership and More Cultural Clashes

CHAPTER SEVEN
Sacred Sites and Environmental Justice

CHAPTER EIGHT
Ways Forward for Environmental Justice in Indian Country

Acknowledgments
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index

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"Honoring Indigenous Peoples: 20 Recommended Reads," New York Public Library, book included in roundup

"10 Books Climate Activists Are Reading Now," YES! Magazine, included in "10 Books Climate Activists Are Reading Now" reading roundup

"The 10 Best Books On Climate Change, According to Climate Activists," Teen Vogue, listed in 10 Best Books on Climate Change roundup

"Coronavirus shows we must change how we live or face self-destruction," High Country News, op-ed

"The problem with wilderness," UU World, excerpt

"The Centuries-Long History of Extractive Greed," Common Dreams, book and author quoted in article

"As Long As Grass Grows: Dina Gilio-Whitaker," Real Food Media, podcast interview

"Books to give activists as they prepare for the upcoming election," Mashable, included in gift guide roundup

"Native Authors of California: A Shortlist," California Humanities, included in reading rounding featuring Native authors from CA

"12 Books by Indigenous Writers to Read this Indigenous Peoples Day," Literary Hub, listed in Indigenous Peoples' Day reading roundup

"Indigenous Peoples' Day, Scientific Knowledge, & the Teachings of Plants," Pluralism, Pragmatism, and Progressivism (a Patheos blog), quoted and mentioned in piece

"Environmentalism and Native People," KPFA/Against the Grain, interview

"How to Indigenize the Green New Deal and Environmental Justice," High Country News, op-ed

"The Contemporary Adventure Canon," Outside, write-up in reading roundup

"As Long as Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice," Bioneers, excerpt

"For Further Reading: New Native Histories of North America," Beyond the Spectacle (University of Kent blog), included in reading roundup

"When Grass Stops Growing," The Progressive, interview

"Decolonizing Surfer: Dina Gilio-Whitaker," OC Weekly, interview

"Book talk to focus on environmental conflicts in Native American history," Daily Bruin (UCLA Newspaper), write-up about UCLA author event

"We've spent 100 years growing a tinderbox across the West. Now it's wildfire season," Grist, book cited as source in video segment about Native American prescribed fires

"#ColorlinesReads: Get Some Perspective With These 5 Books," Colorlines, included in reading roundup

"CSUSM professor probes environmental impacts on Native Americans in new book," The Coast News Group, write-up

"What would an indigenized environmental justice movement look like?" KALW/Your Call, interview

"Dina Gilio-Whitaker," Cultures of Energy, podcast interview

"Steelworkers Strike Deal With Harley, Tracing Environmental Injustice Against Native People," WPR/The Morning Show, live interview

"Mainstream Settler Society Needs a Land- and Place-Based Ethic," Powell's blog, essay

"8 Must-Reads by Women Who Take on White Supremacy and Patriarchal Power," YES! Magazine, featured in reading roundup

"The Story We've Been Told About America's National Parks Is Incomplete," TIME.com, excerpt

"David Treuer on uncovering the untold Native American histories of 'Heartbeat of Wounded Knee,'" Los Angeles Times, Q&A with David Truer

"17 books every activist should read in 2019," Mashable, included in reading roundup

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the story of native peoples’ resistance to environmental injustice and land incursions

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and a call for environmentalists to learn from the indigenous community’s rich history of activism

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The story of Native peoples' resistance to environmental injustice and land incursions, and a call for environmentalists to learn from the Indigenous community's rich history of activism Through the unique lens of "Indigenized environmental justice," Indigenous researcher and activist Dina Gilio-Whitaker explores the fraught history of treaty violations, struggles for food and water security, and protection of sacred sites, while highlighting the important leadership of Indigenous women in this centuries-long struggle.

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The living forest: the Amazonian tribespeople who sailed down the Seine

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The living forest: the Amazonian tribespeople who sailed down the Seine

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Indigenous people and communities are on the frontlines of climate change. They are also the least responsible for carbon emissions. The protection of their lands and ways of life are a key part to the solution to climate change. To learn more about the ways indiginous people are on the frontlines of climate change, watch this video. You can also read about the disproportionate impact of climate change on indiginous communities.

Watch and listen to Sonia Guajajara talk about how looking to indigenous communities can save the planet. Interested in more examples of how indiginous people and tribes are leading the fight against climate change? Check out How Dakota Case and the Puyallup Nation are Protecting the Salish Sea.

Want a big, global perspective? Read a UN report on both the impacts of climate change on indiginous people, as well as some of the things those communities are doing to fight and find solutions.

Want some more in-depth reading and storytelling? The Right to Be Cold is Sheila Watt-Cloutier's memoir of growing up in the Arctic reaches of Quebec. It is the human story of life on the front lines of climate change, told by a woman who rose from humble beginnings to become one of the most influential Indigenous environmental, cultural, and human rights advocates in the world.

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The living forest: the Amazonian tribespeople who sailed down the Seine

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Indigenous people and communities are on the frontlines of climate change. They are also the least responsible for carbon emissions. The protection of their lands and ways of life are a key part to the solution to climate change. To learn more about the ways indiginous people are on the frontlines of climate change, watch this video.

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United Nations

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"I am convinced that climate change, and what we do about it, will define us, our era, and ultimately the global legacy we leave for future generations. Today, the time for doubt has passed."
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, 24 September 2007

Indigenous peoples and the role they may play in combating climate change are rarely considered in public discourses on climate change. The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, is well placed to support indigenous peoples in putting a "human face" on this issue. Hence, it is not surprising that the special theme for the 7th session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, which will take place from 21 April to 2 May 2008 in New York, is "Climate change, bio-cultural diversity and livelihoods: the stewardship role of indigenous peoples and new challenges".

The effects of climate change on indigenous peoples

Indigenous peoples are among the first to face the direct consequences of climate change, due to their dependence upon, and close relationship, with the environment and its resources. Climate change exacerbates the difficulties already faced by indigenous communities including political and economic marginalization, loss of land and resources, human rights violations, discrimination and unemployment. Examples include:

Indigenous peoples in Africa's Kalahari Desert are forced to live around government drilled bores for water and depend on government support for their survival due to rising temperatures, dune expansion and increased wind speeds which have resulted in a loss of vegetation, and negatively impacted traditional cattle and goat farming practices.

In the high altitude regions of the Himalayas, glacial melts affecting hundreds of millions of rural dwellers who depend on the seasonal flow of water is resulting in more water in the short term, but less in the long run as glaciers and snow cover shrink.

In the Amazon, the effects of climate change include deforestation and forest fragmentation and consequently, more carbon is released into the atmosphere exacerbating and creating further changes. Droughts in 2005 resulted in fires in the western Amazon region and this is likely to occur again as rainforest is replaced by savannas thus, having a huge affect of the livelihoods of the indigenous peoples in the region.

Indigenous peoples in the Arctic region depend on hunting for polar bears, walrus, seals and caribou, herding reindeer, fishing and gathering not only for food to support the local economy, but also as the basis for their cultural and social identity. Some of the concerns facing indigenous peoples in the region include the change in species and availability of traditional food sources, perceived reduction in weather predictions and the safety of traveling in changing ice and weather conditions, posing serious challenges to human health and food security.

In Finland, Norway and Sweden, rain and mild weather during the winter season often prevents reindeer from accessing lichen, which is a vital food source. This has caused massive loss of reindeers, which are vital to the culture, subsistence and economy of Saami communities. Reindeer herders are being forced to feed their herds with fodder, which is expensive and not economically viable in the long term.

Responding to climate change

Climate change poses threats and dangers to the survival of indigenous communities worldwide, even though indigenous peoples contribute the least to greenhouse emissions. In fact, indigenous peoples are vital to, and active in, the many ecosystems that inhabit their lands and territories and may therefore help enhance the resilience of these ecosystems. In addition, indigenous peoples interpret and react to the impacts of climate change in creative ways, drawing on traditional knowledge and other technologies to find solutions which may help society at large to cope with impending changes. Examples include:

In Bangladesh, villagers are creating floating vegetable gardens to protect their livelihoods from flooding, while in Vietnam, communities are helping to plant dense mangroves along the coast to diffuse tropical-storm waves.

Indigenous peoples in the Central, South American and Caribbean regions are shifting their agricultural activities and their settlements to new locations which are less susceptible to adverse climate conditions. For example, indigenous peoples in Guyana are moving from their savannah homes to forest areas during droughts and have started planting cassava, their main staple crop, on moist floodplains which are normally too wet for other crops.

In North America, some indigenous groups are striving to cope with climate change by focusing on the economic opportunities that it may create. For example, the increased demand for renewable energy using wind and solar power could make tribal lands an important resource for such energy, replacing fossil fuel-derived energy and limiting greenhouse gas emissions. The Great Plains could provide a tremendous wind resource and its development could help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as well as alleviate the management problem of the Missouri River hydropower, helping to maintain water levels for power generation, navigation, and recreation. In addition, there may be opportunities for carbon sequestration.

Drawbacks and difficulties of responding to climate change

The potential threat of climate change to indigenous peoples' very existence combined with various legal and institutional barriers, which affect their ability to cope with and adapt to climate change, makes climate change an issue of human rights and inequality to indigenous peoples.

It is also important to note that enhancing and supporting the adaptive capacity of indigenous peoples will only be successful if it is integrated with other strategies such as disaster preparation, land-use planning, environmental conservation and national plans for sustainable development.

In many instances, adaptation to new conditions requires additional financial resources and the transfer of technological capacity that most indigenous communities do not possess. While short-term adaptation activities are underway, resource and capacity constraints are limiting the implementation of long-term adaptative strategies.

Some mitigation measures may have undesirable direct and indirect consequences for indigenous communities. For instance, biofuel initiatives are a means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions may lead to an increase in monoculture crops and plantations and an associated decline in biodiversity and food security. The full and effective participation of indigenous communities is crucial to the elaboration of State-developed mitigation measures to ensure that such schemes do not negatively affect vulnerable communities.

Indigenous peoples who choose or are forced to migrate away from their traditional lands often face double discrimination as both migrants and as indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples may be more vulnerable to irregular migration such as trafficking and smuggling due to sudden displacement by a climactic event, limited legal migration options and limited opportunities to make informed choices. Deforestation, particularly in developing countries, is pushing indigenous families to migrate to cities for economic reasons, often ending up in urban slums.

Resources

Climate Change - An Overview, paper prepared by SPFII [en Español]
Expert Group Meeting on Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change in Darwin, Australia 2-4 April 2008 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali IASG Collated Paper on Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change Report of the Inter-agency Support Group to the Seventh Session of UNPFII Report of the Conference on Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change, Copenhagen 21-22 February Convention on Biological Diversity Case Studies (Technical Series Nos 10 and 25) Official Convention on Biological meeting documents on Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change IPCC Fourth Assessment Report - Working Group II Report 'Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability' IPCC Fourth Assessment Report - Working Group III Report 'Mitigation of Climate Change'

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Climate Change | United Nations For Indigenous Peoples

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"I am convinced that climate change, and what we do about it, will define us, our era, and ultimately the global legacy we leave for future generations. Today, the time for doubt has passed." Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, 24 September 2007 Indigenous peoples and the role they may play in combating climate change are rarely considered in public discourses on climate change.

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The Disproportionate Impact of Climate Change on Indigenous Communities

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The Disproportionate Impact of Climate Change on Indigenous Communities

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KCET Radio

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The case studies, images, and content for this article are drawn from the exhibition "Climate Stories," curated by the author and on view at the Global Museum at San Francisco State University through May 22, 2020.
Now more than ever, the topic of climate change has been receiving national attention and is at the forefront of many conversations. In addition to altering environments, it also has a social impact. Extreme weather events have been happening more than ever in recorded history, disrupting both ecosystems and livelihoods for people across the globe. However, marginalized communities, including Indigenous groups, are often the people most affected by devastating storms, flooding, or fires. Recent environmental changes brought on by climate change uniquely impact Indigenous people, especially because of their relationships with the land, ocean, and natural resources. The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs articulately states, "Climate change poses threats and dangers to the survival of Indigenous communities worldwide, even though Indigenous peoples contribute the least to greenhouse gas emissions."

"We all breathe this one air, we all drink the same water. We all live on this one planet. We need to protect the Earth. If we don't, the big winds will come and destroy the forest. Then you will feel the fear that we feel." - stated by Raoni Metuktire, Indigenous activist and chief of the Kayapó community in Brazil

In the words of Survival International, an organization championing tribal peoples around the world, "Indigenous people are on the front line of climate change." When community worldviews are deeply tied to the environment, what happens when that environment starts to change rapidly? Or when ancestral homelands that communities have lived in for thousands of years start to disappear? A few of the direct consequences of changing environmental conditions include loss of natural resources, restricted access to traditional gathering areas for food and medicine, and forced displacement or relocation. Despite these challenges, many Indigenous communities are adapting traditional lifeways and advocating for change.

Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) is an essential part of the climate conversation. In California, tribes across the state are actively involved in climate change-related planning and adaptation. The Karuk tribe in northern California recently completed a Climate Adaptation Plan that leans on Traditional Ecological Knowledge to protect their culture, according to Bill Tripp, deputy director of the Karuk Natural Resources Department. The tribe is currently implementing indigenous burning practices to reduce the buildup of forest fuels and help prevent high-severity wildfires. Many other tribal communities, including the North Fork Mono and Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, are also engaged in prescribed burning. The Coast Miwok are currently working with the National Park Service at Point Reyes to help protect cultural sites that are disappearing due to erosion and flooding. The organization Climate Science Alliance is supporting the La Jolla Band of Luiseño Indians to create a climate adaption plan. These projects and partnerships are just a few of the many climate change initiatives currently led by California tribal communities.

These climate-related impacts extend beyond California. Climate change affects Indigenous communities across the globe who live in or are connected to a broad diversity of natural environments. The Carteret Islands in Papua New Guinea are the first place in the world to require population relocations specifically due to climate change. However, Papua New Guinea was also the first country to submit a formal climate action plan under the Paris Agreement, just one of many examples of community action and response. In Australia, which is currently facing drought, increased wildfires, rising sea levels, and coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef, many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advocating for policy change within the Australian government for climate change planning, which includes actions like reducing carbon emissions and building emergency sea walls.

Many Pacific Islander communities are also building new infrastructure and creating relocation plans. Native Hawaiian people - whose lifeways have long been linked with the ocean - are some of the global leaders in climate change policy, planning, and adaptation. In 2018, the Hawai'i legislature passed two bills pledging to make the state carbon neutral by 2045.

Fishing continues to be an important part of life in Hawai'i, as a source of food and trade. For thousands of years, Native Hawaiians built fish ponds in coastal estuaries to produce millions of pounds of fish as a staple food source. Rising temperatures are now drying up these ancestral ponds. Community members today are moving nets, installing aeration systems, and using flexible harvest strategies in these ponds to adapt to warming ocean temperatures.

Many Native Alaskan tribes, which include Yupik, Inuit, Iñupiat, and Aleut communities, have lived in ancestral villages along the coast for thousands of years, relying on fishing and subsistence hunting of marine mammals such as seals and walrus for survival. Due to rapid sea ice melt, approximately 87% of Native Alaskan villages are experiencing erosion, and many are being forced to move. Hunters have also turned to new methods, including flying drones over ancestral hunting grounds, to track sea ice and walrus populations.

When changing environmental conditions result in habitat loss, this can offset the balance between humans and important wildlife species. In Papua New Guinea, the crocodile and the cassowary bird - two culturally significant species - are losing habitat due to rising river levels. One of the creation stories from the Iatmul community in Papua New Guinea describes a world engulfed by water. An ancestral crocodile came and scooped part of the submerged land onto its back, lifting it to the surface. Ironically, thousands of years later, this prophetic creation story seems all too real. The cassowary, a critically endangered bird species, is seen as kin, and the use of their bones and feathers in material culture signifies relationships with ancestors.

Plants can also serve as indicators of climate change. Even subtle differences in weather patterns can lead to a decrease in biodiversity. Indigenous communities are having to adapt agricultural practices, which often serve as the main food source for a region, and are losing the ability to gather medicinal plants that they rely on for healing. As temperatures continue to increase, some species that live in delicate microclimates, such as cloud forests and rainforest biomes, may no longer be able to survive.

For example, Indigenous communities in the Amazon Basin, which is home to over 80,000 plant species, have long relied on plants for medicinal purposes, many of which are also used in modern pharmaceuticals. Deforestation and land exploitation have made it more difficult to gather these species. Indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin regions of Brazil, Peru, and Ecuador are actively fighting to protect their ancestral territories from oil development and deforestation, frequently resulting in deadly consequences. Community members today often use cultural items such as headdresses and face paint for protests and political action in addition to traditional use.
Top image: Indigenous people, fishermen, and climate activists protest during an oil and gas auction in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2017. | Juliana Colussi / Creative Commons
As these case studies show, environmental changes can have major impacts on Indigenous people. Climate change impacts communities not only from an environmental standpoint but also at a cultural level. There are multiple Indigenous environmental groups, grassroots organizations, and guardians who are working together to combat these issues. As powerfully stated by Raoni Metuktire, Indigenous activist and chief of the Kayapó community in Brazil: "We all breathe this one air, we all drink the same water. We all live on this one planet. We need to protect the Earth. If we don't, the big winds will come and destroy the forest. Then you will feel the fear that we feel."

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The Disproportionate Impact of Climate Change on Indigenous Communities

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The case studies, images, and content for this article are drawn from the exhibition "Climate Stories ," curated by the author and on view at the Global Museum at San Francisco State University through May 22, 2020. Now more than ever, the topic of climate change has been receiving national attention and is at the forefront of many conversations.

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Indigenous communities are at the forefront of climate resilience

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Indigenous communities are at the forefront of climate resilience

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Climate Change News | 2019

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Sponsored content: Indigenous communities have a vital role in developing climate resilience projects, using deep knowledge of environmental cycles
The impacts of climate change on Indigenous peoples are wide and immediate.
Indigenous land encompasses about 22% of the world's surface and overlaps with areas that hold 80% of Earth's biodiversity.

Hunters, fishers, herders, farmers, and wild harvesters, indigenous communities depend intimately on this ecological richness for their economic, social, and cultural well-being. This makes them especially sensitive to the effects of extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, heatwaves, wildfires, and cyclones. And at the same time, it makes them powerful actors in the fight against climate change.

For Indigenous peoples in eastern Canada, rising sea levels have led to the salination of freshwater, which in turn affects food security and traditional medicines. In the north, temperature rise has seen disappearing ice roads not only threaten transport systems, but also create profoundly negative impacts on the mental health of increasingly isolated communities.

Additionally, through colonisation, "communities were rounded up and put onto reserve systems," said Eriel Deranger, executive director of Indigenous Climate Action (ICA). "Climate change has not just destabilised the local biospheres, it's led to communities needing to move, but because of colonial structures, we've been unable to move our communities."

To combat this "underpinning of imbalance," Deranger believes that Indigenous knowledge must be at the centre of the climate action discussion. "Many of the richest biodiverse regions are protected largely in part because of the resistance by Indigenous communities to those regions," she said.

It is a close relationship with the environment, and deeply spiritual, cultural, social, and economic connections with that environment, that makes Indigenous peoples uniquely positioned to anticipate, prepare for, and respond to the impacts of climate change.

Indigenous science is based on building deep, long-term connections with the natural world. "You learn to have a different relationship with the environment, it exposes to you a different way of seeing and relating to the world," Deranger said.

"It's critical to have that lens," she added. "Without that connection to the natural world, we're doomed to repeat this again."

The ICA works across Canada to raise Indigenous voices on climate change and is currently developing a toolkit to help Indigenous communities plan climate action together. "The best way for us to build the capacity of our people is through gatherings. It's part of our cultural makeup, we ground a lot of our work in creating space for gatherings to foster a network of indigenous climate champions," said Deranger.

Using the toolkit, ICA and its local partner group Dene Nahjo are working with Arctic Indigenous communities to host dialogues and gatherings to build community-driven plans for climate action. The workshops are designed to highlight the importance of the unique Arctic knowledge held by the Dene and other Northern peoples. They also centre Indigenous peoples' rights and values in developing climate solutions.

In other places across the world, Indigenous knowledge has been effective in developing measures to cope with climate hazards. For example, Inca traditions of crop diversification to strengthen knowledge of genetic diversity and, in the Sahel, the use of water-harvesting strategies and weather forecasting.

"Indigenous peoples are repositories of learning and knowledge about how to cope successfully with local-level climate change and respond effectively to major environmental changes such as natural disasters," said Myrna Cunningham Kain, chair of the Pawanka Fund.

The Pawanka Fund helps communities across the world to build resilience by promoting and supporting the participation of Indigenous peoples in public policies, strategies, and other decision-making spaces. They also fund Indigenous-led plans and projects for adaptation to and mitigation of climate change.

With funding from the Climate Justice Resilience Fund, they are conducting two special calls for proposals on Indigenous-led approaches to resilience during 2019 and 2020. The fund has a transformational vision for these calls.

"Resilience is no longer just about absorbing shocks, but also about harnessing the changes triggered by external stresses to catalyse the evolution of the social-ecological system in question," said Cunningham.

"Indigenous knowledge is key in building climate change resilience because it includes the interrelationship between diverse aspects: human being, Mother Earth, and cosmos," she added. "Indigenous peoples have been living in the same territories and ecosystems for centuries and are the best experts in knowing environmental cycles and processes."
This post was sponsored by the Climate Justice Resilience Fund. See our editorial guidelines for what this means.

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Indigenous communities are at the forefront of climate resilience

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Sponsored content: Indigenous communities have a vital role in developing climate resilience projects, using deep knowledge of environmental cycles The impacts of climate change on Indigenous peoples are wide and immediate. Indigenous land encompasses about 22% of the world's surface and overlaps with areas that hold 80% of Earth's biodiversity.

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How Native Tribes Are Taking the Lead on Planning for Climate Change

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How Native Tribes Are Taking the Lead on Planning for Climate Change

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Yale | NICOLA JONES | 2020

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Photo courtesy of Swinomish Indian Tribal Community

With their deep ties to the land and reliance on fishing, hunting, and gathering, indigenous tribes are especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Now, native communities across North America are stepping up to adopt climate action plans to protect their way of life.

On a hot summer's day, marine ecologist Courtney Greiner walks the shore of a rocky Washington beach at low tide with a handful of staff and interns. They stake out the ground and hunch down, digging up the top two inches of mud, silt, and gravel looking for baby clams.

For thousands of years, the indigenous peoples of the West Coast would build rock walls at the low tide line, allowing sand to pile up behind them, making the slope of the beach gentler, and expanding the area of the intertidal zone that clams like to call home. These simple clam gardens are effective at boosting shellfish numbers, and have long been used to improve food security for traditional peoples.

Now the Swinomish are reviving the old idea to build the first modern clam garden in the United States. Greiner, who works for the Swinomish tribe, is collecting the data that will help the tribe determine the garden's best location. The project aims to boost clam numbers, providing both a sense of purpose for the community and additional food as other resources, like salmon, decline.

This is just part of the Swinomish's plan to ensure the ongoing prosperity of their people in the face of a changing climate. "They were the first native community - and really one of the first communities, period - to make climate adaptation a priority," says Meade Krosby, a conservation biologist with the University of Washington's Climate Impacts Group. The tribe's climate proclamation came out in 2007, and their action plan, published in 2010, was one of the first such documents in the United States. "They're early adopters and really innovative," she says.

The Swinomish have already launched projects aimed at helping the community adapt to a shifting climate in the Pacific Northwest. To protect salmon runs, the tribe is working on the Skagit River to create better spawning beds and is planting trees to provide shade and reduce river temperatures. In addition, the tribe is fighting to block mining operations in the headwaters of the Skagit in British Columbia, which could impact waters downstream.

"Tribes have always been adapting to climate change - now we have to adapt even faster," says one Navajo leader.

Another project aims to restore a healthy population of native Olympia oysters, long threatened by pollution and crowding out by competitive Pacific oysters and now impacted by ocean acidification. Workers have brought in truckloads of oyster shells and dumped them on beaches to provide new homes for imported natives; the imports grow well, says Greiner, but so far have yet to produce a next generation of shellfish. "It's a learning process," she says. A site for the first clam garden should be chosen by next year. And a wetlands project is documenting the local plants that have ecological and cultural importance to the Swinomish, as part of efforts to better manage the changing coast for salmon and farmers alike.

Across North America, other indigenous communities are stepping up to formulate and enact climate action plans to protect their way of life. In 2019, the Karuk tribe of northern California released its climate adaptation plan with a recommendation to return to prescribed burning, an old idea that might help to ease California's wildfire problems. The Tulalip tribes of Washington state are relocating nuisance beavers from urban areas back to traditional watersheds to help lower river temperatures and aid salmon populations; they are also redirecting agricultural runoff for electricity generation. The Jamestown S'Klallam tribe in Washington is removing invasive butterfly bushes from the banks of the Dungeness River to help protect its salmon. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of Montana are gathering and planting seedlings of the whitebark pine that are more resistant to warming-related diseases such as blister rust. Alaskan tribes are using microscopy to identify harmful algae blooms spurred by warming waters. The list goes on.

"Indigenous peoples have always been on the front lines," says Nikki Cooley, who grew up without electricity or running water on the Navajo Nation reservation and now co-manages the Tribes and Climate Change Program for the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP) in Flagstaff, Arizona. "Tribes have always been adapting to climate change. Now we have to adapt even faster."

As Krosby puts it, indigenous peoples "have unique connections to the land and are feeling impacts the earliest and most severely." One study found that coastal indigenous communities eat 15 times as much seafood as non-indigenous people in the same country - food that is being heavily impacted by everything from pollution to warming waters and ocean acidification. In the far north, buildings are collapsing and indigenous communities relocating as permafrost thaws, and traditional practices like reindeer herding are being threatened as winter snow changes to freezing rain, which locks up winter forage like lichens under ice.

"It's happening all over the world," says Brian Cladoosby, chairman of the Swinomish tribal community. "I have seen an elder standing on their cemetery in [the Pacific island nation of] Tuvalu and it was covered with water - they can't bury their people there anymore."

These are communities that have relied on the land for generations, building an intimate knowledge of the natural cycles of plants, animals, and weather. Unlike the traditional Western worldview that humanity can and should seek dominion over the environment, indigenous populations tend to view humanity as part of an interconnected whole. "We knew if we impacted one part of the web, the whole thing could fall apart," says Cladoosby.

Adds Cooley, "We put our non-human relatives first, meaning the trees, the sky, the water. We don't treat them as objects to be studied in a lab. We revere them."

Indigenous communities tend to think many generations ahead when planning how to utilize resources.

Native Knowledge: What ecologists are learning from indigenous people. Read more.

Indigenous communities also tend to think many generations ahead when planning how to utilize resources - a lot further than a U.S. presidential cycle allows. "America can't even think past 4 years," says Don Sampson, Umatilla Tribe member and head of the climate change project for the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI), a 57-tribe consortium. "It's a short-sighted country."

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's recent reports have acknowledged with "high confidence" that adaptation efforts benefit from the inclusion of local and indigenous knowledge. "One of the things that comes across really clearly is the fact that indigenous peoples are by far the most effective stewards of biodiversity," says Krosby. "They do the best job." One study showed, for example, that deforestation rates across the Amazon were two to three times lower in indigenous-held lands. According to the UN Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, indigenous peoples hold or manage a disproportionate amount of formally protected areas and areas with low human impact: these groups occupy 28 percent of the planet's land, but more than 40 percent of protected areas. In Canada, the government funded an Indigenous Guardians program in 2017, recognizing that First Nations communities are well placed to serve as stewards of the land.

Cooley estimates that ITEP has worked with representatives of some 300 of the 574 tribes in the United States and that there are now more than 50 tribal climate action plans in effect. "In the past five years, tribal climate action plans have exploded," she says. Sampson's goal is to ramp that up to 100 percent within five years: "We have to accelerate the ability and capacity of the tribes; we want all tribes to identify the impacts and have a plan for that."

Sampson also notes that many tribes are making huge strides on energy independence, weaning themselves off fossil fuels to protect both the environment and their economic future: the Navajo nation, for example, long reliant on coal, has made big investments in solar power.

The Swinomish tribe makes its home in western Washington, on an island carved out by the narrow Swinomish Channel. The land is low and at risk from sea level rise: A five-foot increase this century - at the high-end of sea level rise estimates - could swamp more than 1,100 acres of the 10,000 acre reservation, including all its agricultural lands. Part of the Swinomish territory is particularly sacred as a fishing and shellfish gathering spot, says Cladoosby. "One year, just a normal tide, not a storm surge, covered up that area," he recalls. "That had never happened before. It was eye opening for us."

About half of the reservation's acreage is forested, and so is at risk from wildfire, especially in a hotter, drier climate. The tribe has just over 1,000 members, many of them relying on "first foods" - from shellfish to deer - for their welfare. The surrounding Salish Sea has seen salmon populations crash mysteriously over the past 30 years; the impacts of climate change - including reduced stream flows and warmer stream temperatures - have been cited as one culprit. Dungeness crab and shellfish larvae are in some places literally dissolving from ocean acidification.

For many indigenous groups, environmental health and human health are deeply intertwined.

In the Skagit River Basin, a shift from snowfall to rain in the surrounding mountains is projected to boost winter river flow but reduce summer flow, drying up tributaries and making waters warmer just as salmon spawn in late summer and fall. "When there's no water for the salmon to return to, that's a serious problem," says Cladoosby.

"There've been times I've been really negative looking forward," says Joseph Williams, a Swinomish tribal senator with five children. "Things are looking pretty bleak, especially for our salmon." But these projects, he says, are proving inspirational to the next generation, helping to bring people together. "As long as we keep our kids excited about taking care of our environment, things remain optimistic," he says.

For the Swinomish, as for many indigenous groups, it makes little sense to talk about environmental health and human health separately; they are deeply intertwined, with community cohesion and traditional food security being equally vital. Resilience to sea level rise doesn't just mean managing wetlands, but also combating feelings of despair. Work led by the Swinomish tribe's environmental health analyst Jamie Donatuto and tribal historic preservation officer Larry Campbell has created a set of health indicators based on these cultural values. They hope this approach will help researchers across the world think beyond simple morbidity and mortality as the only important measures of welfare.

Such work is often done in collaboration with non-indigenous scientists and governments. The University of Washington's Climate Impacts Group last year released a Tribal Climate Tool, developed in close partnership with relevant tribes, that highlights specific climate impacts expected in local regions - from the number of hot summer days to inches of rainfall expected in coming decades - so tribes can see what they are facing and make decisions about how to adapt.

A number of such organizations are pushing this work forward in collaboration with local tribes, including the U.S. Geological Survey's regional Climate Adaptation Science Centers; Krosby is deputy director for the northwest division. And there's the Pacific Northwest Tribal Climate Change Network, based at the University of Oregon, which partners with Sampson's division at the ATNI. In October, ATNI's climate summit in Seattle is expected to attract tribal leaders from across North America, as they work on a national tribal climate crisis agenda for 2020 and beyond. "It's a revolution that's happening," says Sampson. "Watch the tribes: they are going to lead us."

For Cladoosby, part of that revolution involves re-awakening traditional connections to the land, which have eroded in recent centuries. "Part of the assimilation policy was taking stewardship of the environment out of our hands," he says, leaving many communities locked in a cycle of trauma and cultural loss, along with drug and alcohol abuse. "Part of breaking that cycle is getting back that respect for the environment."

Food Insecurity: Arctic heat is threatening indigenous life. Read more.

"Right now, we are taking baby steps," says Cladoosby. The Swinomish are still collecting data, securing treaty rights, educating their own people and others, he says. Alongside efforts to adapt and ensure resilience in the face of local change, political activism is also a big part of the picture as it can prevent some development and ensure that tribes maintain control over their lands. He acknowledges it will take time to establish long-term sustainable solutions. "We live in a pollution-based economy; it is based on making money and polluting the landscape," Cladoosby says. "Trying to change that mindset is like trying to turn a tanker. It doesn't happen over night."
Correction, February 13, 2020: A caption in an earlier version of this article incorrectly identified a photo as showing Swinomish tribal members preparing a new clam garden in Washington state. They were participating in a clam garden restoration in British Columbia.

Nicola Jones is a freelance journalist based in Pemberton, British Columbia, just outside of Vancouver. With a background in chemistry and oceanography, she writes about the physical sciences, most often for the journal Nature. She has also contributed to Scientific American, Globe and Mail, and New Scientist and serves as the science journalist in residence at the University of British Columbia. More →

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How Native Tribes Are Taking the Lead on Planning for Climate Change

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With their deep ties to the land and reliance on fishing, hunting, and gathering, indigenous tribes are especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Now, native communities across North America are stepping up to adopt climate action plans to protect their way of life.

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More than 49 years of experience partnering with Indigenous communities has equipped Cultural Survival with a trusted network of Indigenous partners and international human rights advocates across the globe.

Our work is predicated on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We engage opportunities to leverage our experience and leadership in advocacy, media, public education, programs, and in providing platforms to amplify and empower the voices of Indigenous Peoples as they work to claim their rights to self-determination, their lands, cultures, and precious ecosystems that are essential to the whole planet.

Cultural Survival supports a movement of empowered Indigenous Peoples organizing their communities to engage the international processes, national policies and human rights bodies to respect, protect, and fulfill their rights. Our organization is Indigenous-led and has a diverse board of directors bringing experiences from the Indigenous and non-Indigenous worlds to inform our perspectives and scope of work.

Our Mission

Cultural Survival advocates for Indigenous Peoples' rights and supports Indigenous communities' self-determination, cultures and political resilience since 1972.

Our Vision

Cultural Survival envisions a future that respects and honors Indigenous Peoples' inherent rights and dynamic cultures, deeply and richly interwoven in lands, languages, spiritual traditions, and artistic expression, rooted in self-determination and self-governance.

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Cultural Survival, Inc. is a non-profit organization with federal 501(c)(3) status. FEIN 23-7182593.

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"Cultural Survival advocates for meaningful engagement and participation of Indigenous Peoples in all matters that affect them. Only such processes can lead to mainstream acceptance of traditional holistic approaches and connections to the land that can save our planet."

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More than 49 years of experience partnering with Indigenous communities has equipped Cultural Survival with a trusted network of Indigenous partners and international human rights advocates across the globe. Our work is predicated on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

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How Dakota Case and the Puyallup Nation are Protecting the Salish Sea

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How Dakota Case and the Puyallup Nation are Protecting the Salish Sea

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Greenpeace | 2018

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How Dakota Case and the Puyallup Nation are Protecting the Salish Sea

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Keep It In The Ground: Indigenous People Demand Climate Justice

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Keep It In The Ground: Indigenous People Demand Climate Justice

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Al Jazeera  | 2015

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Keep It In The Ground: Indigenous People Demand Climate Justice

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Why Indigenous Resistance is More Important than Ever

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Why Indigenous Resistance is More Important than Ever

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Kaitlin Grable | Greenpeace |

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When I ask people about the roots of the environmentalist movement and the pioneers of this field, I get many answers like: Rachel Carson, John Muir, and Aldo Leopold. But the first environmentalists are often overlooked. In truth, they are Indigenous people. Although, the word "environmentalist" doesn't quite do justice to all that Indigenous beliefs, culture, and practices encompass when it comes to the natural world. For our people, protecting the environment surpasses the issue of preserving lands, livelihoods, wildlife, and water. There is a spiritual and religious component unique to Indigenous environmentalism since many of our ancestral and traditional practices are tied to the natural world.

Since nature is at the intersection of most Indigenous peoples' identity religion, culture, and community, we are therefore compelled to protect it. Our people have lived here on Turtle Island (also known as North America) since time immemorial, and for just as long we have acted as good stewards of the earth, the life, and the resources it gives us. Our ancestors lived in harmony with the land and with what it provides, while staying mindful of the ecological boundaries of the natural world and not taking from the land more than they needed. We see ourselves as being interconnected with all life forms. This awareness and reverence of where we fit into the world guides us. Mother earth does not have a human voice, therefore we have the ability to use our voices to call to her needs when she gives us warning and needs our help.

Long before modern technology and science, Indigenous people created complex systems to thrive off the land while caring for and maintaining it in turn. When European colonizers came to present day America, they marveled at the seemingly untouched fertile landscape of possibility. But in truth, this landscape was a result of thousands of years of land management by Indigenous people. Our ancestors used frequent, low intensity controlled burns to maintain a productive ecosystem and prevent wildfires long before our land was colonized. They employed regenerative harvesting (such as coppicing) and selective domestication in their methods of cultivating agriculture. Increasingly we are seeing countries around the world turning to their Indigenous people, seeking their knowledge on natural resource management to heal stolen and lands.

Colonialism violently uprooted Indigenous communities and drastically changed the natural environments and resources of our ancestral lands. As a result, environmental racism has manifested in a myriad of ways. In the 1800s, the U.S. government ordered the mass killing of buffalo in an effort destroy the livelihood of the Plains tribes . In recent decades, the ancestral lands of the Western Shoshone have been the location of over 1,000 atomic explosions and they continue to fight to keep their sacred Yucca Mountain from becoming a disposal site for nuclear waste. And the nation watched as the Standing Rock Sioux (surrounded by indigenous brothers and sisters from around the nation and as far as New Zealand) spoke out and protested against the Dakota Access Pipeline in order to defend the Missouri River , which is the primary water source for thousands of people in North Dakota on and off the reservation.

For the Indigenous people of the U.S., environmental destruction brings not only sorrow for the ruin of our mother the earth, but also amplified negative effects on the health of our people, our brothers and sisters across the nation. The largest radioactive accident in North America occurred not at Three Mile Island but on Diné (Navajo) lands in 1978, and even now Diné teenagers have a cancer rate that is the national average. The Akwesasne Mohawk people have levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in their bodies twice as the national average due to the dumping of these legacy pollutants in Kaniatarowanenneh, the river that sustains them with fish. And mining has left over 160,000 abandoned mines in the western U.S., where the majority of present day "Native American lands" are located. Indigenous people living near abandoned uranium mines have an increased likelihood for multiple chronic illnesses due to their proximity to contaminated soil and water, which has a small chance of ever being cleaned and remedied.
This is just a droplet in a vast sea of environmental injustices that have been and continue to be committed against our first nations.
Indigenous communities are one of the groups most impacted by climate change and the human activities that have precipitated it. Worldwide, Indigenous people comprise 5% of the world's population, yet their lands encompass 22% of its surface and are home to 80% of the planet's biodiversity. The challenges they face for sovereignty over their ancestral lands carry so much weight when we look further into the chain of impacts it has on their communities and the natural world.
But we are not complacent, we are not hopeless, and we are not giving up. Indigenous people are a necessary part of the solution, and many people beyond our spheres recognize the need for the inclusion of our nations.
According to the newest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, there is "high agreement that Indigenous knowledge is critical for adaptation." Indigenous people have a wealth of knowledge to be tapped into, including methods of managing forests and agro-ecological systems, as well as their traditions of stewardship passed down through the generations. The reverence we are taught for the natural world from birth is worthy of sharing to cultivate the next generation of environmental stewards throughout all cultures.

The fight for Indigenous rights, not only here in the U.S. but around the world in countries like Australia, Canada, and Brazil, is more important than ever. As we approach a pivotal moment in the need for climate action, the larger environmental movement must ally with the Indigenous people.

The rallying cry against the DAPL at Standing Rock has brought us into a new era of Indigenous environmentalism, as more and more people recognize and acknowledge the fight we have been fighting for centuries against ever-evolving forms of oppression. The national attention that Standing Rock received brought so many allies to Indigenous activism beyond North Dakota. And our movement continues to grow.

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Why Indigenous Resistance is More Important than Ever

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When I ask people about the roots of the environmentalist movement and the pioneers of this field, I get many answers like: Rachel Carson, John Muir, and Aldo Leopold. But the first environmentalists are often overlooked. In truth, they are Indigenous people. Although, the word "environmentalist" doesn't quite do justice to all that Indigenous beliefs, ...

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By: Carole Lindstrom

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We Are Water Protectors [Lindstrom, Carole, Goade, Michaela] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. We Are Water Protectors

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Red Alert!: Saving the Planet with Indigenous Knowledge 

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Red Alert!: Saving the Planet with Indigenous Knowledge 

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By Daniel Wildcat (Author)

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nature/environmental conservation & protection - general

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social science / ethnic studies / american / native american studies

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social science / ethnic studies / native american studies

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social science/ethnic studies - american - native american studies

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Red Alert!: Saving the Planet with Indigenous Knowledge (Speaker's Corner)

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Red Alert!: Saving the Planet with Indigenous Knowledge (Speaker's Corner) [Wildcat, Daniel] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Red Alert!: Saving the Planet with Indigenous Knowledge (Speaker's Corner)

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Learning how to listen - this is a lifelong practice.

As a way to help prepare for climate change (changes to land, water, living beings and inter-relationships) I am developing this practice by recording oral stories/teachings. Listening to stories builds relationships of mutual respect and reciprocity, through podcasts - a modern invention for internet broadcast - yet they build on the age-old medium of storytelling. Podcasts are a lot like radio, except they live on the internet, forever.

Story-telling / Story-listening: Decolonizing Research Through Podcast as Storytelling explores multiple Indigenous and cultural worldviews, sciences, pedagogies and cosmology. The series features interviews with Tłı̨chǫ knowledge-holders John B. Zoe and Janet Rabesca, Elder Albert Marshall from Mi'kma'ki, and my teachers Melanie Zurba, and Sherry Pictou from L'sɨtkuk (Bear River Fist Nation). By listening to their teachings, we are sharing a space with their voices and honouring pre-colonial oral traditions.

Episode 1 we hear from Dr. John B. Zoe about Decolonizing Research with the Tłı̨chǫ Nation Episode 2 grounded in her family's experiences on Tłı̨chǫ lands and waters, Janet Rabesca talks about adapting to climate change Episode 3 we share stories with Elder Dr. Albert Marshall in about Mi'kmaq resilience and responsibilities to M'sit No'kmaq (all my relations) Episode 4 we reflect on the podcast season in conversation with Dr.'s Melanie Zurba and Sherry Pictou.

Story-telling / Story-listening spisodes are available from:

For more information, please contact:

MREM Candidate, Dalhousie University

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Learning how to listen - this is a lifelong practice. As a way to help prepare for climate change (changes to land, water, living beings and inter-relationships) I am developing this practice by recording oral stories/teachings.

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Indigenous Environmental Network | Respecting and Adhering to Indigenous Knowledge and Natural Law

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Indigenous Environmental Network | Respecting and Adhering to Indigenous Knowledge and Natural Law

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The Indigenous Environmental Network is an alliance of grassroots Indigenous Peoples whose mission is to protect the sacredness of Mother Earth from contamination and exploitation by strengthening, maintaining, and respecting traditional teachings and natural laws.

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Indigenous Environmental Network

The Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), is an alliance of grassroots indigenous peoples whose mission is to protect the sacredness of Mother Earth from contamination and exploitation by strengthening maintaining and respecting the traditional teachings and the natural laws.

Established in 1990 within the United States, IEN was formed by grassroots Indigenous peoples and individuals to address environmental and economic justice issues (EJ). IEN's activities include building the capacity of Indigenous communities and tribal governments to develop mechanisms to protect our sacred sites, land, water, air, natural resources, health of both our people and all living things, and to build economically sustainable communities.IEN accomplishes this by maintaining an informational clearinghouse, organizing campaigns, direct actions and public awareness, building the capacity of community and tribes to address EJ issues, development of initiatives to impact policy, and building alliances among Indigenous communities, tribes, inter-tribal and Indigenous organizations, people-of-color/ethnic organizations, faith-based and women groups, youth, labor, environmental organizations and others. IEN convenes local, regional and national meetings on environmental and economic justice issues, and provides support, resources and referral to Indigenous communities and youth throughout primarily North America - and in recent years - globally.

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The Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), is an alliance of grassroots indigenous peoples whose mission is to protect the sacredness of Mother Earth from contamination and exploitation by strengthening maintaining and respecting the traditional teachings and the natural laws. Established in 1990 within the United States, IEN was formed by grassroots Indigenous peoples and individuals to address environmental and economic justice issues (EJ).

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By:  Sheila Watt-Cloutier (Author), Bill McKibben (Foreword)

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A "courageous and revelatory memoir" (Naomi Klein) chronicling the life of the leading Indigenous climate change, cultural, and human rights advocate

For the first ten years of her life, Sheila Watt-Cloutier traveled only by dog team. Today there are more snow machines than dogs in her native Nunavik, a region that is part of the homeland of the Inuit in Canada. In Inuktitut, the language of Inuit, the elders say that the weather is Uggianaqtuq-behaving in strange and unexpected ways. The Right to Be Cold is Watt-Cloutier's memoir of growing up in the Arctic reaches of Quebec during these unsettling times. It is the story of an Inuk woman finding her place in the world, only to find her native land giving way to the inexorable warming of the planet. She decides to take a stand against its destruction.

The Right to Be Cold is the human story of life on the front lines of climate change, told by a woman who rose from humble beginnings to become one of the most influential Indigenous environmental, cultural, and human rights advocates in the world. Raised by a single mother and grandmother in the small community of Kuujjuaq, Quebec, Watt-Cloutier describes life in the traditional ice-based hunting culture of an Inuit community and reveals how Indigenous life, human rights, and the threat of climate change are inextricably linked. Colonialism intervened in this world and in her life in often violent ways, and she traces her path from Nunavik to Nova Scotia (where she was sent at the age of ten to live with a family that was not her own); to a residential school in Churchill, Manitoba; and back to her hometown to work as an interpreter and student counselor.

The Right to Be Cold is at once the intimate coming-of-age story of a remarkable woman, a deeply informed look at the life and culture of an Indigenous community reeling from a colonial history and now threatened by climate change, and a stirring account of an activist's powerful efforts to safeguard Inuit culture, the Arctic, and the planet.

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the right to be cold: one woman's fight to protect the arctic and save the planet from climate change

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earth sciences - meteorology & climatology

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arctic regions - environmental conditions

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biography & autobiography / personal memoirs

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earth sciences - meteorology & climatology

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environmental protection - arctic regions

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nature/ecosystems & habitats - polar regions

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science / earth sciences / meteorology & climatology

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science/earth sciences - meteorology & climatology

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biography & autobiography / personal memoirs

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nature/ecosystems & habitats - polar regions

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science / earth sciences / meteorology & climatology

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science/earth sciences - meteorology & climatology

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The Right to Be Cold: One Woman's Fight to Protect the Arctic and Save the Planet from Climate Change

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Amazon.com: The Right to Be Cold: One Woman's Fight to Protect the Arctic and Save the Planet from Climate Change (9781517904975): Watt-Cloutier, Sheila, McKibben, Bill: Books

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Indigenous knowledge meets science to take on climate change | Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim

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Indigenous knowledge meets science to take on climate change | Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim

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Indigenous knowledge meets science to take on climate change | Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim

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What Is the Land Back Movement? A Call for Native Sovereignty and Reclamation

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What Is the Land Back Movement? A Call for Native Sovereignty and Reclamation

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(De)colonized is a series on the harms of colonialism, and the fierce resistance against it.

You've likely seen the term before, especially if you spend much time on social media, or are interested in saving the environment, climate change, or Indigenous cultures. This term was even featured in the introduction of episode three of the breakthrough Hulu and FX series Reservation Dogs. You may not have fully understood what it meant, but there it was: "Land back."

It's a beautifully simple slogan, a literal call for the return of Native lands to Native peoples, and a profound summation of anti-colonial thought. "'Land back' is a war cry for the liberation of Indigenous people and our land, and it's a pathway forward," Nick Tilsen, president and CEO of NDN Collective, tells Teen Vogue.

According to Tilsen, who is Oglala Lakota, the term was born about a decade ago, when a number of Indigenous artists started using it. Further popularized by memes and social media, the mantra has since evolved to encapsulate and inform the political stances of activists who've been on the front line for a long time, as well as their allies.

Yet the foundation of the land back movement is much older. For Native people of the Western Hemisphere, it started in 1492 with the arrival of Christopher Columbus on the shores of "the New World," followed by other European explorers such as Amerigo Vespucci. During this so-called Age of Discovery, colonial conquest was unleashed on the original stewards and inhabitants of what are now known as the Americas. Native populations were robbed of their ancestral lands and wiped out by genocide.

"Our people have been fighting for land back and to reclaim lands since colonization," says Krystal Two Bulls, director of NDN Collective's land back campaign. The organization's campaign calls for the defunding of police, free and prior consent for decisions that impact Native peoples, and the return of public lands. "This work has been happening for generations and generations and it's something that's simply being handed down to us."

The past few years have seen a spate of land reclamations by Native nations. In 2020, Chippewa National Forest was instructed to transfer 11,760 acres of forest service land to the Department of Interior to be held in trust for the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, thanks to the Leech Lake Reservation Restoration Act. That same year, the Esselen Tribe of central California purchased about two square miles of their land back for just under $4.5 million, assisted by Western Rivers Conservancy. In March, with a grant from conservation charities, the Passamaquoddy Tribe raised $355,000 to purchase Pine Island in Maine, their ancestral land. The removal of dams on the Klamath River is also being praised as a land back victory for Karuk and Yurok Tribes.

On its face, the land back movement involves the physical reclamation of ancestral lands by the Indigenous people who lived there for time immemorial. But to get to the heart of the matter, we must dive deeper.

" Through the treaties, [land] was taken. The American Constitution was violated in the taking of it. So when we say 'land back,' we're talking about actual land return," Tilsen explains. "We're also talking about the dismantling of many of the systems of white supremacy that have been created to maintain our land being stolen from us. So at the same time we're fighting for physical land back, it's not possible for goals to be fully accomplished if we're not dismantling the system."

Tilsen continues, "Land back means so much because the reality is that in the process of taking the land from Indigenous people, they created and built entire institutions - colonial and imperialistic institutions - that were designed for the purpose of taking our land and to maintain the continued theft of our land, and to continue to maintain the extractive relationship with the land. I think that's one thing we have to realize."

Colonial governments stole a lot more than the land. They took away the political and decision-making power of Indigenous nations and our right to consent to what happens to our land, people, families, and even our bodies. Our spiritual beliefs and languages were outlawed, and many of our children were forcibly taken to boarding schools, some never to be seen or heard from again. For these reasons, land back has become a symbol of the reclamation of everything that was taken and destroyed by the architects of colonialism.

"Land back is the umbrella and it's the metanarrative for all of that work to happen," Two Bulls, who is Northern Cheyenne and Oglala Lakota, tells Teen Vogue. "Because once Indigenous peoples reclaim our land, once we reclaim language, once we reclaim our ability to manage the land in a way that is healthy, in a way that we understand and know, I think that is going to be the answer to a lot of these issues that we are running into. And by doing that, we have to dismantle these systems."

"Part of what we're reclaiming when we say 'land back' is our power," says Tilsen. Land back involves an actual shift in the power structure not of just the United States, but the world.

One reason the land back movement has taken hold in recent years is that new research has shown that Indigenous nations are excellent at land management. Scientists have started to join the chorus of "land back" for purposes of land conservation, biodiversity, and slowing the climate crisis. For example, Native knowledge and practices could be particularly useful in fighting the threat from severe wildfires on the West Coast.

The elevation of Native leaders to powerful positions is another positive sign. Secretary Deb Haaland became the first Native woman to head the Department of Interior, which oversees the Bureau of Land Management. Also, the White House has nominated Charles F. Sams III to serve as director of the National Park Service; if appointed, Sams would be the first Native to hold that post. In Canada, the government recently announced that it is allocating $340 million toward supporting First Nations guardians and protected areas. As The Narwhal reported, Canada has committed to conserving 30% of its lands and waters by 2030.

However, Tilsen and Two Bulls are skeptical that real change can occur within the colonial power structure responsible for the theft of Indigenous lands. "We have to recognize that under the management of the federal government and colonial governments everywhere, all of this land has been mismanaged," Tilsen asserts. "It hasn't been taken care of; it has been destroyed. It's been mined. Polluted. It's been used for corporations as [a] playground to make money off of this land, pollute the waterways, and contribute to the growing problem of global climate change."

Tilsen continues, "We're going to get back to prioritizing the relationship between the land and the people, rather than thinking about the land as just something that we should extract from for the purposes of money and power. We're reclaiming our inherent right to assume control, protection, and stewardship of these lands."

Tilsen and Two Bulls are also quick to affirm that the land back movement isn't just for Indigenous people. Its mission and objectives serve the public good and could very well save the existence of life on Earth. "If there's going to be any reparations or repair, healing, moving forward, justice, sovereignty, liberation - whatever the things are that we're working towards - it has to start with land back," Two Bulls says. "It has to go back to the roots of what this so-called country was founded on, of what allowed all of these institutions and systems that oppress us to exist, and that was when we were forced to be removed from our lands. So, to move forward, we have to reclaim our lands." She adds, "[Land back] is for everyone because it impacts all of us."

The movement is one of transcendence. It's a conversation starter about racial equality and equity. It's a verb that invokes action and calls for change. "Land back came from the ceremonies," Tilsen explains. "[It] came from the art, the culture, and spirits of the people.... Land back is something that anybody and everybody has an opportunity to be a part of no matter where you stand politically, no matter what you believe in the world or what your knowledge is, because it touches every aspect of our lives."

In short, says Tilsen, "It's marching orders."

Want more from Teen Vogue? Check this out: Colonialism, Explained

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What to Know About The Land Back Movement

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(De)colonized is a series on the harms of colonialism, and the fierce resistance against it. You've likely seen the term before, especially if you spend much time on social media, or are interested in saving the environment, climate change, or Indigenous cultures.