Support indigenous rights

Photo by Deb Dowd on Unsplash

Description

Global evidence also shows that many Indigenous governance systems, land practices, and knowledge systems make major contributions to sustaining nature. Research across 87 countries found that Indigenous peoples manage or hold tenure rights over more than a quarter of the world's land surface, overlapping with about 40 percent of terrestrial protected areas and ecologically intact landscapes.

Indigenous peoples around the world represent a wide range of cultures, histories, governance systems, and relationships with lands and waters. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples affirms rights including self-determination, culture, traditional lands and resources, and participation in decisions.

A global assessment also found that nature is generally declining less rapidly on Indigenous peoples' lands than on other lands, although it is still declining and the knowledge used to care for it is under pressure.

These findings highlight the value of secure land rights, self-determined governance, and knowledge developed through generations of experience. Indigenous peoples experience discrimination, dispossession, exclusion from decisions, and violations of their land and cultural rights. Those defending their territories and the environment may face threats, criminalization, and violence.

Effective support begins by listening to Indigenous priorities. These may concern land, language, culture, education, health, economic development, the environment, or other community goals.

Tips

• Follow Indigenous-led organizations, media, scholars, artists, and leaders to learn more. To start, choose one Indigenous-led effort to learn from and support.

• Stay informed about Indigenous rights issues. Global Witness is a useful website for this. The International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs also has a large collection of publications ranging from climate change to the cultural practices of Indigenous groups.

• Donate to an Indigenous-led organization or fund working locally, nationally, or globally. For example, Cultural Survival’s Indigenous-led funds provide grants directly to grassroots organizations, collectives, and traditional governments. You can also support Choose Earth, which assists Indigenous leaders in Brazil through donations and sustainably produced merchandise, or donate to Amazon Frontlines, which works alongside Indigenous communities to protect their rights, lands, and cultures.

• Contact government representatives and companies about decisions affecting Indigenous peoples. Ask them to recognize land and cultural rights, uphold free, prior, and informed consent, and include Indigenous representatives as decision-makers.

• Share content and calls to action created by Indigenous people and organizations. Credit the source and preserve the context to ensure the message is clear.

• Learn whether companies, financial institutions, or products you support are connected to projects affecting Indigenous lands. Ask whether Indigenous communities were meaningfully consulted and gave their consent.