Indigenous leadership in environmental governance is increasingly being recognized through the implementation of Indigenous climate adaptation strategies, the creation of Indigenous and community conserved areas, and land back initiatives. On local, national, and global scales, Indigenous communities are adapting to intensifying impacts of climate change that threaten their lifeways, sovereignty, and connections to place. At the same time, Indigenous environmental leadership is constrained by colonial systems and legal structures, thereby situating Indigenous climate adaptation and environmental governance within an ongoing history of oppression and resistance.
This panel invites presentations on key priorities identified by Indigenous communities seeking to protect and connect with their lands, waters, and communities, such as: land return and restored access to lands and waters for stewardship, cultural practices and food sovereignty; emergency preparedness and hazard reduction; and sheltering in place and keeping communities rooted to land amidst increasing gentrification, development, encroachment, climate-related disasters, and other challenges. Through a lens of place-based studies of Indigenous environmental governance and land back, we seek to analyze facilitators and barriers to these Indigenous-led efforts for interconnected environmental and cultural stewardship.
Key discussion questions invited for this panel include:
- What are some of the primary opportunities and strategies arising for advancing Indigenous environmental governance and land back at the current moment, as well as structural problems preventing Indigenous leadership in governing traditional lands and waters? What is the role in academic-community partnerships in engaging with these?
- How are Indigenous communities and their practices changing state agencies, and collaborative management arrangements? What kinds of institutional innovations are emerging from Indigenous interventions in dominant in land tenure and resource management systems?
- What are some of the diverse examples of Indigenous self-determination taking place in current land back and Indigenous climate adaptation initiatives, and what lessons can be learned from these efforts?
- How are Indigenous communities creating and implementing education systems to prepare future generations of land stewards? And how is Indigenous-led environmental education taking place across multiple cultural and sociopolitical contexts?
- What types of strategies are being used to advance Indigenous-led land protection and community health, where the health of the land and the health of the people are deeply interconnected? How are these strategies supported through research and advocacy?
