42-3 Sustaining Our Lands and Lifeways

We would wake up before the sun, my father,  my mother, my brothers, and I. Sometimes we would go to the beach first, to gather shells and observe the fish. Later we would go to the taro patch as the sun was still coming up and feed our pigs, check the water areas, and start to tend the taro patches. If we were going to pull taro, we would all go together to harvest and prepare it. There is a special method of taking it out of the ground so that we wouldn’t damage the cuttings, or huli, which were to be planted after.

Native Land Conservancy (NLC), based in Mashpee, MA, describes itself as the first Native-led land trust east of the Mississippi, with a mission “to protect sacred spaces, habitat areas for our winged and four-legged neighbors, and other essential ecosystem resources to benefit Mother Earth and all human beings.” Founded in 2012 by Ramona “Nosapocket” Peters (Mashpee Wampanoag) with startup grants from Fields Pond Foundation and the Island Foundation on the principle that all land is sacred, NLC aims to partner with other la

"We are born with wings in a patriarchal  system that strives to draw borders, build  walls, and forge cages." — Guisela López After years of persistence, Chajoma’ people have successfully recovered their communal lands. The Spanish invasion of Central America brought violent dispossession to Maya peoples’ communal lands, and death was the destiny of those who refused to leave.

THE SUSTAINABILITY OF INDIGENOUS AGROFORESTRY  

PRESERVING NATURAL RESOURCES OF THE AHETAHA PEOPLES IN THE SOLOMON ISLANDS   Honu e hinaania apa’apana ka ano ano nao kau,’ which roughly translates to, ‘The turtle trusts its flippers to crawl on sharp, dead corals,’ is an expression in our Are’Are language to describe despite how slowly one moves or how long the journey takes, one can reach their destination.

My earliest memory is of my father taking us all out in his fishing boat to a nearby beach to dig for cockles and clams while I wore my black leather jacket. These family outings would provide food throughout the year. We also gathered berries, beach asparagus, and seaweed. Medicinal herbs were made into salves and lotions to cure cuts, skin problems, and sickness. My family lives in Wrangell, Alaska, at the mouth of the mighty Stikine River: the fastest navigable river in North America, fed by the sacred headwaters in British Columbia.

“Indigenous Peoples have the right to the conservation and protection of the environment and the productive capacity of their lands or territories and resources. States shall establish  and implement assistance programmes for  Indigenous people.” - UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Article 29.1