Justice Analysis: Indigenous Sovereignty for Land Rights

My comic strip illustrates how, for generations, indigenous groups have nurtured the natural environment. Years of culture embedded into daily practise, alongside generational knowledge, highlights indigenous groups’ resilience and durability towards the Earth (McGregor et al., 2020). Indigenous groups view the Earth not as a resource, but a living environment that humanity must co-exist with (McGregor et al., 2020). Government bodies often fail to incorporate indigenous knowledge into legislation and policies; the continuous depletion of our planet demonstrates that current policies are not working effectively (McGregor et al., 2020).

Historically, colonialism has converted indigenous land to urban settlements; power dynamics and conflicts of interest cause indigenous groups to be overlooked and forced to sacrifice homelands (Yang, 2006). Environmental justice encompasses participatory justice, a framework providing ‘procedural fairness in public decision’ (Liebenberg, 2018, p.623). As Liebenberg. (2018) highlights, participatory justice incorporates notifying indigenous groups of decision-making, consulting these groups for input, and the formation of an integrated decision-making system that adopts an egalitarian approach. Egalitarianism is an ethical paradigm, which encompasses equal rights and opportunities to achieve a goal (Yang, 2006). In this case, the desired goal is sustainability within the Earth’s system, and the evolution of an egalitarian world where all minority groups are informed, listened to, and embraced.

The base acceptable level of participatory justice and egalitarianism should be to inform indigenous groups of land changes with sufficient notice (Liebenberg, 2018). One main difference between indigenous groups and world-leaders’ opinions and practise, are their priorities, approaches and philosophies (Prindeville and Bretting, 1998). The western approach, using modern technology and data to formulate predictions for the impacts of climate change, differs from indigenous approaches, which evolve around organic, historical and traditional knowledge derived from living within the complex natural world (Yunus, 2019). Indigenous groups’ more practical approach, co-existing with the western evidence-based approach, encourages a broader scope to be adopted to tackle imminent climate change impacts, which meets a more justice-based outcome (Yunus, 2019).

Marginalising indigenous groups’ rights has been intentional globally. Whyte. (2017) identifies how ‘settler colonialism’ not only takes over an area physically, but also how it has a detrimental impact on deep-rooted culture. Evidenced by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, a pipeline project was built on indigenous land without consultation (Whyte, 2017). This not only physically ruined the indigenous and ancestral homeland, depleting the water supply and quality, but also their culture and structure (Whyte, 2017). Not only do governments and large corporations poorly govern these areas, but they prioritise economic development over cultural significance and sustainability, thus not adopting participatory justice (Whyte, 2017).

Participatory justice is embedded in political inclusivity; indigenous groups have deeper, personal connections to sustainability and humanity’s environmental concerns (Prindeville and Bretting, 1998). Indigenous women participating in Prindeville and Bretting’s. (1998) paper, state that the conservation issue is a direct threat to them, their families, and communities (Prindeville and Bretting, 1998). They believe indigenous groups are vital to political inclusion and decision-making, because of their personal experience and direct connection to Mother Earth being ‘integral to their spirituality and inseparable from themselves’ (Prindeville and Bretting, 1998, p.51).

A longer-term solution to tackle participatory injustice could be joint stewardship to physically manage conservation initiatives and mitigate unethical and conflicting practises. This example of justice analysis enables individuals to better understand how crucial it is to reinforce realistic, focussed and considerate policies, for all minority groups. Embracing an egalitarian and participatory justice framework enables humanity to thrive, maintain and sustainably exist within the natural world.

Word Count: 590

References

Liebenberg, S. 2018. Participatory Justice in Social Rights Adjudication. Human Rights Law Review. 18, pp.623-649.

McGregor, D., Whitaker, S. and Sritharan, M. 2020. Indigenous environmental justice and sustainability. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. 43, pp.35-40.

Prindeville, D. and Bretting, J.G. 1998. Indigenous Women Activists and Political Participation. Women & Politics. 19(1), pp.39-58.  

Whyte, K. 2017. The Dakota Access Pipeline, Environmental Injustice, and U.S. Colonialism. An International Journal of Indigenous Literature, Art, & Humanities. 19(1), pp.154-169.

Yang, T. 2006. Towards an egalitarian global environmental ethics. In: ten Have, H. ed. Environmental Ethics and International Policy. Paris: UNESCO, pp.23-45.

Yunus, D. 2019. Indigenous and Western Approaches to Environmental Science: What integration means to us. 10 January. International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD). [Online]. [Accessed 06 November 2024]. Available from: https://www.iisd.org/ela/blog/indigenous-western-approaches-environmental-science-integration-means-us/