2023 In Review

Indigenous Just Transition

The Indigenous Just Transition (IJT) program planning was initiated in December of 2022 beginning with a staff and advisory committee meeting held in Phoenix Arizona.

Throughout the spring and into fall, a series of workshops and projects around food sovereignty, local micro-grid renewable energy systems, seed rematriation, traditional farming methods, ethnobotany as well as language, culture and traditional arts revitalization were conducted as part of the ongoing IJT demonstration project located on the lands of the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara people.

From September to November IJT staff began working with a local organizer, Marie Gladue, to host the first in a series of regional IJT gatherings, in Flagstaff, Arizona. With 64 registered attendees and local folks who attended, we had approximately 75 in attendance for the two days. From this event, a Declaration of Solidarity between the Pueblo and Dineh Relatives was read into the record of the IJT Assembly to protect Chaco Canyon! Planning has already begun for the next IJT Regional Gathering which will take place in the spring of 2024 and we look forward to another year supporting local communities’ visions of an Indigenous Just Transition future. 

Another Indigenous Just Transition regional workshop is planned for the spring with others throughout the year. The Climate Justice team is planning events as are all IEN program teams with participation in continued meetings and negotiations related to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change that hopefully will lead to a more promising COP29 after a disappointing COP28, held in oil-dependent Dubai, UAE, presided over by an oil executive and overrun by oil and gas lobbyists and CEOs.

Indigenous Sovereignty

In March 2023, IEN hired its first official Indigenous Sovereignty Advocate staffed position, however, the work in this area has been ongoing for some time. The key areas of work have been in the Inherent Relationships Jurisprudence Project (IRJ), Indigenous Just Transition, and issues pertaining to the Facilitated Working Group (FWG) of the UNFCCC.

IRJ is a joint Project with the Earth Law Center and was initiated in 2022.  It is focused on uplifting Indigenous legal systems based upon Traditional Indigenous Knowledge (TIK) and how those systems include the inherent relationships that respective Indigenous Nations have with the lands, waters, air and all on, in and above on which they live.  These give rise to customary, and treaty reserved rights in the non-Indigenous legal system.  It is our position that Rights of Nature, while important, can inadvertently undermine our respective inherent relationships at times, even while respecting Indigenous Peoples.  Inherent Relationships Jurisprudence then, is viewed as sitting alongside the Rights of Nature, and other Eurocentric rights-based legal frameworks in an equitable manner, being of the same status. To this end, we have so far conducted seven work sessions on Inherent Relationships Jurisprudence in the following locations: Durango, Colorado; Bemidji Minnesota; Toronto, Ontario; Seattle, Washington; Honolulu, Hawaii; Redding, California; and Oakland, California. 

IEN advances various Indigenous Peoples related concerns, including the advancement of an Ethical Protocol for the Protection and Use of Indigenous Knowledge. The FWG meetings are closely tied to the UNFCCC COP process via the the Facilitated Working Group (FWG) is part of the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform (LCIPP). IEN was successful in the 10th meeting of the FWG at this COP28 and our submission on an Ethical Protocol will likely be considered in the body’s next three-year work plan.

Indigenous Water Ethics

IEN has a history of participation in World Water Forum, since 2003 in Kyoto, Japan. Our activity is based on the call for an Indigenous World Forum on Water and Peace originated from Elders at the World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education in Hilo, Hawaii in 1999. 

Transboundary water work is multilayered work in peacemaking, human and planetary health, ritual, values, culture, spirituality, healing our relationships with each other and the land, protection of biodiversity, relationship to sacred sites and the original instructions to care for them and justice in its many forms. 

Water runs through it all. Restoring our Relationship to Water – Wisdom, Values, Rights explores the multifaceted and holistic nature of our relationship to water and the benefits of centering Indigenous Wisdom to understand the complex value of water.The Indigenous World Forum on Water and Peace delegation affirmed that humanity needs a paradigm shift in its relationship with water and Mother Earth from a relationship of destruction and abuse to a relationship where we care, nurture, maintain, sustain and protect Mother Earth.

IEN’s Indigenous Water Ethics Organizer participated various global events and dialogues related to water, and made important interventions and recommendations such as: balance between western and Indigenous ways of knowing, laws and science; Indigenous Peoples’ role in the monitoring and standard setting for water quality for the next seven generations; full recognition and implementation of UNDRIP in any matters concerning water and with full prior and informed consent of the Indigenous Peoples; and much more. 

IEN will continue creating and supporting collaboration spaces, as well as, incorporating Indigenous knowledge and natural laws about water in 2024 and beyond. We will continue to focus our outreach on Indigenizing, decolonizing, how we will meet the sustainable development goals (SDGs), promote peace and security, and provide a healthy life for all.

Communications

This past year the IEN communications team has added to our portfolio of successful projects and coverage of events and gatherings – overall we focused on adding and enhancing everyone’s skills and talents and methods used to coordinate content and messaging on our many media platforms – to respond to requests for speakers, interviews and outreach to journalists and academia. IEN’s leadership supported our  critical investment in advanced training and equipment to perfect our skills, and cross train as much as possible, thus making us more agile and responsive. All this and we were able to keep up with rapid responses in the EJ movement. Our IEN Communications department is committed to producing high quality and Indigenous-designed media, and we continue to grow and affirm our media as a credible news source for our communities and movements. 

During our annual staff meeting in June, our front-line communications team members received media kits that included audio and video equipment specifically chosen to facilitate documenting actions and events on the front lines and in the moment. The quality of the content captured is especially valuable for post-production presentations that continue to be key elements in our library of education outreach materials. The communications team is charged with ensuring that our social media, digital media publications, radio and video and audio production remain consistent with our original mandate to adhere to our original instructions and Natural Law as it applies to Traditional Indigenous Knowledge of our wisdom keepers. Our messaging reflects the reality that Indigenous Peoples aren’t a monolith and therefore we respect each Nation, Tribe, Clan, or confederacy’s lifeways – and do all in our power to provide platforms for every community to speak for themselves – or to choose the message(s) and who will represent them.

Over the years we’ve assisted in the production and dissemination of analysis, data, and first-person stories from Indigenous and grassroots communities in industrial and extractive sacrifice zones in the Global North and South. Unfortunately, the stories that we hear the most of are accounts of tragic consequences from ruptured oil pipelines, and increased toxic emissions releases. The narratives include the identification of the connections and interrelated issues of systemic racial, cultural, climate, and environmental injustices. Our collective efforts during this past year has helped produce, distribute, and promote issue-specific webinars, video presentations, and radio programming. In 2024 we will continue these efforts and branch out further… stay tuned!

This coming year we will continue to fine-tune our ways of storytelling, outreach methods and sources that continue to deeply immerse us and renew our commitment to continue to build and maintain two-way communication pathways of reciprocity and respect.