DOCUMENT: INDIGECO.TXT A L T E R N A T I V E S T O D E V E L O P M E N T: ENVIRONMENTAL VALUES OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES Environment Workshop -- March 30, 1979 Northwest Regional Conference on the Emerging International Economic Order March 29 - 91, 1979 Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. In the original religions of many indigenous peoples there is the belief that human beings are thinking, acting and growing individuals with souls or spirits. This belief also applies to animals and plants, which live and grow, and may have influence upon our daily lives. Even the different phenomena in nature, the sun and moon which run from east to west, sunbeams which give warmth and growth, water which gives life, rivers which run, snow which comes and disappears again, volcanoes, dangerous and noisy lightning and more, were for our ancestors, and many of us still, the natural world. This world exists as a balance between natural and supernatural forces. Nature is a real environment that one must accept. Through experience and through different rituals, indigenous peoples have learned to live in harmony with nature. Not until the intervention of European political states was the harmony between human beings and nature upset. The balance between the natural and supernatural was, and continues to be, violently disrupted by those who would seek short term beneFits by extracting natural resources at rates,and in amounts, greater than can be naturally replaced. Political states have grown so rapidly in the past two hundred years that they now consume resources in excess of their own ability ta produce them. The demand for consumable resources has increased so rapidly that shortages have multiplied to the extent that basic natural resources like water, petroleum and timber are more and more difficult to secure. The motivating force behind the misuse of natural resources is growth consumption and the idea of progress. Because native peoples live in close proximity to the natural world, and the supernatural world a relative balance is maintained through limited growth and moderate consumption. Life could not be sustained without limits and moderation. Even political states recognize that limits must be placed on the consumption of natural resources when there are shortages, but instead of cutting back expectations and reducing the long term use of certain resources, new goals are set for exploration and exploitation. Such new demands place new pressures on the fragile ecology and threaten the long-term future of humankind. The belief that both animals and plants, and even other natural phenomena are regarded as having souls ar spirits has been referred to as "nonsense" ,but it was,and is now, one of the most important features of indigenous beliefs that ensures respect for the environment. It may be difficult far many agriculturists to understand that hunting people have an enormous respect for the living, and For life itself. Many people today may find it ridiculous that our ancestors treated a slain animal as an honored guest by giving different gifts, or by saying prayers for it, or by making their hunting equipment beautiful and attractive. The western agriculturist especially may tell us that it would be better to make efficient hunting equipment than to say prayers far the killed animal. He might be right if it was a question of killing as many animals as possible in as short a time as possible. These ceremonies are not a "means of hunting". They give regulation to community life. It is through the balancing of the natural world with the supernatural world that the indigenous peoples realize that life taken must be restored. It is necessary for the members of a hunting community to kill animals, but it may also be vital for them not to disturb the balance of the animal life. In the Northwest part of the United States, throughout the continent of Australia, in the jungles of the Amazon Basin, and in the lands of Taiwan and plains of Sudan, indigenous peoples continue to live in territories occupied once by their ancestors. In these areas, and many more all over the world, tribal peoples continue to practice the ways of our ancestors, though often in modern surroundings. Like our ancestors, we strive to continue the balance between the natural world and the supernatural world, and for this we have home lands which are not spoiled or completely disturbed. Tribal areas, the homelands of indigenous peoples, are now the green areas of the world, though they were once thought to be areas inhospitable to human life. Indigenous peoples have by virtue of their way of life, protected and preserved the lands, water, plants, and animals that represent the last major undeveloped resources in the world. Many indigenous people have chosen not to expand their own use of the resources, while still other indigenous groups have chosen to cautiously increase the amount of use they will make of minerals, timber and certain animal life. Using indigenous resources is most often not a choice made by an indigenous group; but the decision of a political state, transnational corporation, or other economic development interest. Political states like Brazil, South Africa, United States and Denmark have came into existence and continue to exist because of their exploitation of indigenous natural resources. The cost of such exploitation by all political states has been the lives of in excess of 27,000,000 indigenous peoples world-wide. Since 1850 even greater damage has been dane to millions of square miles of land and thousands of miles of rivers and streams. Even the atmosphere around us has been seriously harmed. But the trend toward increased exploitation continues, even though the consequences are increasingly clear. The state of Brazil recently announced that several major companies would be allowed to "defoliate" the jungles and forests of the Amazon Basin to extract the "rich timber resources", while bringing civilization to natives. In the Northwest part of the United States political officials have decided to divert water from the Columbia River through a thing called the Second Bacon Siphon so that what is now a productive dry-farm area will be made into an irrigated farm area, with little possibility of becoming a productive and economically feasible sugar beet production source. In South Africa the indigenous populations have been squeezed into territories much too small for their health, while vast areas are being developed for a small minority. In each of the instances I have briefly mentioned, tribal resources have been the target of exploitation. Indigenous groups are either ignored, pushed aside, or killed so that their resources will become available to political states in need of trade materials or goods for general consumption. The needs and interests of political states and indigenous groups are in many ways diametrically opposed to one another. Political states view uncontrolled growth and progress as the highest ideals, while indigenous groups regard balance and limited growth as essential to their livelihood. From all appearances these ideas cannot be reconciled. We must reconcile the differences or a great deal of humankind will not survive. There is more to bind humankind together than should separate. There is a common belief in the human potential and a common belief that human beings should determine their own future. There is the common belief that human beings should be free and that the rights of a people should be respected. We also have in common the belief that the world should have a new economic order which ensures the health and future of all peoples. In order to maximize human commonalities we must be willing to accept compromises and lower our expectations. We must agree that a new economic order must provide for all of humanity and not merely for a few. We must recognize that a new economic order cannot benefit all of human kind if it permits exploitation of one group by another group. A new economic order must mean the protection and preservation of nature and a restored balance. We have several proposals which we believe will increase the likelihood that a new international order will benefit humankind. We propose that: Industrial states must not compete with tribal groups for their resources. Indigenous resources must be used only with the clear consent of the groups affected. Industrial states must institute new policies which require a substantial reduction in the use of timber, petroleum, water and all other raw materials. The responsibility for initiating outside contacts between indigenous peoples and political states must rest with the tribal peoples themselves. National governments and international organizations must recognize and support tribal rights to their traditional land, cultural autonomy, and full local sovereignty. The United Nations should, with the concurrence of affected indigenous peoples, declare internationally protected "autonomous indigenous areas" secured by aboriginal title and established to preserve and protect the right of self-determination for indigenous peoples, and protect natural resources from external exploitation and encroachment without the consent of local indigenous populations and international supervision. The United Nations must establish an international organization which includes membership from the political states and indigenous peoples for the purpose of reviewing grievances and claims proclaimed by indigenous peoples, and such an organization must be empowered to address the U.N. Security Council and U.N. General Assembly to promote redress of authenticated grievances. The United Nations must establish an international organization which includes membership from the political states and indigenous peoples for the purpose of offering financial aid and technical assistance to indigenous peoples when they initiate a request, and such a financial and technical aid organization should be empowered to secure such financial commitments from other world organizations and political states as may be necessary to the needs of indigenous peoples. Change in the lives of indigenous peoples is a condition which has always existed. Serious changes have given rise to serious readaptations to the new condition. Indigenous peoples represent many peoples, many cultures, and also different ways of thinking. But, they share the same natural world and the same spiritual world. As we close this presentation we cannot help but make the observation that industrial political states have risen and seem to be in decline since their emergence just over two hundred years ago. Tribal societies have existed for aver 10,000 years and continue to adapt and adjust. Which is the better way, growth and consumption or balance? This paper developed with the cooperation and support of the following individuals and organizations: World Council of Indigenous Peoples (WCIP) National Indian Lutheran Board (NILB) National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) Satiacum Enterprises COSAMCO Ltd. Joe DeLaCruz, President, Quinault Nation Joan Ortez, Chairwoman, Steilacoom Tribe Russell Jim, Councilman, Yakima Nation William Yallup, Councilman, Yakima Nation George Manuel, WCIP Marie Maruley, WCIP Rosalee Tizya, WCIP Anne Pavel, Skokomish Tribe Mel Tonasket, Vice-Chairman, Colville Confederated Tribes and Vice- President, NCAI Calvin Peters, Chairman, Squaxin Island Tribe Bernie Whitebear, United Indians of All Tribes Foundation Writing and Research Staff: Rudolph C. Ryser, COSAMCO Ltd. Sue Sawicki, COSAMCO Ltd. Gary Morishima, Quinault Tribe Shirley Keith, Muckleshoot Tribe Randy Scott, Puget Sound Association of Cooperating Tribes (PACT) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :: -= THE FOURTH WORLD DOCUMENTATION PROJECT =- :: :: A service provided by :: :: The Center For World Indigenous Studies :: :: www.cwis.org :: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Originating at the Center for World Indigenous Studies, Olympia, Washington USA www.cwis.org © 1999 Center for World Indigenous Studies (All Rights Reserved. References up to 500 words must be referenced to the Center for World Indigenous Studies and/or the Author Copyright Policy Material appearing in the Fourth World Documentation Project Archive is accepted on the basis that the material is the original, unoccupied work of the author or authors. 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