Support indigenous people’s cultures and livelihoods

Though relatively small in number, indigenous peoples around the world maintain a way of life closer to nature and nature’s laws than any other population group on Earth. Their way of life and knowledge, which if lost would represent an irreparable loss for the human species, yet their way of life continues to erode under the pressures of unsustainable development. More needs to be done to reverse this trend.

Indigenous, or native or “first” peoples have in various, mainly passive, ways resisted incursions of industrial society into their lands, their cultures, and beliefs. As a rule, they have attempted to preserve a worldview that carries the concept of sacred earth, that cares about the seventh generation to come, and that doesn’t give money, at the expense of all living things, the final say. Seeking to live in harmony with nature’s laws, their way of life is a cultural gift and lesson for the outside world, but one that continues to be at risk as the younger generations are lured by jobs in mainstream society. Many who remain have been unemployed and become addicted to alcohol and drugs as their social and cultural life disintegrates under the pressure of the dominant outlying culture.

The ERC has had long-standing interest and experience in working with, learning from, and encouraging indigenous peoples. It will facilitate indigenous activities and programs that transmit, at their core, the wisdom of native elders to the young generations while introducing them to sustainable livelihoods in revitalizing their natural and cultural habitats. Environmentally sustainable technologies including, in temperate zones, re-introducing permaculture and other traditional integrated farming techniques could be introduced where they do not exist. With indigenous peoples living in more remote areas, non-timber forest products, including medicinal plants, could be developed while helping them to preserve their forests and acquire legal title where necessary to their ancestral lands.

Motivating young indigenous peoples, particularly in the Americas (where their condition has deteriorated the most), to restore their natural and cultural milieus, including through leadership skills and preventive health measures, is an elemental process of earth restoration that can serve as a model for outlying communities. An inner-directed rebirth of native peoples, cultures, and their habitats will have much to offer and teach North American neighbors (and élites in Latin America, Africa, and Asia) who lead lives that contribute more to the destruction rather than restoration of the Earth. This program can be implemented with support from a governmental agency through an indigenous team, led by an elder teacher. Such a cooperative undertaking could sustain and work with indigenous peoples’ organizations and representatives to help them implement training of trainers and existing programs leading to practical and meaningful work opportunities for their young adults.