The Fight for Land Rights
The first fight for most indigenous peoples is normally the request for legal recognition over their lands. Several statements, especially like the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, has supported and consolidated the rights acquired through several international agreements.[1] With these, it is legal to give a right to indigenous peoples to own, use, and control the lands they traditionally occupied. The problem here is how exactly these rights get translated into concrete practice. Many indigenous land rights laws are weak or unenforced in several countries. Indigenous people often have to contend with the invasion of their lands by illegal miners, loggers, and others who wish to exploit their resources, even in many cases where such land rights are recognized.
The constitution of Brazil protects indigenous land rights, but many indigenous territories are invaded by illegal activities. The government does little to stop these invasions, leaving the indigenous people to defend their lands. The lack of protection this brings about gives way time and again to conflict and violence as indigenous people struggle to protect their homes and livelihoods.
Extractive industries also include some of the biggest threats to indigenous peoples' land rights, such as mining, logging, and oil drilling. Extraction industries see indigenous lands as rich both in resources that can be extracted for profit and with no regard for the rights and needs of people living on those lands. It has led to innumerable conflicts between indigenous communities and companies trying to exploit their lands.
The Wet'suwet'en people in Canada have been fighting against a natural gas pipeline that the Canadian government stands behind, while the hereditary chiefs of Wet'suwet'en stand opposed. This pipeline is threatening their land and way of life, but their resistance started national and international debates about indigenous land rights and self-sovereignty.
In Amazon rainforest, the same struggles are going on as indigenous people fight illegal logging and mining that is destroying the rainforest. This activity harms not only the environment but also the rights of indigenous peoples to land and resources. These rights, well protected by national and international law, are often overridden by powerful economic interests.
[1] United Nations, United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, accessed August 16, 2024, https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/declaration-on-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples.html.
[2] Global Witness, Defenders of the Earth: Global Killings of Land and Environmental Defenders in 2016, accessed August 16, 2024, https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/environmental-activists/defenders-earth/.