Hydronarratives: The Confluence of Water and Environmental Justice

The history of Land Loss

For centuries, colonizers and settlers have been dispossessing lands from indigenous people. It happened in a variety of places around the globe such as Australia, North America, and other Native American areas. People were ordered to move from rich lands to poor lands by numerous laws, including the Indian Removal Act of 1830; in Australia, the Aboriginal peoples lost their lands to the British settlers. This history of dispossession has placed many indigenous communities in uncomfortable situations, thus, they had fought for survival on generally poor lands facing environmental changes.

The land loss does not just mean the loss of a place one lives in. The indigenous people are faced with the loss of culture, identity, and lifestyle represented by the land taken away from them. As much as they lose their land, so they break the umbilical string that had connected them to their ancestors and traditions. This makes them vulnerable to the impact of climate change since they cannot rely on the traditional ways to dealing with the different environment.
 

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