Land is Life Celebrates the Landmark Victory of the Ogiek People in the African Court
On June 23rd, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights ruled that the Kenyan government must grant the Ogiek people collective land title to the Mau forest and pay them $1.3 million as compensation for historical injustices. This is a landmark victory for the Ogiek who have been suffering continuous evictions from their ancestral territories. The Mau forest, in south-western Kenya, has been home to the Indigenous Ogiek people since time immemorial. The Ogiek, who depend on hunting, gathering, and small-scale farming for their livelihoods, have faced countless evictions from their ancestral homelands since the beginning of British colonial rule. Throughout the last century, the reasons for evictions have been multiple, such as industrial agriculture and logging, but the most recent cases have been about the Kenyan government blaming the Ogiek for deforestation and ecosystem degradation. In 2009, following another eviction order from the Kenya Forest Service, the Ogiek brought a case to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights which was later taken to the African Court. Finally, in 2017, the Court ruled that the Mau forest is the ancestral home of the Ogiek; that the Government of Kenya had violated the rights of the Indigenous people to their lands; and that their evictions have not supported protecting the forests. However, rather than implementing the Court’s decision, the Kenyan government has continued violating the Ogiek’s rights. In July 2020, for example, more than 100 Ogiek families were violently evicted and 300 Ogiek infrastructures destroyed in the Mau forest. The government’s failure in implementing the decision from 2017 led to a further judgment by the same court last week. This time, the African Court ruled that the Kenyan government must pay 158 million Kenyan shillings ($1,3 million) to the Ogiek people for material and moral damages. This was the first time that the Court has called for compensation for an Indigenous community. The Court further stated that: · The government must take all necessary measures to identify, delimit and grant collective land title to the Ogiek community and, by law, assure them of unhindered use and enjoyment of their land. · The government must recognize, respect, protect and consult the Ogiek in accordance with their traditions and customs, on all matters concerning development, conservation or investment on their lands. “The judgment is a big relief to the Ogiek community. We have been in and out of courts and it has been costly for us. The next step after the landmark is for the government of Kenya to move in and start implementing the ruling of the African Court by consulting us, the Ogiek community.” – Daniel Kobei, Ogiek Peoples’ Development Program (OPDP) Land is Life celebrates this landmark victory with the Ogiek people and demands the Kenyan government to fulfill the obligations set in the ruling. We hope that the case will set a powerful precedent in Africa where various Indigenous peoples, such as the Batwa and the Maasai are continuously suffering forced evictions from their territories. The 13-year-long court process is one of the many tools that the Ogiek have used for fighting for their rights to their lands. Another relevant tool has been the ongoing process of developing an autonomous, Ogiek-led Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) Protocol that aims to support the communities in responding to increasing land use pressures from their own governance mechanisms and worldviews.
Land is Life continues to condemn the State violence in Ecuador
Land is Life expresses outrage at the death of Byron Guatatoca, Amazonian Indigenous defender of the Province of Pastaza, who died within the framework of the “State of Exception” dictated by the government of Ecuador to suppress peaceful and legal Indigenous-led demonstrations. This is the latest in a series of violent acts against the Indigenous peoples in Ecuador, which are now in their tenth day of protests, during the current deterioration of living conditions and the impoverishment of the local and peasant communities of the country. According to the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador, (CONAIE), there are already more than a hundred injured and more than 79 detainees during the protests. The actions of the State security forces have ignored basic human rights, standard state observation procedures, constitutional guarantees and international agreements. We call on the Ecuadorian State to cease the repression against the demonstrators and to fully observe their human rights, guarantee collective rights and address the legitimate demands of the population. We express our solidarity with all the victims of this conflict.
Land is Life condemns the State violence and criminalization of protesters in Ecuador
We at Land is Life are deeply concerned about the increasingly ominous state of stigmatization, prosecution, and repression that the Indigenous peoples of Ecuador are facing. Over the past week, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), along with other Indigenous, rural and social organizations, have mobilized to protest the precarious living conditions, the collapse of public education and health care due to a decrease in state funds, the crisis of small-scale farmers, the expansion of extractivist industries on Indigenous territories, and the lack of juridical guarantees for Indigenous peoples to exercise their collective rights recognized in the Constitution of Ecuador. To respond to the demands of the people, the government has overlooked the proposals of CONAIE, stigmatized Indigenous leaders, developed racist narratives, denied the right to democratic participation, attributing Indigenous peoples and their organizations as violent destabilizers. Moreover, Leonidas Iza Salazar, president of CONAIE, was wrongfully arrested and arbitrarily detained for 24 hours without a court hearing. Meanwhile, a whole campaign of hatred has been launched by government officials who have alleged a supposed link between the protests and drug trafficking. The harassment, repression and stigmatization not only ignore the recommendations that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights previously drafted to the State of Ecuador regarding the events of October 2019, but also threatens the most central democratic values regarding the recognition of Indigenous peoples’ right to participate in matters that concern them as well as the rights of citizens to free expression, freedom of association, and right to protest, considered in article 98 of the Constitution of Ecuador. Land is Life calls on the national and international institutions entrusted with guarding the rights of Indigenous peoples, to guarantee their rights to free expression and protest. We urge the Government of Ecuador to open democratic and intercultural spaces for the litigation of conflicts and dissents within a multinational democracy. *** Quienes conformamos la organización Land Is Life expresamos nuestra profunda preocupación por el creciente clima de estigmatización, judicialización y represión que vienen soportando los pueblos y nacionalidades indígenas del Ecuador. A lo largo de la última semana, la Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador (CONAIE) junto con otras organizaciones indígenas, campesinas y sociales han convocado a jornadas de movilización en protesta por la precarización generalizada de las condiciones de vida, el colapso de los servicios públicos de educación y salud debido al decrecimiento de la inversión estatal, la crisis de los pequeños productores agrícolas campesinos, la expansión de las fronteas extractivas a territorios indígenas y la falta de garantías jurídicas para ejercer los derechos colectivos reconocidos en la Constitución del Ecuador. La respuesta gubernamental frente a estas demandas ha sido la desestimación de las propuestas de la CONAIE, la estigmatización y creciente hostilidad contra los dirigentes indígenas y la fabricación de narrativas centradas en el reavivamiento del racismo, la negación del derecho de participación democrática y el atribuir a los pueblos indígenas y sus organizaciones un carácter desestabilizador y violento. En el límite el presidente de la CONAIE, Leonidas Iza Salazar, fue arrestado de manera improcedente, retenido arbitrariamente durante 24 horas sin audiencia de juzgamiento, al tiempo que se ha impulsado toda una campaña de odio y estigmatización por parte de personeros gubernamentales quienes han llegado a insinuar supuestos vínculos entre las manifestaciones y el narcotráfico. Este clima de hostilidad, represión y estigmatización no solo inobserva las recomendaciones que ya fueran formuladas al Estado Ecuatoriano por la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos durante el informe por los hechos de Octubre de 2019, sino que atenta contra los valores democráticos más angulares respecto al reconocimiento del derecho a la participación de los pueblos indígenas en asuntos que les competen, a los derechos ciudadanos a la libre expresión que les asisten, y a su libertad de asociación, manifestación y derecho a la resistencia contemplado en el artículo 98 de la Constitución Política de la República del Ecuador. Desde Land Is Life, hacemos un llamamiento a las instituciones nacionales e internacionales encargadas de vigilar el cumplimiento de los derechos de los pueblos indígenas para que se garantice su derecho a la expresión y protesta, y conminamos al Gobierno Nacional del Ecuador a abrir espacios democráticos e interculturales para el procesamiento de los conflictos y discrepancias naturales en una democracia plurinacional.
Land is Life condemns the ongoing violent evictions of the Maasai people in Loliondo, Tanzania
Last month, we shared the struggle of Ngorongoro, Tanzania, which covers the Indigenous Maasai People’s continued resistance to government-led displacement of their people from their ancestral homelands. As mentioned, this case is by far not one of its kind. On June 10th, the Maasai pastoralists of Loliondo, on the northern side of Ngorongoro, faced dreadful violence by military troops who opened fire in order to evict the Indigenous people from their territory. The government of Tanzania has violently started evicting the Maasai pastoralists of Loliondo from their lands to make way for trophy hunting and elite tourism. The tensions have been ongoing for more than a decade, as the Otterlo Business Corporation (OBC) that organizes hunting safaris for the royal family of Dubai, continues to lobby the Tanzanian government to turn the grazing lands and villages of the Maasai into a protected game area. On June 7th, without informing the public, a massive paramilitary group of police, park rangers and military forces arrived in Loliondo. The following day, a fleet of police vehicles entered the town of Wasso, to demarcate a 1,500 km2 area as a game reserve. In response, the Maasai gathered in several locations to protest the police invasion. The state’s military forces responded to the protests with live bullets. 31 people were injured in the shootings, and several others have been arrested or detained. Maasai leaders and NGO staff are being hunted for and remain in hiding. Hundreds of people have crossed the border to Kenya, seeking security and medical care for the injured. These horrendous events are taking place despite the ruling of the East African Court of Justice from 2018, which prohibited the Tanzanian government from evicting the Maasai from their lands, seizing their livestock, or destroying their property, in four villages. The ongoing Indigenous rights abuses in several parts of Africa are systemic and stem from colonial power structures and the affiliated ideology of fortress conservation. “This is our territory, our life. We will stay, and die on our lands. We are not going anywhere even if the government has to kill all of us. We are also Tanzanians but lack the human rights of fellow citizens.” – Maasai man from Loliondo (name withheld for security reasons) The cruel violence is ongoing in the villages of Loliondo. Land is Life has responded to several requests from Kenya with our Indigenous-Led Security Fund, to support the fleeing Maasai with medical costs, food and drinking water, as well as in finding safe spaces to stay. Land is Life joins in the demands on the Government of Tanzania to halt the violent evictions immediately, and calls on the international community to urgently intervene. “Samia Suluhu, President of Tanzania, as a mother and woman, how can you let this happen? Young children are running in the bush, terrified, as they can’t go home. Women are hiding in the face of this horror. Loliondo should not be protected for the use of a luxury tourism corporation but for the Maasai who are the custodians of these lands and have the right to decide on their use. We are asking you, Samia Suluhu, to urgently end this nightmare and to recognize and respect the territorial rights of the Maasai. We demand justice for our sisters and brothers in Loliondo!” – Maasai woman from Kenya (name withheld for security reasons) Your donation will go directly to Land is Life’s active efforts to provide food and medical supplies to the Maasai.
Land is Life stands in solidarity with our partners in the Philippines in the wake of the election of Bongbong Marcos
Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr, the son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr, was last week declared the next president of the Philippines. He will take over on June 30th from Rodrigo Duterte and will serve until 2028. The brutal and corrupt dictatorship of Marcos Jr’s father lasted from 1965 until 1986, holding the country under martial law for 14 years. Tens of thousands of people were imprisoned, tortured, or killed for criticizing the government, in addition to widespread corruption that resulted in an estimated $10 billion stolen from the people. The dictatorship ended in a popular uprising in 1986. The Marcoses have repeatedly denied their misuse of the state funds. They have never apologized, nor been held accountable for the human rights abuses committed during the dictatorship. Quite the opposite – a decade-long whitewashing campaign has been rebranding the Marcos family’s name and image by presenting the dictatorship as a golden age of prosperity, ending up in the win of the dictator’s son as president. Land is Life stands firmly with our partners in the Philippines who are outraged and terrified of the consequences of the election results. Please find below a statement of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance, our close partner that is committed to the promotion and defense of Indigenous peoples’ rights, social justice, and democracy. STATEMENT FROM CPA For many of us, especially the victims of Martial Law, we cannot accept Bongbong Marcos as the President. And we are well within our rights to reject the undemocratic and fraud-tainted results of the 2022 elections. It is a result of a massive and long running disinformation campaign; malicious and wanton red-tagging; political repression leading to disenfranchisement; a non-transparent voting system and a Duterte handpicked Commission on Elections. Marcos and Duterte have benefited from a system that already laid the ground for a Marcos restoration and a Duterte extension. In the course of the national elections, we have proven that there is no such thing as Solid North or the regional voting bloc of the northern provinces of the Philippines for the Marcos family as claimed by the Marcoses. The results of the elections cannot validate the myth that the Cordillera remains to be a Marcos country. We have never been, and we will never be. The celebration of the 38th Peoples Cordillera Day and the #TakderKordi Grand Rally held on May 2, 2022 are both historical activities that truly show the peoples’ unity against rotten and corrupt politics – both a testament that the Cordillera people will not bow down to tyranny and dictatorship. An election riddled with fraud and manipulations cannot stand against the hundreds and thousands of people who stood up. The Cordillera stood up, before and until now! Now, we continue the fight. We continue to live out the legacy of our Cordillera heroes and martyrs of the anti-Marcos dictatorship!
Webinar Invitation: Dynamics of Land Security and Collective Rights
Land is Life welcomes you to join our webinar on the situation of territorial rights, self-determination, and territorial dynamics that exert pressure on the traditional systems of life of Indigenous Peoples in the Moskitia (Honduras and Nicaragua). Increased rates of conflict pose threats to the traditional livelihoods and the individual and collective security of community members. Land is Life le invita a nuestro webinar para comprender la situación de los derechos territoriales, la libre determinación y las dinámicas territoriales que ejercen presión sobre los sistemas tradicionales de vida los Pueblos Indígenas de la Moskitia (Honduras y Nicaragua), creando condiciones de conflictos que amenazan la seguridad individual y colectiva de los miembros de organizaciones de gobernanza tradicional, facilitadores y líderes de opinión. Date: June 8 Time: 11:00 AM EST Co-hosts: Land is Life; Cultural Survival Simultaneous translation will be available in English and Spanish. REGISTER HERE
Partner Highlight: YADUPA Supports Indigenous Peoples of West Papua in Protecting their Customary Lands
This month’s Partner Highlight sheds light on Yayasan Anak Dusun Papua (YADUPA), an NGO committed to advocating for the rights of Indigenous peoples of West Papua, Indonesia. West Papua is the western half of the Melanesian island New Guinea, administered by Indonesia. The customary owners of the land are the 4 million Indigenous inhabitants belonging to 253 tribes. The region is rich in biodiversity and has one of the world’s largest tropical forests. Papua’s rich nature has been the backbone of the Indigenous peoples for a long time, giving birth to the cultural diversity of the communities who depend on hunting, fishing, gathering, and small-scale farming for their livelihoods. The Indigenous Papuans view nature as a home where they live as well as a mother who takes care of them and fulfills their needs. At the same time, the region’s natural resources, such as reserves of oil, gas, copper, gold and silver, have attracted expeditioners, researchers, and investors for centuries. After being colonized by the Dutch in 1872, the rule of West Papua was later violently taken over by the Indonesian dictator Suharto in 1963. Since the military invasion, the Indonesian government has been seeking to erase the Indigenous cultures – viewed as “backward and primitive” – by forcibly institutionalizing the dominant Javanese culture in the region. An extensive military and police network surveils and controls most aspects of Papuan life, and the education system makes it difficult for children to learn about their own culture and traditions. Most of the lands of the Indigenous Papuans have been seized by the government and corporations for their development interests. Expanding mining, logging, plantation, and road construction operations keep destroying biodiversity and Indigenous livelihoods without the free, prior, and informed consent of the affected peoples. Resistance is being silenced by violence. YADUPA is one of the local NGOs that is devoted to fighting the repression and human rights violations of the Indigenous peoples of West Papua. In 2020, together with Land is Life, YADUPA launched an initiative called “Strengthening Papua Indigenous Peoples and Institutions to Protect their Lands, Natural Resources and Biodiversity” that takes place in Waropen and Yapen Regencies. The project aims at building the capacity of the Papuans to protect their territories and livelihoods, with a special focus on the younger generation who are threatened to lose their traditions due to state-led marginalization. The Waropen Regency consists of three customary areas: the Waropen Ambumi, Waropen Ronari, and Waropen Kai. One of the Waropen Kai Indigenous communities, in the coastal village of Segha, is strongly committed to maintaining and preserving their customary area. The major threats to their territory that this fishing community has observed are the destruction of mangrove ecosystems, the use of bombs and poison to catch fish, as well as sea water intrusion. The fragile mangroves are crucially important breeding grounds and habitats for various types of fish, shrimp, shellfish, and crabs – thus providing for the livelihood of the villagers. They also protect the coastal community by working as natural sea walls. Photo: A young man with his catch in the Segha village. Together with YADUPA, the Segha villagers have made a series of joint efforts in planning a regional management system for the sustainable use of natural resources based on their customary values. Establishing an Indigenous and Community Conserved Area (ICCA) is one of the core instruments selected and agreed upon. The process began with a participatory mapping of customary areas involving all community members. The role of women was specifically important here, as they are the owners of most traditional knowledge related to the use of natural resources, and the ones passing it on to the next generations. Based on the mapping, the customary area was then divided into protected areas and managed areas, with the boundaries marked with sacred signs called sasi. The community jointly supervises the protection of their territory, and if a violation occurs, it will be brought to the customary justice system. Photo: A mother showing a female crab in a protected breeding place in the Segha village. Photo: Digitalizing the results of the participatory mapping process. With their customs-based natural resources management system, the Segha people can now feel calmer about their future. Nevertheless, the role of the State remains critical in providing guarantees for the recognition and protection of the rights of the Indigenous peoples over their territories. Against this backdrop, YADUPA keeps pushing to empower the younger generations of Indigenous Papuans to stand up for their rights so that they’ll have better means to serve as future guardians of their lands, resources, cultures, and customs.
Land is Life Stands in Solidarity with the Maasai who are Threatened by Eviction from their Ancestral Lands in Ngorongoro, Tanzania
“This is our territory, territory means life; our identity and we can’t survive without. The fortress conservation model pushes our people out of their land. We need local and global synergies to stop land grabbing and eviction of the Indigenous pastoralists of Ngorongoro.” – Maasai Leader (name withheld for security reasons) The Indigenous Maasai of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in northern Tanzania keep resisting the government’s efforts to displace them from their ancestral lands. Until now, the Maasai herders who practice traditional livestock grazing, have been coexisting with the wildlife of the conservation area, which also is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Government of Tanzania claims that the rising Maasai population and their livestock are threatening wildlife protection. At the same time, Ngorongoro has become one of the most intensively visited conservation areas in Africa where tourism rates have exploded from 20,000 yearly visits to 650,000 visits in the past 30 years. It thus seems that the displacement of the Maasai is not about nature conservation but about expanding tourism revenues. This is nothing new – in 2009, for example, thousands of Maasai families were evicted from Loliondo to allow a United Arab Emirates -based luxury tourism and trophy hunting company OBC to fully operate in the area. In addition, it was in 1959 when Maasai pastoralists were forcibly resettled from the Serengeti plains to Ngorongoro due to the establishment of the national park. It is now some of the very same Maasai who are facing threats to be evicted from home for the second time. “Evicting the Maasai of Ngorongoro means violating their native rights of territory ownership. The women and children are the most suffering. Both the people of this community and their livestock are in great danger of losing their livelihoods.” – Maasai woman (name withheld for security reasons) Land is Life stands with the Maasai pastoralists of Ngorongoro and joins their demands on the Government of Tanzania to halt the eviction plans immediately. We also request the UNESCO – that claims to integrate the protection of cultural and natural heritage and to preserve the balance between nature and people – to intervene. We would like to ask them, what is the role of a World Heritage Site without its living cultural heritage? Land is Life joins the calls for the establishment of a Maasai-led steering committee to find the right balance between the pastoralists’ livelihoods, tourism, and biodiversity in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.
Land is Life at U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues 2022
The 21st session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) was held April 25 – May 6 at United Nations headquarters in New York. After two years, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Indigenous delegates from around the world were able to once again gather in person for the Forum. The UNPFII is a high-level advisory body to the Economic and Social Council, with a mandate to address issues related to Indigenous Peoples’ economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health and human rights. Land is Life and our delegation was able to participate in a number of dialogues and meetings throughout the forum. Deep concerns were expressed on the threats that the extractive industries, infrastructure mega projects, loggings, and large-scale agriculture pose to Indigenous Peoples Living in Voluntary Isolation and Initial Contact (PIACI). Land is Life, as the Secretariat of the International Working Group GTI PIACI, applauds the forum’s recommendations on human rights where it was recommended that the Human Rights Council (OHCHR), in cooperation with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and Indigenous people’s organizations, start a process of evaluating the progress made, identifying implementation gaps and making recommendations to advance the protection of PIACI and to guarantee their rights. This adoption marks one step closer towards the protection of the PIACI whose ways of life are exposed to extremely high vulnerability. Land is Life at UNPFII 2022: Strengthening the Collective Security of Indigenous Defenders Recording Indigenous Voices on the Global 30×30 Initiative and Philanthropy’s Response Unfree, Late and Uninformed Consent from Ethiopia to Asia Human Rights Violations of Indigenous Peoples Living in Voluntary Isolation by Companies in the Amazon and Gran Chaco Autonomous Protocols of Free, Prior and Informed Consent: An Alternative Tool towards Regulation for Indigenous Communities
Support the Gwich’in Peoples of Alaska this Earth Day
While Earth Day encourages people to take action towards environmental protection, what is still largely missing from the discussions are the perspectives of Indigenous peoples. These communities have coexisted with nature for millennia and continue to do so despite growing pressures governments, corporations and climate change. Indigenous territories continue to be the most protected biodiversity areas in the world, and Indigenous knowledge is key to keeping them thriving. At the same time, it is Indigenous peoples who tend to be hit the hardest by the impacts of climate change and ecological destruction, and it is them who are increasingly at the forefronts of the resistance to destructive development. Nevertheless, it is primarily not Indigenous peoples and their knowledge that are valued and listened to in discussions on how to preserve the planet for future generations. That is why, on this Earth Day, we would like to shift the focus of nature conservation on Indigenous stewardship. Today we are shedding light on one of our partners, the Gwich’in Steering Committee – an Indigenous organization that fights for the protection of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, where oil drilling keeps posing major threats to the very existence of their culture. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, located in northeastern Alaska, is America’s largest wildlife refuge and the homeland of the Gwich’in and Iñupiat Indigenous peoples. The area is abundant in biodiversity – it hosts millions of migrating birds yearly and works as an important denning area of the polar bear whose habitat is constantly diminishing due to the changing climate. The refuge is also home to the Porcupine caribou – a species that the Gwich’in have depended on for food, clothing, tools, and spiritual guidance for millennia. Despite the fragility of Arctic ecosystems, the natural resources of the area keep attracting economic interests. For decades, the fossil fuel industry has been insisting to commence oil and gas drilling on the refuge’s coastal plain. The “Sacred Place Where Life Begins”, as the Gwich’in call it, is where the caribou give birth to and nurse their calves. In 1988, Gwich’in elders addressed the tremendous threat to the caribou and thus the entire Gwich’in culture, and called upon the chiefs of all Gwich’in villages across Alaska and Canada to gather to discuss the issue. That is when the Gwich’in Steering Committee was established. Ever since, the Gwich’in Steering Committee’s work has been crucial in halting the oil and gas exploration and successfully including Indigenous voices in the debate. The fight that the Gwich’in keep leading, is not only about the ecological values of the refuge but also about Indigenous rights. The Gwich’in are fighting to preserve their territory, livelihoods, food security and an entire culture that is dependent on the caribou, for future generations. These perspectives are too often ignored when the environmental impacts of extractivism are debated. In 2017, the resistance suffered a setback, as President Trump’s administration decided to open the coastal plain to oil and gas leasing without a single public hearing. Even though President Biden’s administration suspended the drilling leases in 2021 to conduct an environmental review, the coastal plain remains threatened by fossil fuel development as the halt is only temporary. The Gwich’in responded to the devastating situation by launching an extensive divestment campaign targeting major banks and insurance companies to pledge not to finance or insure oil and gas development in the Arctic. The initiative has already proven to be powerful as six largest banks in the US and five in Canada, as well as 12 international insurance companies have stated to keep their operations out of the Arctic Refuge. Land is Life joins the Gwich’in Steering Committee’s calls for the permanent protection of the Arctic Refuge to fully prevent the fossil fuels industry from entering the territories of the Gwich’in and Iñupiat. Indigenous territories, and the fragile ecosystems of the Arctic, are already existentially suffering from the impacts of climate change, and cannot bear the pressure from extractivist industries.