Confronting 'Green Colonialism' - Indigenous- and Local Community-Led Action and Solutions for Food-Water-Land Security

Abstract

Indigenous Peoples around the world are on the frontlines of climate change impacts but also have the knowledge, capacity, and leadership to find solutions that support Mother Earth and the health, well-being and livelihoods of their communities and others globally. Indigenous homelands are ecologically and culturally diverse; their territories, which support over 80% of the world's biodiversity, are increasingly impacted by climate change. The Tuareg, Inuvialuit, Quechua, and Karen peoples and many others also commonly lack access to the resources needed to cope with extreme and increasingly frequent climate disasters (e.g., flooding), and chronic impacts (e.g., prolonged drought, increased disease risk in wild species). These impacts are now being worsened by some responses to the energy transition. For example, large-scale hydro-electric development (for decarbonization), rare-earth mining (needed for electric vehicles), are resulting in the loss and degradation of food and water resources. Many Indigenous Peoples are also being expelled from their territories or adversely affected; cultural practices such as small-scale slash-burn agriculture that are foundational to food provisioning are being criminalized as a result of state efforts to capitalize on carbon-markets. More equitable and holistic solutions based on Indigenous Knowledge are needed to ensure food-waterenergy security for Indigenous Peoples. Guided by the principles of the UNDRIP, this project will confront these issues of green colonialism by supporting Indigenous-led research in the seven sociocultural Indigenous regions of the globe. Specifically, we will create opportunities for Indigenous-led research, action and solutions for a just energy transition. This transdisciplinarity and multidisciplinary knowledge co-production and mobilisation will occur across the seven global regions of Indigenous homelands. Specifically, our team will: 1) Map the current and future costs of the energy transition on the health, well-being and livelihoods of Indigenous Peoples.2) Identify Indigenous-led innovations that provide food-water-energy security for Indigenous Peoples.3) Explore the transferability of solutions at local, regional and global scales in both policy and practice.The project is novel in its critical focus on the costs of the energy transition, its global scope and support of Indigenous-led research and innovation for food-water-energy justice. (AU)