Indigenous Land Research Articles

Family science, land‐grant universities, and the daunting legacy of the land‐grab institution

AbstractThis paper wrestles with the nexus of settler colonialism, the expropriation of Indigenous lands to establish the United States land‐grant system, and the field of Family Science. Family Science programs are embedded within the power structures of the universities to which they belong; certain characteristics of these academic units—especially their emphasis on engagement and professional credentialing—theoretically could produce an idiosyncratic and nuanced context in which academy members operate. First, we grapple with the history of US settler colonialism and the land‐grab concept, focusing attention on the enormous transfer of Native American lands into universities through the Morrill Act. Second, we examine the convergence between the applied activities of family scientists and the tripartite land‐grant mission of teaching, research, and engagement. Consequently, our final aim is to investigate the impact of being a family scientist within a land‐grant university grappling with the historical injustices surrounding its foundation.

The Pandemic, Mining Violence, and the Case of the Sanöma/Yanomami People.

In Brazil, the health emergency unleashed by the Covid-19 pandemic must be understood in the context of the government administration of the former president, Jair Bolsonaro. The new coronavirus was turned into a war machine, something already seen in other moments of the history of indigenous peoples, when epidemics were strategically used to promote indigenous genocide and usurp their territories. The Sanöma, a subgroup of the Yanomami language family, assert that Covid-19 did not leave individualized traces of 'sequelae' but made itself felt in the deaths that could not undergo the traditional funeral rites due to the sanitary measures, generating a cosmological and existential tension for the collective as a whole. It was also felt in the invasion of their lands by thousands of miners who brought violence and malaria to the communities, debilitating their food sovereignty, and in the dismantling of public health services in the indigenous land. Time was suspended, and the infection continued with the accompanying violation of rights, with a divergent understanding of who is recovered or who is healthy. This article is the result of a Covid-19 researchproject conducted in partnership with the Sanöma leaders. Based on reports from the Sanöma themselves, reports about the Yanomami and the government of former President Bolsonaro, interviews with indigenous leaders in newspapers and reports produced by indigenous organizations and their supporters, a set of information about Covid-19 among indigenous peoples and violations of human rights among the Sanöma people were systematized and analyzed and now make up this article.

Uncontrolled Illegal Mining and Garimpo in the Brazilian Amazon.

Mining has played an important role in the economies of South American countries. Although industrial mining prevails in most countries, the expansion of garimpo activity has increased substantially. Recently, Brazil exhibited two moments of garimpo dominance over industrial mining: 1989-1997 and 2019-2022. While industrial mining sites occupied ~ 360 km2 in 1985 but increased to 1800 km2 in 2022, a 5-fold increase, garimpo mining area increased by ~ 1200%, from ~ 218 km2 in 1985 to ~ 2627 km2 in 2022. More than 91% of this activity is concentrated in the Amazon. Where almost 40% of the sites are five years old or younger, this proportion increases to 62% within Indigenous lands (ILs). Regarding the legal aspect, at least 77% of the 2022 extraction sites showed explicit signs of illegality. Particular attention must be given to the Kayapo, Munduruku, and Yanomami ILs. Together, they concentrate over 90% of the garimpo across ILs.

Agrarian Conflicts After the Establishment of the Land Bank Agency in Indonesia

The establishment of the Land Bank in Indonesia may lead to conflicts of interest and the existence of customary land may be forgotten for reasons of land stateisation. The process of acquiring customary land for reasons of stateisation may affect the legal protection of indigenous peoples' rights. This article examines agrarian conflicts after the establishment of the Land Bank Agency and the legal protection of indigenous peoples' land. This research is examined using the normative juridical method with a statutory approach. The results of the study found that the concept of the Land Bank is in contrast to agrarian reform in terms of land acquisition operations, because land can be obtained through the transfer of land ownership by the state which is intended for investment and infrastructure development. The government needs to improve the land sector Job Creation Law and the legal regulations of the Land Bank, the government must revise the rules related to the Land Bank so that this institution can maintain a balance of land utilisation for various interests fairly. The Land Bank should be a representative of the state to protect vulnerable groups of people, one of which is indigenous peoples. Then the community must be pro-active in applying for a Material Test on articles that have negative potential, especially the regulation of land stateisation in the Job Creation Law and the legal rules regarding the Land Bank in an effort to consolidate guarantees and justifications for land rights over indigenous peoples.

Indigenous vs. Peasants’ rights? Lhaka Honhat v. Argentina and the role of the Inter-American Human Rights System in communal interethnic conflicts

This article presents a socio-legal analysis of the Lhaka Honhat case, a decades-long territorial dispute between Indigenous communities and peasant settlers (criollos) in the Northern Argentinian Province of Salta. This is the first case in which the Inter-American Court of Human Rights confronted the normative implications of interethnic communal conflicts. The court was called to apply human rights standards to resolve conflicting land claims between two similarly impoverished rural groups. The judgment compelled Argentina to protect the right to land of Indigenous communities and to relocate hundreds of criollo settlers, while incorporating some exceptional provisions that indirectly recognized the vulnerable situation of the criollo population. We argue that this decision opens a third wave in the jurisprudential evolution of Indigenous rights cases before the Inter-American System. Initially, the court focused on protecting Indigenous land rights vis-à-vis powerful interests. The second wave registered cases where Indigenous land claims were brought against the encroachment of other non-Indigenous groups holding private property rights. In this third wave, the court would confront the challenge of protecting Indigenous land while also recognizing other modes of property and livelihoods. The article describes this evolution and discusses the implications both for international jurisprudence and local communities.

Deforestation policies in the Brazilian Legal Amazon: an analysis of the PPCDAm using the triple difference method

PurposeThis study aims to evaluate the effects of the synergy between monitoring technologies and deforestation control policies promoted by the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Legal Amazon (PPCDAm) during its initial stage.Design/methodology/approachThe triple difference method is employed to explore the differences between the non-metropolitan municipalities with Indigenous lands and other regional municipalities.FindingsThe findings indicate a reduction of approximately 16.1 km² per municipality between 2004 and 2007. This reduction corresponds to a decrease of 10,293 km² in the area of deforestation and a total of 498 million tons of CO2. To ensure the robustness of the results, placebo tests, event study and flexibility in the composition of the groups were conducted. The robustness tests substantiate the findings.Practical implicationsThese results emphasize the significance of remote monitoring policies for controlling deforestation in isolated regions and Indigenous lands. Additionally, such results indicate that the policy was cost-effective.Originality/valueThis study innovates by examining the causal impact of the initial phase of the PPCDAm before 2008, a period not focused on existing literature. Further, employing the triple difference method innovates methodologically to assess PPCDAm's effect on deforestation in isolated Amazon areas.

Unsettled borders: The militarized science of surveillance on sacred Indigenous lands By Felicity Amaya Schaeffer. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2022. 207 pp.

Unsettled borders: The militarized science of surveillance on sacred Indigenous lands By Felicity Amaya Schaeffer. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2022. 207 pp.

Radiocarbon ageing of Indigenous culturally‐significant trees for bushfire management on Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island), southeast Queensland

SummaryPartnerships between Indigenous People and governments for joint management of ancestral lands, designated as protected conservation areas for biodiversity and cultural heritage, provide an opportunity to leverage accumulated traditional land management knowledge with emerging science. In Australia, veteran or large old trees in natural landscapes are of significant ecological importance, and among the Indigenous communities, they are living monuments to historical cultural practices, but their survival, endurance and long lives are rarely acknowledged to afford them protection. In sub‐tropical Australia, the lack of consistent annual growth rings in stem wood makes it difficult to estimate the age of large trees using methods such as the periodic diameter increment. Ngugi et al., 2020 published radiocarbon (14C) dates using wood core (‘pith‐wood’) samples from 12 Indigenous culturally‐significant trees covering five species on Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island). Due to the imprecise calendar age results of the single samples used in the original study (Ngugi et al., 2020), subsequent radiocarbon dating of an additional three wood core samples from each tree was undertaken to age the trees more precisely. The revised tree ages ranged from 63 to 531 years and suggest an important role of past Indigenous land management practices into protecting Bugari (Cypress Pine, Callitris columellaris F. Muell.) from deadly crown scorching fires. These results underscore the importance of incorporating Indigenous practices in current fire management strategies and plans. Estimating tree ages based on the periodic diameter increment method overestimated the age relative to that derived from radiocarbon dating. New bias correction factors were developed for adjusting the recorded periodic tree diameter increments.

ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT BASED ON SOIL LOSS, DEFORESTATION IN PERMANENT PRESERVATION AREAS, AND WATER QUALITY APPLIED IN THE ITACAIÚNAS WATERSHED, EASTERN AMAZON.

To understand how various environmental pressures may threaten the Amazon territory, specifically its hydrographic basins, it is crucial to guide key management actions such as soil conservation, environmental preservation, and forest restoration. This paper, based on a detailed study conducted in the Itacaiúnas River Watershed (IRW) located in the Carajás mining province—one of the most significant metallogenetic provinces globally and within the Arc of Deforestation in the Amazon—proposes a new index to assess environmental threats or vulnerabilities. The index evaluates soil loss, deforestation in permanent preservation areas, and water quality—key environmental issues in watershed management. Using geoprocessing and remote sensing techniques, we applied the index across the entire catchment area and at the beginning of the drainage network (a proxy for river springs). Our findings reveal that: i) 68% of unit catchments (32% of headwaters) exhibit “High” or “Very High” soil loss vulnerability; ii) 69% of unit catchments (32% of headwaters) have more than 20% of their permanent preservation areas deforested, representing the primary threat among the three criteria to the basin; iii) Only 4.7% of unit catchments (2% of headwaters) present any chemical risk related to water consumption. The combined criteria (simple arithmetic mean of normalized values) indicate that the east-central and southern parts of the watershed have higher index values, necessitating greater attention to soil conservation. In contrast, the center-western area of the basin, characterized by conservation units and indigenous land, showed low index values but remains at risk primarily due to soil loss if environmental preservation actions are not maintained.

“When you have stress because you don’t have food”: Climate, food security, and mental health during pregnancy among Bakiga and Indigenous Batwa women in rural Uganda

Climate change exerts wide-ranging and significant effects on global mental health via multifactorial pathways, including food insecurity. Indigenous Peoples and pregnant women inequitably experience the harms associated with climate change and food insecurity. This study explores food security and maternal mental health during pregnancy among rural Ugandan Bakiga and Indigenous Batwa women in the context of climate change. Using a community-based research approach, we conducted a series of focus group discussions about climate, food security, and health during pregnancy in four Indigenous Batwa communities and four Bakiga communities in rural Kanungu District, Uganda, as well as longitudinal follow up interviews later in the year. Data were evaluated using a qualitative thematic analysis. Women consistently identified mental health as an important factor affecting maternal-fetal wellbeing during pregnancy. Many women identified that weather and climate extremes, such as prolonged droughts and unpredictable weather events, have made it more difficult for them to obtain sufficient food for themselves and their families during pregnancy, resulting in significant mental distress. More extreme weather conditions have made physical labour difficult or impossible during pregnancy, and resultant hunger further decreased ability to obtain food—a vicious cycle. Women described how anxiety was compounded by worry about future famine, as they anticipated further decreases in crop yields and rising food prices in a changing climate. Indigenous Batwa women experienced additional distress around their lack of access to Indigenous lands and its nutritious food sources. Overall, mothers in rural Uganda described food insecurity and climate extremes as major sources of stress during pregnancy, and they anticipate challenges will worsen. Interventions to enhance adaptive capacity to climate change are needed and should have a focus on the intricate connections with food insecurity and mental health as drivers of overall maternal health.

LEGAL ANALYSIS OF LAND ACQUISITION IN NATIONAL STRATEGIC PROJECTS: A CASE STUDY OF TOBA CASE NO. 5/PID SUS-TPK/2023/PN MDN

This study investigates the legal considerations in a corruption case surrounding land transactions in Desa Parparean, Kecamatan Porsea, Kabupaten Toba. The defendants, Daulat Napitupulu and Lumongga Marsaulina Aruan, held land leased to PT. Dok Bahari Nusantara for ship construction. The Ministry of Transportation later selected this land for a shipyard project to enhance tourism in the Lake Toba region. Allegations of corruption emerged during the land certification and compensation processes, prompting legal proceedings. This research applies a normative juridical approach, analyzing judicial decision-making in Case No. 5/Pid.Sus-TPK/2023/PN Mdn, focusing on whether the defendants misused their authority in certifying and compensating for the land. The findings reveal complex historical and cultural dynamics, particularly around the ancestral and communal (ulayat) land rights of indigenous communities in Lake Toba. The court’s evaluation extended to regulatory inconsistencies, highlighting the need to balance environmental protection with national development interests. Although no procedural or legal violations were found in this case, the decision underscores the importance of clear legal processes in protected areas. It also validates the defendants' land ownership certificate and the compensation determined through lawful and independent appraisal. This case emphasizes the critical role of transparent judicial procedures and the protection of indigenous land rights within national strategic projects.

Climate change and environmental degradation in Yanomami People’s Land: Intersectional threats and the need for improved policy-making

The Yanomami are an Amazonian Indigenous people in northern Brazil and southern Venezuela. The Yanomami are considered a ‘recent contact Indigenous People’, with the first contacts with non-indigenous recorded between 1910 and 1940 and with some groups in voluntary isolation. They are one of the resilient peoples that practise their traditional way of life, which involves a strong connection to the land and the environment. Following an expert-driven literature review based on a set of available documentation on the Brazilian Indigenous Peoples, focusing on the overlapping threats that affect Indigenous Lands and triangulating the information collected with data produced on Brazilian Amazon Rainforest Monitoring Program by Satellite (PRODES) within the Space Research National Institute (INPE), this communication presents a case analysis of the main pressures and threats Yanomami People faces. The overlapped threats manifest in structural and cyclical issues, linked to the environmental crisis arising from extractives’ illegal activities, such as logging, and mining invasions, the recurrent attacks, mercury contamination of the river water, malnutrition caused by contaminated fish, scarcity of hunting, and violence committed against the people, especially women and children. Added to these multiple social, political, and environmental threats are the impacts of climate change, which disproportionately affect forest peoples. Deforestation, fires, drought, and other extreme events that are linked to climate change effects are analysed, leading to reflections on Brazilian government policies' influence and on the urgency to implement policies in defence of Indigenous Lands, the Amazon Forest, and its guardians.

Addressing the Anthropocene from the Global South: integrating paleoecology, archaeology and traditional knowledge for COP engagement

The triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss necessitates more holistic, comprehensive, and integrated public policy approaches. Within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, this crisis highlights significant conflicts over forms of knowledge and conceptualization, affecting how international policies are formed. Indigenous knowledge systems have become increasingly acknowledged for their vital role in addressing the challenges of the Anthropocene. Conferences of the Parties institutions like the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change emphasize the critical, although not always recognized, importance of Indigenous territories, which contain eighty percent of the world’s biodiversity. Here, we show that research in paleoecology, archaeology and history demonstrates the long-term significance of traditional knowledge and Indigenous land management practices for contemporary ecosystem dynamics. Drawing from these varied studies and perspectives also reveal the socio-economic inequalities resulting from centuries of European colonialism. We showcase three case studies on; (i) pastoralism in eastern Africa, (ii) natural resource management in southeast Asia and (iii) adaptation to sea level rise in the Caribbean, which touch upon highly diverse human resilience strategies across space and time. Despite efforts at the COP28 to accelerate climate action and incorporate diverse knowledge systems, significant challenges remain. The need for a pluralistic knowledge, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, blending scientific language with artistic and narrative forms, is proposed as critical for fostering effective communication and developing more effective and equitable solutions for global environmental governance.

EVALUATION OF DEFORESTATION IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF BRASIL NOVO IN THE STATE OF PARÁ - BRAZIL, USING MACHINE LEARNING TECHNIQUES

The agricultural frontier of the Brazilian Amazon, is undergoing significant changes in its land cover, primarily driven by the expansion of cattle ranching and cocoa cultivation. Through the analysis of Landsat 8 satellite images and the WorldCover 10m 2020 product, combined with climatic and socioeconomic data, this study investigated land use dynamics between 2015 and 2023, on the municipality of Brasil Novo. The results revealed a substantial reduction in forest cover, with the expansion of pasturelands as the main driver of deforestation. The temporal analysis of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) indicated interannual variations in vegetation cover, associated with extreme weather events and anthropogenic pressure. Although the municipality still maintains 43.8% of forest cover, with the Arara Indigenous Land being a notable example, the pressure on natural resources demands the implementation of public policies and sustainable management practices to mitigate environmental impacts and ensure the conservation of Amazonian biodiversity. Keywords: Amazon, NDVI, remote sensing, climate change, livestock, land use.

Indigenous justice frameworks for relational ethics in land-based design

ABSTRACT In the face of systematic expropriation, massive biodiversity loss, and the ongoing climate crisis, Indigenous peoples, knowledge, and labor have protected over 80% of the global biodiversity. This is remarkable given that Indigenous management or tenure remains over 20–25% of the planet’s terrestrial surface. Indigenous people’s capacity to protect biodiversity within their territories cannot be separated from the ethical frameworks that shape their relationships with land. These frameworks have been articulated by a diverse array of Indigenous scholars across the globe, and while they cannot be generalized, many share principles that go beyond dominant Western Scientific approaches that normalize utilitarian or idealized (e.g. ideals of wilderness) ethical systems. We argue that dominant policy and research discourses around land-based practices such as nature-based solutions and green infrastructure, will not be effective ‘solutions’ to ongoing crises of climate change and biodiversity loss. Instead, we must go beyond paradigms of improvement and anthropocentric utility and ground land-based practices in the paradigm of relational ethics. Through this perspective paper, we argue that rather than seeking solutions through redesigning ecosystems for utilitarian reasons, all interventions on Indigenous ancestral lands (recognized by settler states or not) should first center relational ethical approaches for land-based design practices and ground efforts in Indigenous justice. Our proposed ‘Indigenous Justice Frameworks for Relational Ethics in Land-based Design’ is based on the inseparability of bodies, lands, and knowledges, and is guided by the following elements: (1) generative refusal, (2) centering healing, reparation, and right relations, and (3) restoring and evolving Indigenous governance.

Shifting the gaze on welfare-state sustainability in Norway: a proposal for a relational global view

Norway is an excellent case for studying the ambiguities and competing interests attached to climate change and global sustainability. The country is at the forefront in the use of “clean energy,” yet has long been one of the world’s largest oil exporters and its dominant ideas have been challenged given the climate-change crisis. The article offers a preliminary review of the historical and current connections that exist between the development of national welfare states in Europe (and Norway in particular) and the long-standing practice of extractivist efforts that have harmed nature in indigenous lands within Norwegian borders and colonized, or previously colonized lands, outside Europe). As a comparative exercise, this article mobilizes the idea of social imaginaries to conceptualize and explore how the Norwegian welfare state has, in the social policy literature and in public discourse, been linked to the notion of sustainability, given the context of rapid climate change. By drawing on three illustrative cases, the article demonstrates how such imaginaries are present in current discussions. It suggests that unpacking such imaginaries within a historical and relational global view may contribute to understanding the role of nationalism and colonialism in Norway’s sustainability narratives, to potentially trigger change in the way we conceptualize welfare-state sustainability.

Bifurcated Bolivia: Indigenous Governance and Land Struggles in the Eastern Lowlands

This paper analyzes Indigenous politics in Bolivia, the 2019 coup against President Evo Morales, and the return of the Movimiento al Socialismo (Movement for Socialism, MAS) with the inauguration of Luis Arce in 2020. Drawing on interviews with Indigenous community members in the lowlands of the Bolivian Amazon, this piece theoretically situates Indigenous autonomy struggles within world systems theory and insights from Max Weber’s ‘iron cage’ of institutional isomorphism to argue that political tensions in Bolivian Indigenous communities can be understood within a context of (1) increasingly strained relations between the MAS and civil society organizations; (2) Indigenous-NGO coalition efforts to protect Tierras Comunitarias de Orígen (Native Community Lands) and; (3) the development of competing parallel leadership organizations within Native communities that threaten democratic processes and cohesive responses to extractivism.

Conservation gaps for Brazilian bats, limited protection across conservation units and the importance of the indigenous lands.

In Brazil, there is 13% of the world's bat diversity, is the second most diverse group of mammals, playing a crucial role in providing ecosystem services that benefit humans. However, anthropogenic disturbances exacerbate processes of species extinction, shifts in geographic distributions, and phenological changes, despite efforts to safeguard biodiversity through the creation of Conservation Units and Indigenous Lands. Moreover, gaps in taxonomic knowledge and challenges related to species distribution hinder the effective implementation of conservation strategies in protected areas. This study assesses the contribution of Brazilian Conservation Units (both Full Protection and Sustainable Use) and Indigenous Lands to the conservation of bat species and their ecosystem services. It also presents maps illustrating species richness by trophic guilds and threat classification according to IUCN, including species listed as Data Deficient. The findings reveal low percentages of potential bat distribution areas within these protected regions, especially for insectivorous, nectarivorous, and frugivorous bats in the Cerrado biome, which are classified as Near Threatened. Additionally, the highest bat species richness was observed in the Amazon and Atlantic Forest biomes.

‘Let's Go to the Land Instead’: Indigenous Perspectives on Biodiversity and the Possibilities of Regenerative Capital

AbstractThe land has been a source of capital accumulation since colonization through extractive activities like mining and industrial agriculture. Indigenous peoples have profoundly different relationships with the land, which are more relational than extractive. However, their knowledge has been subjugated by and systematically excluded from Western conservation policies, which are based on colonial modes of control. We begin to address this issue by elaborating on a community‐based participatory project, namely a Conservation Impact Bond (CIB), developed in Canada with Deshkan Ziibiing. This CIB was unique since it combined Indigenous and Western knowledges and aimed at restoring ecosystems by building relationships of kinship between peoples and the land. Based on our findings, we propose a Two‐Eyed Seeing relationship‐building process model – a multi‐stakeholder initiative (MSI) incorporating Indigenous and Western knowledges. We discuss the implications of our findings for mobilizing capital to serve collective rather than private interests while promoting Indigenous resurgence and land regeneration. We suggest shifting from extractive to regenerative capital is necessary to address the climate and biodiversity loss crises. This transformation could be achieved by embracing a relational ontology through Two‐Eyed Seeing.

Race, sovereignty, and White settler colonial studies: placing settlers at the Cultural Interface

ABSTRACT White settler colonial studies has been widely criticised for representing settler colonialism as an impenetrable and inevitable structure. This article therefore turns to explore how race preconditions and limits the construction of settler subjects. We draw on Torres Strait Islander theorist Martin Nakata’s Cultural Interface theory to unsettle ‘common-sense’ theories of race, and reconceive of the place where European and Indigenous cultures meet as sovereign Indigenous land. We extend Cultural Interface theory to locate White settler standpoints within the intertwined histories of racial capitalism and European and US imperialism. We argue that these histories orient settlers towards White possessive sovereignty. This article then deploys this framework to provide a deeper understanding of the disciplinary limits of White settler colonial studies through two case studies. First, we analyse Liberia’s construction as a settler colonial nation to denaturalise and historicise White settler standpoints. Second, we analyse the White settler standpoint institutionalised in White settler colonial studies’ descriptions of the settler/Indigenous binary, the logic of elimination, and settler sovereignty. In both cases, White settler standpoints are shaped and limited by the racialised logics of White possessive sovereignty. We nevertheless conclude that settlers may reorient themselves towards Indigenous sovereignty.