Every being on Earth has both inherent rights and the responsibility to participate in the web of life. WORDS Mashudu Takalani and Gertrude Pswarayi-Jabson | IMAGES Tim Hawkins The Gaia Foundation is an international organization with nearly forty years of experience accompanying allies to revive biocultural diversity. Having graduated from Gaia’s three-year, UN-recognized “Trainings for

Indigenous cultures understand wildlife as fellow nations whose actions enable or curtail human aspirations. Jay Cooney and Brandon Harrell   The notion of extending rights beyond humanity is hardly new, and from the beginning the act entangled us in responsibilities. In Becoming Kin, Ojibwe writer Patty Krawec describes the Anishinaabe myth of a flood unleashed upon

For Indigenous Peoples, their relationships to the lands, waters, and natural world shape their responsibilities, governance, and self-determining authority. Jeff Ganohalidoh Corntassel   Osiyo nigada. Jeff Ganohalidoh Corntassel dagwado’a. Tsalagi ayetli agwenasv’i. Echota galsgisgo’i. Jean agitsi nole Gary agidoda. Dagwaltina’i Westville, Ogalahoma nole Huntington Beach, California aneha. Agwetsi ageyutsa Leila Victoria otseha. Nigohilv tsigesvi anehe’i

In Hawaiʻi, the concept of rights is more accurately understood to mean responsibilities. Kawika Winter . Highly advanced societies have existed at various points throughout antiquity, before the modern era of globalization. Some have been classified as “civilizations,” and they have been taken as models for how we humans should live on this planet. The

Indigenous Adoption Stories Knowing one’s origins can bring healing and closure. Marie-Émilie Lacroix and Marco Romagnoli     “I could hand you a braid of sweetgrass, as thick and shining as the plait that hung down my grandmother’s back. But it is not mine to give, not yours to take. Wiingaashk belongs to herself. So

Three people from different backgrounds weave together their personal and collective histories, deeply intertwined with Country. Sophie Zaccone, David Doyle, and Mark Lock In sunburnt Australia struggling with climate change, land degradation, and biodiversity loss, three people connect to reinvigorate Country — a First Nations Australian way of being. Dave and Mark are First Nations

A Santhal woman embarks on a quest to understand her identity and what makes biocultural diversity thrive. Purabi Bose Reverence, respect, reciprocity: are there any alternatives to these fundamental principles for the survival of biocultural diversity? The answer is negative. One of the take-home messages of COVID-19 is that, for nature, the world is without

An Indigenous community’s respect toward all life offers a hopeful vision to the world. WORDS AND IMAGES    Suprita Chatterjee . India has a large population of Indigenous Peoples, with an estimated population of 104 million (2011 census), a large majority of them living in the northeast region of the country. Often seen as a

Conversation with J,SIṈTEN John Elliott A respected Elder shares important teachings that are intrinsic to his people’s language and way of life. Luisa Maffi     “Our languages are a part of the winds, the rain, the mountains, and all life as it was given. These are our original laws and our sacred connections to

A journey through endangered and minority languages that reveals diverse ways of relating to land and nature. Philippa Bayley and Neville Gabie, with Missinak Kameltoutasset (Marie-Émilie Lacroix) and contributors to Living-Language-Land     The languages we speak shape much of how we understand the world around us, including our connections to land and nature. But