Nansemond tribe gets back 500 acres of tribal land

History was marked in a quiet ceremony at the Tribal Center overlooking the Nansemond River on a glorious fall day. It was emotional for the Tribe and donors.

"What an amazing day for the Nansemond Tribe," Dominion Energy Tribal Relations Manager Ken Custalow said as he choked up. Custalow is a member of the Chickahominy Indians Eastern Division Tribe and affiliated with the Mattaponi Tribe. "Congratulations on the return of part of your homelands. This is a great day for you as well as Virginia and the national Native community and for me personally." Continued here: Nansemond get back tribal land

International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples

The UN celebrated the 2022 International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples on 9 August 2022. This year's theme was The role of indigenous women in the preservation and transmission of traditional knowledge See the link above for more information.

Indigenous Rights in Canada

From the US Library of Congress: FALQs: The Anishinabek Nation Governance Agreement Act; The Indian Act; and the UNDRIP:

A brief review of Indigenous Rights in Canada.

New bill for Alaska Native Education

https://nativenewsonline.net/education/a-proposed-tribal-education-compacting-bill-could-overhaul-education-for-alaska-natives

Finland establishes the Sami Truth and Reconciiation Commission

From the US Library of Congress:

Finland: Sami Truth and Reconciliation Commission Established

On October 28, 2021, the Finnish government established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to address the historical treatment of the indigenous Sami population and promote the attainment of the Sami people’s rights.

Finnish law recognizes the Sami people as indigenous to Finland, and the Finnish Constitution affords them protection as a native people. (17 § Finlands Grundlag (FFS 11.6.1999/731).) Thus, the Sami people have a right to exercise their culture and language. The Sami people’s right to use its language is further regulated in the Sami Language Act (Samisk språklag (FFS 15.12.2003/1086)), whereas the Sami Parliament Act (Sametingslag (FFS 17.7.1995/974)) provides for the establishment of a Sami Parliament and specifies that the Sami, because of their status as indigenous, “shall be guaranteed cultural autonomy within their home area in matters concerning their language and culture. For the management of matters belonging to the cultural autonomy, the ‘Sami’ shall, by elections conducted among them, elect a Sami parliament.” (1 § Sametingslagen.)

Continued: https://www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2021-11-18/finland-sami-truth-and-reconciliation-commission-established/

American Indian Tribal Law projects

A blog post from the Foreign and Comparative Law section of the American Association of Law Libraries reviews some efforts to collect and publish tribal law statutes, legislation, and court decisions in the USA.AALL 2021 Recap: Sovereignty, Native America, and Legal Culture: Why Accessing and Understanding Tribal Law Just Became More Important

Permanent Forum on People of African Descent

Since 2014 the UN has been working toward the establishment of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent. See, https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Racism/InternationalDecade/Pages/ForumPeopleAfricanDescent.aspx for more details.

World Indigenous Forum, 13-14 January 2021

Indigenous Business for a Fairer Future
Go here for more information on the online program: https://www.worldindigenousforum.com/welcome

Article: Environmental Justice

Environmental conflicts and defenders: a global overview is a free access article from Global Environmental Change.

Abstract:

Recent research and policies recognize the importance of environmental defenders for global sustainability and emphasize their need for protection against violence and repression. However, effective support may benefit from a more systematic understanding of the underlying environmental conflicts, as well as from better knowledge on the factors that enable environmental defenders to mobilize successfully. We have created the global Environmental Justice Atlas to address this knowledge gap. 

Here we present a large-n analysis of 2743 cases that sheds light on the characteristics of environmental conflicts and the environmental defenders involved, as well as on successful mobilization strategies. 

We find that bottom-up mobilizations for more sustainable and socially just uses of the environment occur worldwide across all income groups, testifying to the global existence of various forms of grassroots environmentalism as a promising force for sustainability. Environmental defenders are frequently members of vulnerable groups who employ largely non-violent protest forms. In 11% of cases globally, they contributed to halt environmentally destructive and socially conflictive projects, defending the environment and livelihoods. Combining strategies of preventive mobilization, protest diversification and litigation can increase this success rate significantly to up to 27%. 

However, defenders face globally also high rates of criminalization (20% of cases), physical violence (18%), and assassinations (13%), which significantly increase when Indigenous people are involved. Our results call for targeted actions to enhance the conditions enabling successful mobilizations, and for specific support for Indigenous environmental defenders.

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Impact of Climate Change Mitigation on Indigenous and Forest Communities

Book Review:

Impact of Climate Change Mitigation on Indigenous and Forest Communities.