INDIGENOUS NETWORK

Founded in 1990
Mission
In 1991, near the sacred Bear Butte in South Dakota, near 500 Native people came together at the outdoor 2nd Annual IEN Protecting Mother Earth gathering. At this gathering, this Unifying Principle and the Environmental Code of Ethics were written.
Mission Statement

The Indigenous Peoples of the Americas have lived for over 500 years in confrontation with an immigrant society that holds an opposing world view. As a result we are now facing an environmental crisis which threatens the survival of all natural life.

In 1991, near the sacred Bear Butte in South Dakota, near 500 Native people came together at the outdoor 2nd Annual IEN Protecting Mother Earth gathering. At this gathering, this Unifying Principle and the Environmental Code of Ethics were written.
Unifying Principles

The Indigenous Peoples of the Americas have lived for over 500 years in confrontation with an immigrant society that holds an opposing world view. As a result we are now facing an environmental crisis which threatens the survival of all natural life.

We believe in unified action, sharing of information, and working together with mutual respect. We recognize we must assert our sovereignty and jurisdictional rights through the application of our traditional laws and recognizing our traditional forms of leadership of our indigenous nations. We stand on principles of empowering and supporting each other to take direct, informed action and affect our ability to protect our lands from contamination and exploitation. By attempting to fulfill our responsibility to defend our mother earth we are assuring the survival of our unborn generations.

The members of IEN are unified in our recognition that the traditional teachings, lifestyles, spirituality, cultures and leadership of our people as well as the survival of our future generations, are entirely dependent upon our respectful relationship with the natural world and our responsibility to the sacred principles given to us by the creator.

"SNAP-SHOT" of environmental and economic justice issues in indigenous lands (US-CANADA)

1. Toxic contaminants, agricultural pesticides and other industrial chemicals that disproportionately impact Indigenous peoples, especially subsistence and livestock cultures.
2. Inadequate governmental environment and health standards and regulations.
3. Clean up of contaminated lands from mining, military, and other industry activities.
4. Toxic incinerators and landfills on and near Indigenous lands.
5. Inadequate solid and hazardous waste and wastewater management capacity of Indigenous communities and tribes.
6. Unsustainable mining and oil development on and near Indigenous lands.
7. National energy policies at the expense of the rights of Indigenous peoples.
8. Climate change and global warming.
9. Coal mining and coal-fired power plants resulting in mercury contamination, water depletion, destruction of sacred sites and environmental degradation.
10. Uranium mining developments and struggles to obtain victim compensation to Indigenous uranium miners, millers, processors and Downwinders of past nuclear testing experiments.
11. Nuclear waste dumping in Indigenous lands.
12. Deforestation.
13. Water rights, water quantity and privatization of water.
14. Economic globalization putting stress on Indigenous peoples and local ecosystems.
15. Border justice, trade agreements and transboundary waste and contamination along the US/Mexico/Canada borders and other Indigenous lands worldwide.
16. Failure of the US government to fulfill its mandated responsibility to provide funding to tribes and Alaska villages to develop and implement environmental protection infrastructures.
17. And many others ..

Compiled by the INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK