LAND BACK: EVERYTHING BACK
Understanding the Expansive Global Movement
by Erin M. Poor
Citizen of Cherokee Nation
The LAND BACK movement is alive, and its spirit is strong. Nearly every week land is returned to Indigenous hands. We are bearing witness to historic reclamations of homelands, reunification of heritage seeds with ancestral soil, and spirit-led efforts to heal lands long exploited by commercial agriculture. Land defenders, water protectors, grassroots organizations, and sovereign tribal nations work relentlessly, for years and sometimes for generations, employing a multitude of tactics, to achieve the rematriation of land.
While LAND BACK efforts expand globally, the victories are not without losses. The past few years have been extremely deadly for land defenders around the world. More than 200 environmental activists’ lives were taken in 2021. A sobering reality made even more heartbreaking by the knowledge that countless non-human lives were lost as well.
People die for the land. They are assaulted and jailed for protecting the water. Relatives endure lasting traumas from their time on the environmental frontlines. Why? Because when we say LAND BACK, we do not just mean we want the land back. We are fighting for our lifeways, knowledge systems, and kinship practices which flow to us from the land. We want waters back, languages back, relatives back, medicines back, ceremonies back, songs back, sacred items back, fire back, culture back, foodways back, genders back, EVERYTHING BACK. To be Indigenous is to be vitally connected to the living world, and land is at the heart of it all.
Returning land and water to Indigenous stewardship helps everyone. The World Resources Institute estimates that Indigenous Peoples legally own 10% of the Earth’s land mass and protect 80% of the planet’s biodiversity. In 2019 the United Nations released a report warning of the decline of global biodiversity. The biggest drivers of the decline are changes in land and sea use, exploitation of organisms, climate change, pollution, and invasive species. The report found that areas stewarded by Indigenous people experienced biodiversity decline at lower rates. The U.N. report further acknowledged the importance of Indigenous ecological knowledge in nature conservation, restoration and sustainable use.
An example of traditional ecological knowledge at work can be found in the cultural burn practices of the North Fork Mono Tribe in California. For them, bringing cultural fire back to the landscape was a reclamation of ancestral relationships with the land. They speak about fire-responsive landscapes, and the ways that fire supports new growth among flora in the ecosystem. Cultural burns help to improve material availability for traditional artisans, prevents highly destructive fires from dramatically altering landscapes, and allows the tribe to pass on its stories and its languages related to the land.
The example of the North Fork Mono Tribe demonstrates the ability of land to offer healing to a people, and for the people to offer healing to the land. It is this spirit of reciprocity, and the innate sense of responsibility to the land, that everyone can learn from. And while we say Land Back and look to traditional ecological knowledge that was developed over lifetimes and handed down through generations, it is important to underscore that the LAND BACK movement is not about going back in time. It is about move forward in a good way; it is about futures formed and informed by Indigenous knowledge.
How can you help the LAND BACK movement?
There are many ways. Be ready to learn and unlearn. Unlearn that the land is a thing to own and use. Start seeing the land as a living being, or many living beings, all of whom are related, and related to you. This will take practice. A good place to start is with your relationship to water.
Mni Wiconi. Water is life/Water is alive. Like our bodies, Mother Earth is mostly water. It is not enough to say that we need water, more accurate is that we are water. As water, we are related to all the water on Earth. Distinctions between self and environment must collapse so we can see ourselves as related and responsible for the health and well-being of all water on Earth. Water protectors embody fierce love for community and self; for past, present and future relatives who rely on water for life. They give us a model of care and commitment we all can learn from. They fight to protect the water and for a return to Indigenous water stewardship practices. Such practices ask us to see water as a living spirit, a being with rights, deserving of love, care, and protection. These stewardship practices link us inextricably with the living water and the living land.
This kind of conceptual reframing has been employed in the legal arena. The Rights of Nature Movement has seen people around the world advocate successfully for ecosystems such as rivers, lakes, and forests to have legal rights similar to humans. In 2016 the Ho-Chunk Nation amended their constitution to include the Rights of Nature. Their amendment holds that “Ecosystems and natural communities within Ho-Chunk territory possess an inherent, fundamental, and inalienable right to exist and thrive.” In 2018 we saw legal personhood established for Manoomin (wild rice) by the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, making it the first law to recognize the legal rights of a plant species. When the State of Minnesota permitted the diversion of 5 billion gallons of water for a tar sands pipeline, manoomin’s right to thrive in clean water was violated. A case was filed in Tribal Court against the state of Minnesota. U.S. Federal judges will decide soon whether the tribal courts can prevent the state of Minnesota from violating the rights of Manoomin by allowing Line 3 operation to continue.
More than three dozen governing bodies have adopted Rights of Nature globally. You could advance this movement in your local and state communities. Have conversations with your peers, especially your community members who are privileged to own land and have financial resources, about the importance of Indigenous land stewardship and the LAND BACK movement. Advocate to your governing bodies that they give land back to the Indigenous nations on whose homelands they reside. Dispel myths that giving land back to Indigenous people would mean that white people have to pack their bags and leave. Share the example of the McGirt Decision, a 2020 Supreme Court ruling which affirmed that much of eastern Oklahoma, including part of Tulsa, is sovereign Tribal land. No one was forced to move.
Learn about the treaties that were signed in your region. Who are the Indigenous stewards of the land on which you currently live? Are you living their legally or are you occupying that land illegally? Many Americans may be surprised to learn the answer.
Listen, amplify and support Indigenous Land and water defenders. Honor the Traditional Ecological Knowledge they hold and understand that more than give us power, that knowledge can heal. Donate to legal and bail funds for water protectors and land defenders. Protect the first amendment right to protest and stay vigilant about legislation that erodes that right or threatens the rights of nature to thrive.
LAND BACK is a movement, a call to action, a spirit, and an umbrella concept for a broader framework of Indigenous reclamation and collective liberation. When Indigenous Peoples say LAND BACK, we mean land back, waters back, languages back, relatives back, ceremonies back, medicines back—EVERYTHING BACK. LAND BACK is a concept that contains multitudes. It is about restoration of balance in nature, honoring Tribal sovereignty and body sovereignty for humans and more-than-human relatives. It is about returning the sacred to the Mother. How will you participate?
Erin Poor is a Citizen of Cherokee Nation and temporary visitor on Pawnee, UMÓⁿHOⁿ and Očhéthi Šakówiŋ land. She is the co-founder of the Intertribal Medicine Collective and is currently in school to become a clinical mental health counselor
Citizen of Cherokee Nation
The LAND BACK movement is alive, and its spirit is strong. Nearly every week land is returned to Indigenous hands. We are bearing witness to historic reclamations of homelands, reunification of heritage seeds with ancestral soil, and spirit-led efforts to heal lands long exploited by commercial agriculture. Land defenders, water protectors, grassroots organizations, and sovereign tribal nations work relentlessly, for years and sometimes for generations, employing a multitude of tactics, to achieve the rematriation of land.
While LAND BACK efforts expand globally, the victories are not without losses. The past few years have been extremely deadly for land defenders around the world. More than 200 environmental activists’ lives were taken in 2021. A sobering reality made even more heartbreaking by the knowledge that countless non-human lives were lost as well.
People die for the land. They are assaulted and jailed for protecting the water. Relatives endure lasting traumas from their time on the environmental frontlines. Why? Because when we say LAND BACK, we do not just mean we want the land back. We are fighting for our lifeways, knowledge systems, and kinship practices which flow to us from the land. We want waters back, languages back, relatives back, medicines back, ceremonies back, songs back, sacred items back, fire back, culture back, foodways back, genders back, EVERYTHING BACK. To be Indigenous is to be vitally connected to the living world, and land is at the heart of it all.
Returning land and water to Indigenous stewardship helps everyone. The World Resources Institute estimates that Indigenous Peoples legally own 10% of the Earth’s land mass and protect 80% of the planet’s biodiversity. In 2019 the United Nations released a report warning of the decline of global biodiversity. The biggest drivers of the decline are changes in land and sea use, exploitation of organisms, climate change, pollution, and invasive species. The report found that areas stewarded by Indigenous people experienced biodiversity decline at lower rates. The U.N. report further acknowledged the importance of Indigenous ecological knowledge in nature conservation, restoration and sustainable use.
An example of traditional ecological knowledge at work can be found in the cultural burn practices of the North Fork Mono Tribe in California. For them, bringing cultural fire back to the landscape was a reclamation of ancestral relationships with the land. They speak about fire-responsive landscapes, and the ways that fire supports new growth among flora in the ecosystem. Cultural burns help to improve material availability for traditional artisans, prevents highly destructive fires from dramatically altering landscapes, and allows the tribe to pass on its stories and its languages related to the land.
The example of the North Fork Mono Tribe demonstrates the ability of land to offer healing to a people, and for the people to offer healing to the land. It is this spirit of reciprocity, and the innate sense of responsibility to the land, that everyone can learn from. And while we say Land Back and look to traditional ecological knowledge that was developed over lifetimes and handed down through generations, it is important to underscore that the LAND BACK movement is not about going back in time. It is about move forward in a good way; it is about futures formed and informed by Indigenous knowledge.
How can you help the LAND BACK movement?
There are many ways. Be ready to learn and unlearn. Unlearn that the land is a thing to own and use. Start seeing the land as a living being, or many living beings, all of whom are related, and related to you. This will take practice. A good place to start is with your relationship to water.
Mni Wiconi. Water is life/Water is alive. Like our bodies, Mother Earth is mostly water. It is not enough to say that we need water, more accurate is that we are water. As water, we are related to all the water on Earth. Distinctions between self and environment must collapse so we can see ourselves as related and responsible for the health and well-being of all water on Earth. Water protectors embody fierce love for community and self; for past, present and future relatives who rely on water for life. They give us a model of care and commitment we all can learn from. They fight to protect the water and for a return to Indigenous water stewardship practices. Such practices ask us to see water as a living spirit, a being with rights, deserving of love, care, and protection. These stewardship practices link us inextricably with the living water and the living land.
This kind of conceptual reframing has been employed in the legal arena. The Rights of Nature Movement has seen people around the world advocate successfully for ecosystems such as rivers, lakes, and forests to have legal rights similar to humans. In 2016 the Ho-Chunk Nation amended their constitution to include the Rights of Nature. Their amendment holds that “Ecosystems and natural communities within Ho-Chunk territory possess an inherent, fundamental, and inalienable right to exist and thrive.” In 2018 we saw legal personhood established for Manoomin (wild rice) by the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, making it the first law to recognize the legal rights of a plant species. When the State of Minnesota permitted the diversion of 5 billion gallons of water for a tar sands pipeline, manoomin’s right to thrive in clean water was violated. A case was filed in Tribal Court against the state of Minnesota. U.S. Federal judges will decide soon whether the tribal courts can prevent the state of Minnesota from violating the rights of Manoomin by allowing Line 3 operation to continue.
More than three dozen governing bodies have adopted Rights of Nature globally. You could advance this movement in your local and state communities. Have conversations with your peers, especially your community members who are privileged to own land and have financial resources, about the importance of Indigenous land stewardship and the LAND BACK movement. Advocate to your governing bodies that they give land back to the Indigenous nations on whose homelands they reside. Dispel myths that giving land back to Indigenous people would mean that white people have to pack their bags and leave. Share the example of the McGirt Decision, a 2020 Supreme Court ruling which affirmed that much of eastern Oklahoma, including part of Tulsa, is sovereign Tribal land. No one was forced to move.
Learn about the treaties that were signed in your region. Who are the Indigenous stewards of the land on which you currently live? Are you living their legally or are you occupying that land illegally? Many Americans may be surprised to learn the answer.
Listen, amplify and support Indigenous Land and water defenders. Honor the Traditional Ecological Knowledge they hold and understand that more than give us power, that knowledge can heal. Donate to legal and bail funds for water protectors and land defenders. Protect the first amendment right to protest and stay vigilant about legislation that erodes that right or threatens the rights of nature to thrive.
LAND BACK is a movement, a call to action, a spirit, and an umbrella concept for a broader framework of Indigenous reclamation and collective liberation. When Indigenous Peoples say LAND BACK, we mean land back, waters back, languages back, relatives back, ceremonies back, medicines back—EVERYTHING BACK. LAND BACK is a concept that contains multitudes. It is about restoration of balance in nature, honoring Tribal sovereignty and body sovereignty for humans and more-than-human relatives. It is about returning the sacred to the Mother. How will you participate?
Erin Poor is a Citizen of Cherokee Nation and temporary visitor on Pawnee, UMÓⁿHOⁿ and Očhéthi Šakówiŋ land. She is the co-founder of the Intertribal Medicine Collective and is currently in school to become a clinical mental health counselor
