Tell EPA to support Indigenous agriculture and landcare!
Tell EPA To Support Indigenous Agriculture and Landcare

The holiday that for many years celebrated the invasion of the Western hemisphere by Europeans—Columbus Day—has increasingly become a day to remember the people of those nations indigenous to our country. Our commemoration must go beyond a holiday. Indigenous cultures—because they arose as part of the land—have a history of generating food, clothing, medicines, and other necessities without destroying the land that provides them. As Kaipo Kekona shared with the Beyond Pesticides 39th Pesticide Forum, it is critical for us to learn from history—including the positive lessons from those ancestors who lived in harmony with their surroundings. 

Last year, President Biden reissued from 2021 his Proclamation on Indigenous Peoples' Day, on October 9, 2023, stating: “[T]hroughout our Nation's history, Indigenous peoples have faced violence and devastation that has tested their limits. . . Today, Indigenous peoples are a beacon of resilience, strength, and perseverance as well as a source of incredible contributions... They challenge all of us to celebrate the good, confront the bad, and tell the whole truth of our history.  And as innovators, educators, engineers, scientists, artists, and leaders in every sector of society, Indigenous peoples contribute to our shared prosperity.  Their diverse cultures and communities today are a testament to the unshakable and unbreakable commitment of many generations to preserve their cultures, identities, and rights to self-governance.  That is why, despite centuries of devastation and turmoil, Tribal Nations continue to thrive and lead in countless ways.”  

>> Tell EPA to begin meaningful dialogue with tribes to learn how pesticide use can be avoided by adopting indigenous practices. When needs can be met without using pesticides, such use causes “unreasonable adverse effects on the environment.”

Indigenous agriculture arises from the ecology of a place, so the successful practices in Hawai'i are not necessarily the same as those in the Great Plains, Eastern North America, or the Andes. But all offer wisdom that could protect us all from the health, biodiversity, and climate emergency that faces us. In the words of the indigenous authors of the White/Wiphala Paper on Indigenous Peoples' Food Systems, “Since millennia, Indigenous Peoples have been protecting their environment and biodiversity. Today scientists are telling us that 80 percent of the remaining world's biodiversity is in our lands and territories. We didn't know this. Our ancestors did not know about biodiversity, ecology, ecosystem services, or CO2 trapping, but they knew that protecting the ecosystems, environment, and biodiversity were essential for our well-being and sustainability. Our elders, mothers and fathers taught us this as a way to exhibit good behaviour in the community.” 

According to A-dae Romero-Briones (Cochiti/Kiowa) of the First Nations Development Institute, “There are stark differences between agricultural systems in indigenous communities and agricultural systems in contemporary communities. The first being the idea of collective resources. In an Indigenous community, there are some things that just cannot be commodified – land, water, air, animals, even the health of the people, all of which are considered collective resources. Collective resources require collective and community management. Contemporary agriculture doesn't have the same base. In contemporary agriculture, there are individualized, commodified resources like land, you can buy water, at one point in our history you could even buy somebody's body and health.” 

Indigenous systems of agriculture and the wisdom they embody are threatened by industrial agriculture, especially toxic chemical use. Indigenous agriculture depends on biodiversity—both in the plants and animals used for food and in the ecosystem in which they are grown. Although Indigenous agriculture is more resilient to climate changes, recent extreme climatic events threaten peoples who can no longer move with the changing seasons.  

In a recent report, EPA's Office of Inspector General (OIG) told the agency that although it “adhered to applicable tribal consultation policies when it conducted consultations for the three RUP [restricted use pesticide] actions that we reviewed, the EPA could update guidance to enhance the meaningful involvement of tribal governments in decision-making processes that affect Indian Country.” The investigation was specifically directed toward RUP actions, but the OIG's advice that EPA define what constitutes “meaningful” involvement with tribes suggests that the agency might begin to learn from tribes about how Indigenous farming and land management practices could avoid the use of pesticides that are so dangerous for health, biodiversity, and climate.  

>> Tell EPA to begin meaningful dialogue with tribes to learn how pesticide use can be avoided by adopting indigenous practices. When needs can be met without using pesticides, such use causes “unreasonable adverse effects on the environment."

The targets for this Action are the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Congress.

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