Grant: Project Grant

It was not too long ago that Indigenous Peoples were born into a world of their own making and where they had the authority to vision and work toward their preferred futures. Intimate knowledge of local environments and climate conditions along with protocols, ceremony, and customary laws ensured the People and the lands/waters stayed healthy and relatively free from infectious disease. But now, the health of our planet, all Peoples and all living beings, is in crisis. The drivers of this crisis are colonization, capitalism, extractivism, globalization, hetero-patriarchy, and racism, underpinned by associated policies, systems, and structures that reinforce these worldviews. If we want collective futures that sustain all planetary life, we cannot turn to the same systems that created the current conditions. The aim of our project is to develop globally impactful research that demonstrates how place-based Indigenous-led resurgence can be synergized across 5 locations (Case Studies) to create an "Archipelago" of transformative change. Our proof-of-concept approach focuses on re-establishing healthy lands and healthier Peoples by restoring: cedar cultivation and carving in the Pacific Northwest; the songs, dances, and lessons derived from the Buffalo on the Great Plains; traditional land-based leadership-development practices in Hawaii; community-based health practices in the Mariana Islands; and Indigenous farming, forestry, and fishing practices for sustainable business in Aotearoa. This project seeks 3 objectives: 1) Document how each Island's Indigenous-led resurgent activities are contributing to Planetary Health; 2) Create an Indigenous systems-change model that assembles locally based Indigenous-led resurgence into an "Archipelago of Planetary Health"; 3) Determine the feasibility of our proof-of-concept through Indigenous-led evaluation. New health-related knowledge and policy will be generated through this Indigenous-led action research.