Ecological Risk Assessment and Management: Their Failure to Value Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Protect Tribal Homelands
Abstract
INTRODUCTION A tribal land base or homeland is the sine qua non of sovereignty. Tribal territories form the geographical limits of each tribe’s jurisdiction, support a residing population, are the basis of the tribal economy, and provide an irreplaceable forum for cultural vitality based on religious practices and cultural traditions premised on the sacredness of land. Today, fully functioning Indian nations possess four distinct yet interwoven and interdependent attributes of sovereignty: secure land base, functioning economies, self-government and cultural vitality. Some describe these attributes as geographic and political independence. In short, the tribes’ land bases are the linchpin to tribal existence and autonomy as sovereign nations. Moreover, a priority implicit in Indian land tenure is maintaining a homeland in which both present and future generations of the tribes may live and flourish, since tribal individuals and families reside on secure land bases which have supported and nourished their ancestors for thousands of years past, and continue to be the core and integral foundation of tribal existence.