The Heritage and Future of Indigenous Rights within Settler-Colonial Commonwealth Nations in the Environmental Emergency

The environmental emergency is exacerbating longstanding global inequalities, disproportionately effecting frontline Indigenous communities. This is a continuation of the ecological and social devastation wrought by colonisation, that left a legacy of racialized social and climate injustice. The way environments sustain and inform cultures and heritage is often undervalued. The recent commitment to align laws in Canada and Aotearoa New Zealand with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP 2007) creates a unique and powerful opportunity to reconceptualise and enact Indigenous-led change: affirming Indigenous communities' rights to protect and maintain culture, heritage, governance, territories, and local ecosystems. As engaged, action-based research, the FLF will tackle complex challenges facing specific communities and support Indigenous community-led decision-making on local priorities around ecological and cultural stewardship in BC Canada and Aotearoa New Zealand to help inform systemic change in cultural heritage and environmental management in each country.