Sacred Landscape

GUEST ESSAY Colorado Plateau Advocate magazine, Spring 2015

Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change in the Southwest.

BY REBECCA TSOSIE

Knowledge is deeply embedded within the landscape of the Colorado Plateau.¹ This place encompasses both a material record of human history, carved in petroglyphs on the sandstone cliffs, and an intangible one which exists at the level of memory. These sacred lands hold multiple values for the Indigenous peoples who have for generations lived upon, honored, and cared for them. The Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, Zuni Pueblo, Havasupai Tribe, San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe, Hualapai Tribe, and others still maintain cultural ties to this landscape, although the lands are now largely in public and private hands.

Indigenous peoples have long histories of resilience and adaptation to environmental changes caused by natural forces, as well as settlement by Europeans.

Powerful lessons in this cultural memory may prove instructive in the years to come. Tribal stories, ceremonies and narratives illustrate the powerful linkage between place and memory, as my colleague, Jim Enote, Director of the Zuni Pueblo’s A:shiwi A:wan Museum, has shown. In 2013, Jim curated a beautiful exhibit of Zuni map art, in which contemporary Zuni artists depicted the relationship of the Zuni people to the sacred lands within the Grand Canyon and associated places across several centuries and multiple generations.² 

Cultural leaders from twelve Plateau tribes, along with Tony Skrelunas and other staff of the Trust’s Native America Program, have made the cultural landscape of the Colorado Plateau a priority, organizing Intertribal Indigenous Gatherings that bring together cultural leaders and elders around issues such as mitigating climate change impacts on traditional farming methods, water resources, and cultures. Through the Gatherings, Indigenous people of the Plateau come together to discuss the values of this sacred landscape, furthering an ethic of conservation that is inclusive of Indigenous peoples and traditional cultural values.

Of course, these cultural values are often eclipsed by the politics of “sustainability” and “development” in an era of climate change. Climate policy in the Southwest centers upon energy, water, and the environment, and economic development is a significant driver for policy discussions. Most tribal governments in the Southwest are affected by the regional politics of energy development and water resources management, although the conversation is dominated by states like Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah, whose water-intensive energy economies have long been heavily dependent upon mining.

Tribal governments are also affected by national energy politics, including the development of domestic reserves of oil and gas.

For generations, tribal lands in the Southwest have been exploited for coal, oil and gas.

 The resulting economic dependence of tribal governments on fossil fuel exploitation continues to inform energy development politics in the Southwest as well as discussion about how to manage scarce water resources.

And when it comes to water rights, tribal governments may be "equal," but they are not equally situated with respect to water rights.

Tribes such as the Gila River Indian Community have final settlements, which means that their water rights are quantified and secured by law. The Navajo Nation has reserved rights due to its Treaty, which carries an early priority date, but these rights are not secured by a final settlement so the Nation is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change given future drought predictions.

The 2013 Climate Change Assessment Report for the Southwest Region found that “Native American lands, communities, cultures and traditions” are at risk of significant negative impacts from climate change.³ According to the report, the vulnerability of tribal communities is “closely linked to external land use policies, political marginalization, water rights, and poor socio-economic conditions.” Tribal communities in the Southwest are largely poor and rural.

Tribal governments do not have the resources to adequately monitor climatic conditions or engage in effective adaptation planning. At this point, no adequate infrastructure exists to enable tribal governments to participate in landscape-scale adaptation planning efforts to deal with climate change across jurisdictional boundaries. Because of this, ecosystem change may jeopardize traditional foods and medicines of Southwest tribes, as well as the water resources promised to tribal governments by federal law. In addition, tribal members often lack access to basic services, including adequate electricity, clean water, and health clinics that can treat climate-related ailments, such as heat exposure and respiratory illness caused by windy conditions and dry soil, which releases high levels of dust and particulates into the air.

Despite these challenges, the report notes that “Native communities have much to offer the climate science community” because of their long histories of successful adaptation in a region where there has been wide-ranging natural variability.⁴ 

Indigenous traditional knowledge can enhance our understanding of ecosystem change and promote successful adaptation (e.g. traditional drought and pest-resistant crops). Oral and traditional knowledge provide a “map” of the cultural landscape that is often unseen, but vitally integrated with the physical landscape. As David Getches wrote, Indigenous land ethics are the only ethical system founded upon a “philosophy of permanence.” David’s life and his work for the Grand Canyon Trust revolved around the central idea that we share a common existence as living beings attached to a landscape that must nurture all of us into the future. His 1990 essay, “A Philosophy of Permanence: The Indians’ Legacy for the West,” opens with a quote attributed to Chief Sealth: “This we do know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all.” That is the lesson of climate change: the biosphere is intricately connected across regions and jurisdictional boundaries, and the forests, oceans, and deserts of the world are held together in an intricate balance that enables our collective survival. 

David Getches integrated respect between Nations and responsibility for the land and future generations into the ethic of modern land management practice. Today, the lesson of this work is equally applicable to dealing with the challenge of climate change in the Southwest. The Grand Canyon Trust’s Native America Program is working with cultural leaders from twelve tribes across the Colorado Plateau on community-based conservation projects. 

This commitment to work in partnership with the Indigenous peoples of this land is important and distinctive.

Tribally-driven conservation projects are key to effective management of the lands within the Colorado Plateau in an era of climate change.

These projects inspire a robust and collaborative approach to sustainability, instead of the short-term “ethic of opportunity” that has incentivized development in the Southwest since the nineteenth century. The challenges of the future require us to transcend our limited notions of value and acknowledge the vibrant and spiritual essence of a sacred landscape.