ⴰⵔⵔⴰⵎⴰⵜ | Ărramăt
Strengthening Health And Wellbeing Through Indigenous-Led Conservation and Sustainable Relationships With Biodiversity
"If the land is not healthy, how can we be?"
Whapmagoostui Cree Elder (1)
Biodiversity loss in Canada and globally is now recognized as a crisis. Transformative changes are needed to restore and protect nature (2), in ways that will also strengthen the health and well-being of Indigenous peoples. The Ărramăt Project is working towards this transformative change.
The Ărramăt Project is, at its core, about respecting the inherent dignity and interconnectedness of peoples and Mother Earth; life and livelihood; identity and expression; biodiversity and sustainability; stewardship and wellbeing. Although we are limited by academic conventions, and the predominance of the English language, our Team offers a holistic Indigenous-led approach to researching the interrelationships between biodiversity and health-wellbeing. “Ărramăt” - which means a state of wellbeing (shared by the environment, animals, and humans) in the Indigenous Tamasheq language (Mali) – speaks to our holistic worldview. Many similar concepts are reflected in other Indigenous languages globally. We have chosen to engage in the Ărramăt Project through “Ethical Space” (3) framed by principles of reciprocity, recognition, and reconciliation wherein Indigenous knowledges, cultures, histories and ways of life are respected.
Developing a holistic approach to taking care of nature and the health and wellbeing of people is critical to the sustainability of the planet.
The Ărramăt project, involves more than 150 Indigenous governments, organizations, scholars, and other allies. Together, we seek to elevate and strengthen Indigenous voices and generate how-to knowledge for supporting nature and people. The work would be guided by well-established Indigenous Research Methodologies (IRM) which inspires us to create an Ethical Space that will enliven encounters between peoples, peoples and nature, and different knowledge systems. Through our application of Ethical Space, new kinds of respectful relationships and learning may be generated by peoples previously excluded from research and decision-making about their communities, lands, and resources (e.g., women, gender diverse peoples).
Many Indigenous Peoples have worldviews, beliefs, knowledge, and practices about the strong relationships between people and the environment.
Indigenous Peoples around the world teach us that if the lands (water, fish, animals, plants) are not healthy, then the people are not healthy.
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In many places around the world, Indigenous knowledge, practices, and beliefs are not well respected. Many Indigenous Peoples are excluded from decision-making about the use of lands and resources and their communities. Such exclusion and bias worsen conditions of poor health and well-being and limits the opportunities for more sustainable futures.
For example, ‘land grabbing’ (in the name of conservation) and criminalization of Indigenous practices, has resulted in food insecurity and related illnesses (e.g., malnutrition, Type II diabetes), economic exclusion (i.e. poverty), cultural discontinuity, conflict, and hopelessness, Exploitation of Indigenous territories has led to contamination of food resources, water insecurity, and extirpations of many wild species (e.g. boreal caribou). Unhealthy relationships between people and nature have also created scenarios in which wildlife diseases (e.g., COVID-19) have had devastating global impacts. Although these stresses are significant and growing, IPs are also leaders in the stewardship of biodiversity and in caring for their communities.
Indigenous Peoples in Canada and globally are demonstrating strong leadership in biodiversity stewardship and nurturing their communities. IPs make up 5% of the global population, yet 80% of the world's biodiversity is located in their territories.
Clockwise from top left: Amaranta Gómez Regalado is an outspoken Muxhe activist from Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, Mexico; Danika Billie Littlechild is a well-known Cree lawyer and leader in Indigenous-led conservation from Neyaskweyahk, Ermineskin Cree Nation in Maskwacis, Treaty No. 6 Territory (Alberta); Kim Tallbear is a Canada Research Chair in the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta whose work focuses on the decolonization of science and education; Mariam Wallet Aboubakrine is a Tuareg woman from Mali and former Chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, in this image she briefs the press on the occasion of the International Day of World’s Indigenous Peoples.
We want to co-create and share knowledge and work towards change in ten pathways.
This project will be governed according to principles of Ethical Space and in respect of the principles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (4).
Our Ărramăt ⴰⵔⵔⴰⵎⴰⵜ project includes Indigenous governments and organizations from Canada and around the world.
Answering the call of Indigenous leaders, the project creates opportunities for Indigenous partners to access funding, design and implement projects that meet their knowledge needs and strengthen holistic governance of biodiversity and Indigenous health and well-being.
Indigenous Knowledge, which is based on holistic worldviews, practices and belief systems will be documented over 6 years in 44 regions of Canada and the globe. By strengthening capacity and supporting culturally diverse, place-based research teams, the Ărramăt project will generate:
1) Culturally appropriate frameworks for defining and describing interconnections between biodiversity and health-wellbeing;
2) Indicators and methods for tracking and interpreting patterns, trends and tipping points;
3) Modelling innovations and solutions for biodiversity conservation and care of people in hot-spots (e.g., areas/peoples under critical stress); and
4) Actionable ‘design principles’ for strengthening holistic governance of biodiversity and health-wellbeing.
Ărramăt Peoples Map
The territories in which this story map was written are the ancestral homelands of many Indigenous Peoples (IPs) including the Anishinaabe and Algonquin (Ontario); Néhiyaw, Dene, Nakota Sioux, Blackfoot and Métis of Treaties 6 & 7 (Alberta); Kanien'kehà:ka (Quebec); Mi'kmaw (Nova Scotia); and the Coast Salish peoples of the Səlil̓wətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), and Kwikwetlem Nations (British Columbia). We acknowledge the many other Indigenous territories where our Team is living and working. We give thanks to our sacred lands and waters, all beings and spirits on Mother Earth, and we express gratitude for all our relations and responsibilities. We give thanks to our ancestors for all they have done to care for the lands and waters since time immemorial.
1 - Adelson, N. (2000). 'Being Alive Well': Health and the Politics of Cree Well-being (Vol. 16). University of Toronto Press
2 - IPBES. 2019. “IPBES Global Assessment: Summary for Policy Makers.” Bonn, Germany. https://ipbes.net/global-assessment-report-biodiversity-ecosystem-services
3 - Ermine, W. (2007). The ethical space of engagement. Indigenous LJ, 6, 19
4 - Walshe, R., & Argumedo, A. (2016). Ayni, Ayllu, Yanantin and Chanincha: the cultural values enabling adaptation to climate change in communities of the potato park, in the Peruvian Andes. GAIA-Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society, 25(3), 166-173
All photographs and quotes have been provided by partners of the Ărramăt project and are used with permission.
