CategoryIndigenous Peoples, Sustainability and Climate Change

Regents Professor of Law, University of Arizona; Visiting Professor of Law and American Indian

Introduction The law masks as natural what is chosen; it obscures the consequences of social selection as inevitable. The result is that the distortions in social relations are immunized from truly effective intervention, because the existing inequities are obscured and rendered nearly invisible. The existing state of affairs is considered neutral and fair, however unequal and unjust it is in...

Kānāwai: Using Ancient Hawaiian Law to Prepare for the Future Introduction The Kingdom of Hawaiʻi and its people have been wrought with turmoil since their first contact with Western civilization.  From systematic land taking to the overthrow of the Kingdom, Kanaka Maoli[1] have encountered colonization, militarism, and imperialism at almost every turn.  However, with ea (life) and aloha (love)...

Sacchi v. Argentina: Fighting for Indigenous Children’s Climate Rights Introduction On September 23, 2019, a group of sixteen children from twelve countries, ages ranging eight to eighteen, filed an official petition against five countries[1] under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). [2]  Sacchi v. Argentina[3] represents the first time in history where children have...

Introduction Canadian legal precedent dictates that First Nations with a prima facie claim to Aboriginal title are owed a duty of consultation and accommodation by the government.  Moreover, the fulfillment of Aboriginal rights generally is motivated, in the view of the courts, by the desire for reconciliation between Indigenous groups and the colonial government.  Co-management of lands and...

Punjab is the land of the five rivers: An agriculturally rich and fertile region in South Asia divided by the modern-day international border of India and Pakistan.  It was among the last regions in South Asia to succumb to colonization by the British Empire in the mid-1800s.  Sikhs are a religious minority community who follow the religious and spiritual tradition of Sikhi, which originated in...