Dear Relatives,
Happy Earth Day 2024!
On this Earth Day, as we celebrate our Mother Earth and Indigenous relatives around the world who work day in and day out to protect her, we reiterate the urgent need to ensure the protection of our relatives and the Earth itself.
We have spent the past week at the 23rd Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, gathering with Indigenous relatives from around the world who traveled to New York City to denounce and address pressing issues facing Indigenous Peoples. The stories we heard at the UN are ones we know well - Indigenous defenders are on the frontlines protecting the vast majority of the Earth’s biodiversity for all future generations but do this work at great risk, including criminalization and state repression, forced displacement, as well as other attacks and reprisals, including in the context of a transition to “green” energy.
Today, we honor our ancestors and elders who fought since time immemorial to protect the Earth, our ancestral lands, language, and existence - it is why we are still here. We also honor the courageous relatives who have lost their lives defending the Earth and their ancestral lands. In honoring them we do not glamorize their sacrifice, but acknowledge that it is not safe for our relatives to stand to protect Indigenous rights and the Earth. There is an urgent need to continue to #ProtectProtectors here and around the world. We are committed to doing that work as a legal holding line for the frontlines to protect the next seven generations.
In keeping with this year’s UNPFII theme of “emphasizing the voices of Indigenous youth,” I want to share a short animated film suitable for all ages, that I have drawn inspiration and strength from and often return to when I am feeling low and overwhelmed by these trying times. Based on an Ayoreo story from Bolivia, Abuela Grillo tells the story of a woman who brings the rain. Captured by a corporation seeking to profit from and privatize water, a drought ensues–I won’t spoil the end, but the short invites us to rethink our relation to the Earth and Water. The story also represents a historic moment in Bolivia known as the Cochabamba Water Wars, when water privatization led to protests leading to dozens of civilian injuries and casualties. In 2010, the United Nations adopted Resolution 64/292 that “recognizes the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights.” Yet the global trend towards privatization and commodification of Water continues to be a threat to the Water and Earth for future generations.
As we forge paths forward, at Water Protector Legal Collective we remain committed to doing this work to #ProtectProtectors, Earth and Water–not just for our Peoples but for all our relations.
We could not do this work without you. WPLC is the only Indigenous-led legal organization working on frontlines to protect Indigenous communities and the Sacred. We invite you to share our story, become a part of our work, and join the movement.
The land and water want us back too.
Urpillay sonqollay,
From the heart,
Natali Segovia, Esq. (Quechua)Executive Director and Senior Attorney
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