🌱 How do Indigenous Peoples view water?
By many Indigenous communities, “[w]ater is not considered or managed as a resource but is considered to be part of an interconnected whole”.[i] This is because, “[in] the traditions of many indigenous peoples, water is life itself”.[ii] Many Indigenous Peoples hold the view that “water belongs to everyone and should remain available to all, as a common good”.[iii] In line with this, water “management is based on an integrated territorial vision and on deep respect and care for rivers, springs, lakes and wetlands”.[iv]
🌱 How do Indigenous Peoples approach water management?
The approach of Indigenous Peoples to water “offers a valuable example of [the] community-based management of safe drinking water and sanitation”.[v] Overall, “[t]he territories of indigenous peoples comprise about 25 per cent of the world’s land surface, including approximately 40 per cent of all protected land areas and ecologically intact landscapes”. Over time, “indigenous peoples have preserved 80 per cent of the remaining terrestrial biodiversity”.[vi] Remarkably, “[t]he availability of quality water in [many] indigenous peoples’ territories was preserved due to their sustainable practices as well as [the] difficult accessibility of their territories”.[vii]
🌱 What can Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge teach us?
Indigenous Peoples “offer us valuable ways to address the global water crisis through their traditional practices, both in terms of the sustainable management of aquatic ecosystems and the democratic governance of safe drinking water and sanitation”.[viii] Despite this, Indigenous Peoples are commonly left out “from planning and strategic decision-making in climate change prevention and adaptation”. This “often increases the risks they face in water and sanitation”.[ix]
🌱 Why is Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge often overlooked?
Overall, “the richness of indigenous peoples' knowledge and their evolution to adapt to climate change in their territories are often ignored”.[x] In line with this, “mainstream approaches to water management often dismiss indigenous peoples’ water knowledge and management systems as unscientific or folkloric”. This disregards “the fact that their knowledge is based on empirical experience, resulting from living in their territories from generation to generation”.[xi]
This post has been adapted from a newsletter written by Krisna Baghouzian and Christine Nikander. The newsletter titled “How does mining impact Indigenous Peoples’ water rights?” was originally published in “The E-Waste Newsletter”.
[i] Pedro Arrojo Agudo, Human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation of indigenous peoples: State of affairs and lessons from ancestral cultures. Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/water/2022-11-04/A-HRC-51-24-Friendly-version-EN.pdf (19.03.2025).
[ii] Pedro Arrojo Agudo, Human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation of indigenous peoples: State of affairs and lessons from ancestral cultures. Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/water/2022-11-04/A-HRC-51-24-Friendly-version-EN.pdf (19.03.2025).
[iii] Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Indigenous peoples face growing challenges to access safe water. https://www.ohchr.org/en/stories/2022/10/indigenous-peoples-face-growing-challenges-access-safe-water (19.03.2025).
[iv] Pedro Arrojo Agudo, Human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation of indigenous peoples: State of affairs and lessons from ancestral cultures. Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/water/2022-11-04/A-HRC-51-24-Friendly-version-EN.pdf (19.03.2025).
[v] Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Indigenous peoples face growing challenges to access safe water. https://www.ohchr.org/en/stories/2022/10/indigenous-peoples-face-growing-challenges-access-safe-water (19.03.2025).
[vi] Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Indigenous peoples face growing challenges to access safe water. https://www.ohchr.org/en/stories/2022/10/indigenous-peoples-face-growing-challenges-access-safe-water (19.03.2025).
[vii] Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Indigenous peoples face growing challenges to access safe water. https://www.ohchr.org/en/stories/2022/10/indigenous-peoples-face-growing-challenges-access-safe-water (19.03.2025).
[viii] Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, A/HRC/51/24: Human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation of indigenous peoples: state of affairs and lessons from ancestral cultures. https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/ahrc5124-human-rights-safe-drinking-water-and-sanitation-indigenous (19.03.2025); Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Indigenous peoples face growing challenges to access safe water. https://www.ohchr.org/en/stories/2022/10/indigenous-peoples-face-growing-challenges-access-safe-water (19.03.2025).
[ix] Pedro Arrojo Agudo, Human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation of indigenous peoples: State of affairs and lessons from ancestral cultures. Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, p. 9. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/water/2022-11-04/A-HRC-51-24-Friendly-version-EN.pdf (19.03.2025); The Indigenous Foundation, Lack of Clean Drinking Water in Indigenous communities. https://www.theindigenousfoundation.org/articles/lack-of-clean-drinking-water-in-indigenous-communities (19.03.2025).
[x] Pedro Arrojo Agudo, Human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation of indigenous peoples: State of affairs and lessons from ancestral cultures. Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, p. 9. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/water/2022-11-04/A-HRC-51-24-Friendly-version-EN.pdf (19.03.2025).
[xi] Pedro Arrojo Agudo, Human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation of indigenous peoples: State of affairs and lessons from ancestral cultures. Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/water/2022-11-04/A-HRC-51-24-Friendly-version-EN.pdf (19.03.2025).