B2. Connections to the Land
Specific Expectations
B2.1
analyse the impact on Indigenous peoples of physical changes to and/or displacement from traditional lands, assessing the causes of change and the results of some contemporary efforts to address the consequences (e.g., with reference to the threat to the traditional religious practice of rain making posed by drought in Zimbabwe and Tanzania; the depletion of wild plant foods and materials used by the Baka people, caused by deforestation in Cameroon; the destruction of songlines in Australia; the relocation of the San people in southern Africa; successive removals of the Lenape people in the United States; the forced displacement of Indigenous peoples due to development of the Bakun Dam in Malaysia; the eviction of Indigenous communities across the United States to make room for national parks in the name of conservation)
- How have government policies and land development practices affected the rights and the daily life of the Ati people of Boracay Island in the Philippines?
- What effects did the relocation of the San people, or Bushmen, of southern Africa have on their way of life? How have the Bushmen responded?
- Why was Uluru, a well-known natural landmark in Australia, returned to the Pitjantjatjara Anangu?
- The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is working with Indigenous organizations and individuals, especially traditional knowledge keepers, to counter the view that water is simply a commodity. What is the motivation for this initiative?
- How has climate change affected the land-based spiritual practices of Indigenous peoples across Africa?
- In what ways are the issues that Indigenous peoples face with respect to land remarkably similar in all Commonwealth states? How does a comparative analysis of state Indigenous policies explain these similarities?
B2.2
explain the significance of Indigenous perspectives and practices for land stewardship and resource management in a global context (e.g., with reference to the protection of species habitats, forest management systems, the extraction of natural resources, the granting of personhood to bodies of water, strategies to address climate change), identifying and describing some contemporary efforts to acknowledge these perspectives and follow these practices
- What are some ways in which resource managers around the world are attempting to incorporate Indigenous ecological knowledge into public land and resource management? What is their motivation?
- How can governments protect lands and waterways that have spiritual and cultural significance to Indigenous peoples? Why is it important to do so? How can conservationists support these initiatives?
- How did the principles laid out in the 1994 report of the Clayoquot Sound Scientific Panel reflect Indigenous world views? In what ways are these principles relevant to international standards for sustainable forest practices?
- In what ways does Indigenous land use clash with the philosophy that underwrites conservation practices? How do Indigenous land management practices differ from conservation approaches? What attempts are being made to reconcile these views?