The WORLDWIDE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE’S CHARTER is, therefore, intended to enlighten those within the consumer culture of an alternative way of living: the Indigenous Way, which has honoured, served and harmonized with our planet over millennia in mutually beneficial and sustainable customs and traditions; and its purpose is to thereby chart the way for responsible, mutually beneficial governance of our beautiful planet going forward. The terms “governance” and “law” are not immediately translatable into the Indigenous Way. The reason being that the Indigenous Way is not accountable to manmade authority, but serves “Great Spirit”, the true Authority. Great Spirit is the Creator, alive both in Nature and in all Her elements. It follows naturally, therefore, that the Indigenous Way is to serve, honor and respect Nature, and Nature’s Law – Her inherent laws evident within thriving, natural ecosystems. This should be understood as the “Original Contract” by which humankind serves Great Spirit, ensuring Nature’s continued flourishing, in gratitude for the gift of Life itself. In modern terms, it can be translated as the responsibility of humanity and, in particular, humanity’s governing and legal structures, to uphold Nature’s Law: The eternal codes governing natural Creation which ensure the dignity, freedom, mutuality, continuance and flourishing of planetary life and health, of which humanity is an integral part.
Click here to read the submission to the South African Government illustrating a model of true leadership, one which respects Indigenous Knowledge Systems, and thereby places the regeneration of our living Earth at the center of all decisions affecting our mutual future.
Drafted with the support of international legal firms (https://www.centerforenvironmentalrights.org/ and https://naturaljustice.org/), and supported by NGOs representing all strata of civic-society, this submission challenges the South African government’s so-called “Wildlife Economy” model as it currently stands: a post-colonial consumptive and extractive use agenda, which brutally commoditises wild animals, including lions, leopard, elephants, rhino and has reclassified 33 wild animals under the Agriculture Act, effectively making them available for human consumption.
Not only is it unethical, unecological and fundamentally unsustainable, the consumption of lions contravenes Nature’s Law, and therefore risks another global pandemic.
A High Level Advisory Panel has been established by Government to drive this agenda forward. With the full life-force of the Worldwide Indigenous Peoples Governance CHARTER behind it, this submission shows another way.
