Indigenous Peoples Inspiring Sustainable Development

Explores how indigenous treaties via legal principles, provisions and practices can promote more just and sustainable development worldwide.

Indigenous peoples have been stewards of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems for millennia. This volume examines how the implementation of Indigenous treaties and covenants with countries can advance the global Sustainable Development Goals by upholding the legal principles enshrined within UNDRIP.Based on nearly a decade of collaboration by leading Indigenous and non-Indigenous legal experts and researchers, Indigenous Peoples Inspiring Sustainable Development amplifies the guidance and wisdom of Indigenous knowledge and law, as reflected in First Nations treaties with countries. It explores the potential of these covenants to guide sustainable development opportunities in the context of evolving international and domestic legal regimes. Through comparative legal research and contextualized examples across diverse communities' and countries' accords, the volume uncovers whether and how the principles, provisions and practices of Indigenous treaties can strengthen efforts to address pressing social, environmental, and economic challenges. Through cutting-edge insights and stories, the authors analyse how implementation of these treaties could foster, rather than frustrate, efforts to advance the global Sustainable Development Goals by upholding the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.