XII. Supporting Biodiversity and Plant Justice through Varying Indigenous Concepts of Covenants of Reciprocity

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In what is now known as northern Alberta, Northern Bush Crees, who tend to the landscape with ancient and adaptive reciprocal traditions, are asked to quantify and justify their traditional land use through the consultation process with government and corporations who actively extract natural resources from Treaty No. 8 territory. One of many problems that arise from consultation is that many of the cultural keystone plants for Northern Bush Crees are not charismatic, or rare species for Settlers. So, when communities try to protect such plants, they are unsuccessful because the plants are commonly found throughout the Boreal Forest. Many of the same plants, which are used for food and medicine, are now being sprayed with glyphosate by logging companies during the reforestation process. This paper will bring attention to some of these cultural keystone plants that are abundant in Boreal Forests, and the processes that protect and threaten them.

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Estuarine root gardens are Indigenous plant stewardship landscapes on the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. As “living archaeological sites,” these places often still contain large quantities of traditionally managed plant foods (namely, Pacific silverweed (Argentina egedii) and springbank clover (Trifolium wormskioldii), with features of past caretaking still present even a century after the cessation of active caretaking practices. As such, they represent import nexus points of connection with descent communities, with high potential for eco-cultural restoration. Using a “Walking on Two Legs approach” (as originally articulated by the Stk’emlúpsemc te Secwépemc Nation), this paper suggests a methodology for identifying estuarine root gardens that may no longer be known by descent communities, thus re-inserting them within broader cultural landscapes and supporting Indigenous sovereignty.

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In the current precarious environment of remnant forests and intense industrial development, changing world climate patterns, and uncertain political and economic institutions, how can we better examine plant justice and human responsibilities to the more than human world through western and Indigenous frameworks of law and justice? My research explores why Indigenous long-term relationships with plants receive little attention in Canadian law and governance. Even though the use and management of native plants is a foundation of Indigenous cultural and legal practice, these important relationships are generally overlooked in legislation, case law, environmental assessments, and modern treaty negotiations. Using examples from Canadian law and Native American tribal court law, I will explore the potential and challenges of defining legal dignity for plants from the perspective of covenants of reciprocity with the humans whom they stand in relation.

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Humans cannot survive without plants. As well as providing the oxygen we breathe, plants have contributed to people’s cultural and linguistic diversity and richness. Plants can readily survive without humans; yet, many humans consider ourselves to be greatly superior to plants, fungi, and all other lifeforms. We have become separated from other species and have moved away from our ancestral teachings of humility and appreciation for our non-human relations. We need to reconsider our human-centricity and recognize our total dependence on the earth’s other lifeforms. We have neglected their needs at our peril. Here I provide some examples of our dependence on our non-human relations, through “Five F’s”: Foliage, Flowers, Fruit, Forests, and Fungi, with examples of recognition of this dependence from Indigenous Peoples’ cultural practices and lifeways in Northwestern North America.

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In the context of climate change, biodiversity decline, and social injustice, reciprocity emerges as a way of living and being in this world that holds transformative potential. Concepts of reciprocity vary and are enacted in specific cultural practices grounded in Indigenous and local knowledge systems. This editorial synthesises first-hand evidence of how practising reciprocity can result in positive reciprocal contributions between people and nature. It also offers a theoretical justification of why considering reciprocity can lead to more equitable, inclusive, and effective conservation and sustainability policy and practices, contributing to curving the colonial baggage of academic inquiry and development action. Nurturing relations between people, especially academics, and Indigenous Peoples and local communities, is a necessary first step to identifying pathways whereby living in harmony with nature can be achieved.