0.21 Cultural and aesthetic considerations  (Page 5/5)

Many problems face indigenous people, including: lack of human rights, exploitation of their traditional lands and themselves, and degradation of their culture. In response to the problems faced by these people, the United Nations proclaimed an "International Decade of the World's Indigenous People" beginning in 1994. The main objective of this proclamation, according to the United Nations, is "the strengthening of international cooperation for the solution of problems faced by indigenous people in such areas as human rights, the environment, development, health, culture and education." Its major goal is to protect the rights of indigenous people. Such protection would enable them to retain their cultural identity, such as their language and social customs, while participating in the political, economic and social activities of the region in which they reside.

Despite the lofty U.N. goals, the rights and feelings of indigenous people are often ignored or minimized, even by supposedly culturally sensitive developed countries. In the United States many of those in the federal government are pushing to exploit oil resources in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on the northern coast of Alaska. The “Gwich'in,” an indigenous people who rely culturally and spiritually on the herds of caribou that live in the region, claim that drilling in the region would devastate their way of life. Thousands of years of culture would be destroyed for a few months’ supply of oil. Drilling efforts have been stymied in the past, but mostly out of concern for environmental factors and not necessarily the needs of the indigenous people. Curiously, another group of indigenous people, the “Inupiat Eskimo,” favor oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Because they own considerable amounts of land adjacent to the refuge, they would potentially reap economic benefits from the development of the region.

In the Canadian region encompassing Labrador and northeastern Quebec, the Innu Nation has battled the Canadian Department of National Defense (DND) to prevent supersonic test flights over their hunting territory. The Innu Nation asserts that such flights are potentially harmful to Innu hunters and wildlife in the path of such flights. The nature of Innu hunting includes travelling over long distances and staying out on the land for long periods of time. The Innu Nation claims that low-level supersonic fly-overs generate shock waves, which can irreversibly damage the ears and lungs of anyone in the direct flight path. They also claim that the DND has made no serious efforts to warn the Innu people of the possible dangers.

In the rainforest regions of Brazil, indigenous peoples of several tribes are working together to strengthen their common concern over the impact of large development projects on their traditional lands. Such projects range from the construction of dams and hydroelectric power plants to the alteration of the natural courses of rivers to provide commercial waterways. The government of Brazil touts development of the Tocantins-Araguaia waterway as a means to facilitate river navigation in the eastern Amazon. It will promote agricultural development in Brazil's heartland and in the eastern Amazon by providing access to markets of grains, fuel and fertilizers. However, the waterway will negatively impact fifteen indigenous peoples who object that the changes in the natural rivers will cause the death of the fish and animals upon which they depend for survival.

The heart of most environmental conflicts faced by governments usually involves what constitutes proper and sustainable levels of development. For many indigenous peoples, sustainable development constitutes an integrated wholeness, where no single action is separate from others. They believe that sustainable development requires the maintenance and continuity of life, from generation to generation and that humans are not isolated entities, but are part of larger communities, which include the seas, rivers, mountains, trees, fish, animals and ancestral spirits. These, along with the sun, moon and cosmos, constitute a whole. From the point of view of indigenous people, sustainable development is a process that must integrate spiritual, cultural, economic, social, political, territorial and philosophical ideals.