Land Body Ecologies

In the late 1940s, Kemijoki, the longest river in Finland, was dammed as part of major post-war reconstruction projects – hydropower plants and roads built to serve a more efficient forest industry. The dam has led to innumerable losses for local communities – loss of salmon, river-activities, significant places and landscapes. The damming of Kemijoki caused overwhelming cultural, social, ecological, physical and mental challenges.

Bannerghatta sits on the outskirts of Bangalore. In 1974, it was declared a national park, stipulating that no human activities take place except those in interest of wildlife conservation. Diverse tribal communities who call the region home, are now being squeezed between rapid urban sprawl and land being fenced off for conservation, and the economic and cultural activities upon which they rely increasingly criminalised.

Batwa are a hunter-gatherer community, historically inhabiting vast stretches of the biodiverse-rich equatorial forests. Having been forcibly and violently removed from their homeland by government authorities in the name of wildlife and forest conservation in the early 1990’s, Batwa culture and health are now seriously threatened, and with it hundreds of years of invaluable ecological stewardship knowledge.

Ban Nong Tao is home to the Pgak’yau (Karen) community, who practice a 700-year-old tradition of rotational farming to sustainably grow and manage forest resources. Ongoing land reclassification and more recent carbon credit schemes, are resulting in loss of land, culture and spiritual connections for Pgak’yau, devaluing traditional knowledge and fundamental beliefs on how to live in balance with nature.

Ogiek are a forest-dwelling, hunter-gatherer community and have been custodians of Mau Forest for generations. For decades, Mau Ogiek have suffered forced evictions from their ancestral land by the Kenyan Government, without consultation or compensation, disrupting Ogiek’s cultural practices and livelihoods, and causing perpetual displacement and multi-generational trauma.

Sámi people are Indigenous Peoples native to Sápmi, a region spanning the northern part of the Scandinavian and Kola Peninsulas. For decades, national governments have failed to involve Sámi in land-use decision-making in a full and fair capacity. Sámi face repeated land-use competition coupled with changing climates, harming livelihoods, human and ecosystem health, and spiritual ties to the land.