Mission Statement
The mission of First Peoples Worldwide is to build upon a foundation of Indigenous values to achieve a sustainable future for all. By supporting Indigenous communities and engaging key political, economic and social institutions, together we innovate and demonstrate solutions that combine the best of Indigenous and contemporary practice.
Why Our Work Is Important
Indigenous Peoples' territories span many of the last remaining biodiversity-rich wilderness areas and most of the major conservation priorities for this century. Outside parties such as conservationists and environmental NGOs routinely carve protected areas out of Indigenous territories without notice to or consultation with the inhabitants. In many cases the Indigenous Peoples are involuntarily removed from their ancestral land to create “pristine” (people-free) protected areas.
As their lands are stripped, their sources of food, trade and medicines are taken away, and their livelihoods threatened by outside interests Indigenous Peoples are at increasing risk of poverty, disease, social unrest, and, in some cases, cultural extinction. It is absolutely imperative to the survival of Indigenous Peoples that the effects of external biodiversity conservation efforts be stopped and reversed, and addressing this issue is a priority for First Peoples Worldwide.
First Peoples believes that Indigenous Peoples' traditional management systems are based in valid principles of biodiversity conservation. Traditional knowledge is invigorated and validated by continued application and adaptation, but without a contemporary operating context, traditional knowledge is in danger of dying out. First Peoples will help to hardwire traditional knowledge into biodiversity conservation programs by helping Indigenous communities codify cultural and traditional stewardship practices and incorporate them into natural resource management plans.
How We Are Doing It
Keepers of the Earth, First Peoples Worldwide's first global strategic initiative, presents a unique alternative to traditional land and biodiversity conservation practices by shifting the responsibility for the design and management of an Indigenous territory to local Indigenous Peoples as stewards of their lands. The Keepers of the Earth model utilizes sustainable time-honored traditional knowledge in its distinctive approach to conservation. In using these proven methods, Keepers of the Earth not only protects land and biodiversity in a proven manner, but also ensures that the unique Indigenous cultures from which this knowledge stems are also safeguarded for generations to come.
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First Peoples Worldwide
857 Leeland Road • Fredericksburg, VA 22405 • USA
info@firstpeoples.org • (540) 899-6545
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| © Copyright 2007-2011, First Peoples Worldwide
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