Document Type
Article
Abstract
The fields of conservation and environmentalism prioritize ecosystem health, yet both emerged from western frameworks that displaced and criminalized Indigenous land stewardship. The idealization of “pristine wilderness” narratives served to justify the removal of Indigenous peoples from their homelands and erased millennia of sustainable land stewardship that had maintained ecological balance long before western conservation existed. These narratives not only misrepresented Indigenous relationship with land but also constructed a false dichotomy between humans and nature that positioned Indigenous presence as a threat rather than a source of ecological knowledge. Simultaneously, anthropogenic expansion; such as pipelines, mining, railroads, and other extractive infrastructures, violated Indigenous sovereignty and intensified ecological disruption. These processes are not isolated historical events but ongoing forms of environmental racism that produce disproportionate harm to Indigenous communities through land dispossession, cultural erasure, and the degradation of ecosystems central to cultural health and identity. Current political rollbacks on environmental protections further exacerbate these injustices by weakening tribal consultation, expanding extractive development, and undermining Indigenous governance. Effective conservation and sustainability require Indigenous leadership, recognition of sovereignty, and the restoration of land-based governance systems that have supported ecosystems for generations. Repairing these fields demands centering Indigenous authority rather than erasing or appropriating Indigenous knowledge. Without Indigenous-led decision-making, conservation and environmental sustainability efforts risk reproducing the same colonial structures that created ecological and social harm in the first place.
Publication Date
2026
Recommended Citation
Moorman, Lydia, "Indigenous Land Seizure & Environmental Injustice: Impacts of Settler Colonialism" (2026). Journal of Earth and Life Science. 98.
https://pines.bemidjistate.edu/j-earth-life-sci/98
Included in
American Studies Commons, Biodiversity Commons, Environmental Health and Protection Commons, Environmental Law Commons, Environmental Policy Commons, Environmental Studies Commons, Ethnic Studies Commons, Indigenous, Indian, and Aboriginal Law Commons, Indigenous Studies Commons, Inequality and Stratification Commons, Law and Society Commons, Oil, Gas, and Mineral Law Commons, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Public Affairs Commons, Public Policy Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance Commons, Social Justice Commons, Sustainability Commons
Comments
Faculty sponsor: Dr. Paul Kivi, Department of Environmental Studies