Indigenous Forum

Bioneers has been committed to fostering connection, cross-pollination and collaboration by bringing together diverse people and projects.

• Indigenous Program Schedule
  
  

Along with this commitment of supporting diversity, Bioneers has embraced the sharing of Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge and wisdom within its programs and conferences. Along with Indigenous leadership on the Bioneers’ board of directors, Bioneers has developed a partnership with:

• The Cultural Conservancy (TCC), a local/regional Indigenous nonprofit organization
• Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), a national/international Indigenous network.
  

TCC is a research, education and advocacy organization dedicated to the preservation and revitalization of indigenous cultures and their ancestral lands. IEN is a network of indigenous communities and staff organizers building sustainable indigenous communities and protecting the human and environmental rights of Indigenous Peoples. TCC and IEN recognize that Bioneers considers the dissemination of Indigenous knowledge (“The Original Instructions”) a priority area of unique importance. Since the inception of Bioneers, it has been deeply influenced by indigenous thinking, and has prominently featured indigenous presenters and voices.

Within this context, in the 2008 Bioneers Conference, TCC and IEN partnered with Bioneers to successfully produce a pilot project featuring an Indigenous Tent, located central to the conference, that provided Indigenous workshops and cultural activities in a forum that brought over 50 indigenous leaders, families and activists participating in the conference. For this second year, this Indigenous programming has been re-named the “Indigenous Forum” and includes native workshops in the Indigenous Tent, workshops in other conference venues, a special multimedia exhibit on Indigenous responses to climate change, and other cultural activities.

Bioneers’ Indigenous Forum goals include:

• Providing a networking space and sanctuary for Indigenous participants.
  
• Educating the global community as to the key issues and resiliency First Peoples are developing to address cultural survival, human rights, land and biodiversity preservation, sacred lands, and incorporating indigenous science.
  
• Providing a space for in-depth explorations of “Indigeneity” and “Re-Indigenization” in an invitational format that encourages all people to re-evaluate their relationship to the sacredness of Mother Earth.
  
• Supporting all peoples to examine the history of colonization within their own roots. People need to look from within their own cultures, not from native cultures. There needs to be understanding and respect for the intellectual property rights and cultural privacy of Indigenous Peoples and our knowledge.
  
• Helping attract greater support for Bioneers’ indigenous programs, and for Indigenous work, people and projects in general.