Nia Tero - 2021 Annual Report - Report - Page 10
INTRODUCTION
NOTES FROM LEADERSHIP (CONTINUED)
than privately owned lands. Our mandate
is to meet Indigenous peoples on their own
territories, to respect their cultures, and to
support their commitments to control and
protect their territories from all harm, including invasion and destruction.
To date, we have demonstrated very strong
results thanks to established partnerships with
over 200 Indigenous communities whose
collective territories include more than
100,000,000 hectares. These agreements,
although varied in specifics, have the
straightforward ambition of ensuring that these
important, ecologically rich territories are
protected from invasion and destruction. We’re
taking a regional approach to upholding the
ability of specific Indigenous peoples to protect
the high priority ecological systems that they
call home. Focal territories lie principally within
three regions of the world where Indigenous
peoples sustain some of the most important
large-scale land and seascapes remaining on
Earth: the western Pacific (New Caledonia,
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| INTRODUCTION - NOTES FROM LEADERSHIP
Vanuatu, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, etc.),
the Boreal forests of Canada, and the northern
Amazon (Suriname, Guyana, Colombia,
Ecuador, Peru and Brazil).
Increasing awareness of the essential role
that collectively controlled Indigenous
territories play in the security of all humanity is
a final aspect of our strategy. We have put
together a team of award-winning storytellers,
including a community of Indigenous Fellows.
The common thread through all of their works
is the powerful connection between Indigenous
peoples and their territory. For those millions of
Indigenous peoples whose voices and cultures
have been suppressed and whose territories
have been colonized, sharing their deep
relationship with the Earth with others, both
Indigenous and non-Indigenous, provides a
unique opportunity to show the world how to
cherish Earth and all of the beings that share
the planet with humanity.
2021 has been a challenging year for
communities across the world. Stresses of
