The ancestral approach is key to protecting Mother Earth

DUBAI: Having sustained indigenous communities for centuries, ancestral teachings and practices have a unique role in preserving Mother Earth today, believes Grandmother Mona Polacca, a senior tribal leader and a founding member of a worldwide coalition of indigenous women.

“The council is deeply concerned about the destruction of Mother Earth,” Polacca, who is Hopi/Havasupai/Tewa elder and Chair of the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, said at an Expo 2020 Dubai event that examined global systems through the lens of indigenous cultures. The aim was to better collaborate with nature, explore the long-standing relationship between the natural world and human communities, and examine innovative nature-based solutions to shared challenges.

The elder led the morning session, ‘In Conversation: Nature’s Community’, and spoke on how indigenous people depend on nature and therefore remain committed to preserving it, “The indigenous people still follow the teachings of our ancestors. We follow practices and beliefs that have sustained us from time immemorial.”

Citing the current generation’s duty to “preserve life” and decide what we give our children and grandchildren, Polacca added, “We uphold original instructions on how to maintain the sacred relationship with what Mother Earth has given us, especially water… we depend on prayer for our needs. We pray for rain and [the] rain comes. We are happy that indigenous people’s voices [are] being recognised. Our beliefs still have relevance today.”

The International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers first came together in October 2004, gathering as a new global alliance from areas of North America, including the Alaskan tundra and the Black Hills of South Dakota, Central America, Tibet, Nepal, and the rainforest of Central Africa.

Expo international participants New Zealand and Costa Rica were also part of the event, held as part of ‘Urban and Rural Development Week’, one of 10 Theme Weeks under Expo’s Programme for People and Planet.

“Listening and tuning into the deep and innate connection we have with nature can help unlock solutions to many of the world’s current challenges. Understanding and then, importantly, trusting the world’s indigenous cultures to guide this process is critical to long-term and sustainable change,” said Clayton Kimpton, New Zealand’s Commissioner-General to Expo 2020, responding to various questions related to the Theme Week topic.

Source: Expo 2020 website