From Obstruction to Decolonization? 143
think through indigenous-perspective education (2019); and Zellars traces the
possibilities of Black commons and liberation in solidarity with indigenous territorial sovereignty “on Turtle Island” Canada (2021). Abya Yala and Turtle Island
connect and overlap in the pre- and decolonial space of Aztlán, the Nahuatl word
for Aztec/Mexica territories in Mesoamerica (Medina, 2019).
Within Turtle Island, a range of tribal and indigenous communities are
navigating territorial sovereignty and recovery through place-based and plantbased mobilizations. These broadly fall under the conception of biocultural heritage and are thus biocultural political claims, even if they don’t use the exact term.
These movements work beyond the colonial nation-state scale of reference, even
as they transgress actual borders. Audra Simpson chronicles how her Kahnawà:ke
communities and their broader Mohawk nations straddle, transgress, and transcend the U.S.-Canadian border (Simpson, 2014). This is particularly relevant to
international biocultural governance.
Because the Secretariat of the United Nation’s CBD is located in Montreal,
Quebec, Canada, which is the traditional ancestral land of the Kahnawà:ke
(Mohawk) nation, key Kahnawà:ke cosmological principles have infused and
informed the CBD’s policies and paradigms as a prominent scale of reference in
transnational and supranational biocultural governance:
1 The Akwé: Kon Guidelines, adopted in CBD COP-7,
4 guide
“the conduct of cultural, environmental and social impact assessment
regarding developments proposed to take place on, or which are likely to
impact on, sacred sites and on lands and waters traditionally occupied or
used by indigenous communities”. Akwé: Kon means “everything in creation” in Kanien’kéha, the Mohawk language.
2 The Tkarihwaié:ri Code of Ethical Conduct to Ensure Respect for the
Cultural and Intellectual Heritage of Indigenous and Local Communities
Relevant to the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biological Diversity, adopted by COP-10, guides models and codes of ethical research and
“access to, use, and exchange and management of information concerning
traditional knowledge”, including prior informed consent, approval, and
involvement in research and collection.
5 Tkarihwaié:ri means “the proper
way” in Kanien’kéha.
3 The Atateken North American Regional Declaration on Biocultural
Diversity.
6 Atateken means “brothers and sisters” in Kanien’kéha.
The CBD itself demonstrates the expanding and expansive potential of international
forum. The CBD began in the late 1980s dialogues, opened for signature at the 1992
“Earth Summit” Rio Conference, and went into force the next year. The CBD’s
2000 Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (going into force in 2003) and 2010 Nagoya
Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable S haring of
Benefits Arising from their Utilization (going into force in 2014) have foundational impacts on the International Treaty as well as on agrobiodiversity – and
think through indigenous-perspective education (2019); and Zellars traces the
possibilities of Black commons and liberation in solidarity with indigenous territorial sovereignty “on Turtle Island” Canada (2021). Abya Yala and Turtle Island
connect and overlap in the pre- and decolonial space of Aztlán, the Nahuatl word
for Aztec/Mexica territories in Mesoamerica (Medina, 2019).
Within Turtle Island, a range of tribal and indigenous communities are
navigating territorial sovereignty and recovery through place-based and plantbased mobilizations. These broadly fall under the conception of biocultural heritage and are thus biocultural political claims, even if they don’t use the exact term.
These movements work beyond the colonial nation-state scale of reference, even
as they transgress actual borders. Audra Simpson chronicles how her Kahnawà:ke
communities and their broader Mohawk nations straddle, transgress, and transcend the U.S.-Canadian border (Simpson, 2014). This is particularly relevant to
international biocultural governance.
Because the Secretariat of the United Nation’s CBD is located in Montreal,
Quebec, Canada, which is the traditional ancestral land of the Kahnawà:ke
(Mohawk) nation, key Kahnawà:ke cosmological principles have infused and
informed the CBD’s policies and paradigms as a prominent scale of reference in
transnational and supranational biocultural governance:
1 The Akwé: Kon Guidelines, adopted in CBD COP-7,
4 guide
“the conduct of cultural, environmental and social impact assessment
regarding developments proposed to take place on, or which are likely to
impact on, sacred sites and on lands and waters traditionally occupied or
used by indigenous communities”. Akwé: Kon means “everything in creation” in Kanien’kéha, the Mohawk language.
2 The Tkarihwaié:ri Code of Ethical Conduct to Ensure Respect for the
Cultural and Intellectual Heritage of Indigenous and Local Communities
Relevant to the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biological Diversity, adopted by COP-10, guides models and codes of ethical research and
“access to, use, and exchange and management of information concerning
traditional knowledge”, including prior informed consent, approval, and
involvement in research and collection.
5 Tkarihwaié:ri means “the proper
way” in Kanien’kéha.
3 The Atateken North American Regional Declaration on Biocultural
Diversity.
6 Atateken means “brothers and sisters” in Kanien’kéha.
The CBD itself demonstrates the expanding and expansive potential of international
forum. The CBD began in the late 1980s dialogues, opened for signature at the 1992
“Earth Summit” Rio Conference, and went into force the next year. The CBD’s
2000 Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (going into force in 2003) and 2010 Nagoya
Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable S haring of
Benefits Arising from their Utilization (going into force in 2014) have foundational impacts on the International Treaty as well as on agrobiodiversity – and