Deforestation, an Epidemic Plaguing Native American Tribes U.S. & Globally
Written by Jay'Mee Proctor
"Of all the environmental impacts of the study projections,
deforestation probably poses the most serious problems for the world, particularly
for the developing world. It has been predicted that within the next 25-30
years, most of the humid tropical forest as we know it, will be transformed
into unproductive land, and the deterioration of the savannah into desert will
continue at ever-increasing speed." –Global (2000) & Cultural Survival Mag., (1982).
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Source: https://themiraclemachine.net/2017/08/15/water-issues-and-deforestation-in-the-us-and-abroad/
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Deforestation is not only an
epidemic that is swarming the United States. But globally impacting nature for
the worst. Rivers, lakes, oceans are drying out, the forests around the world
are dwindling to patches, animals are going extinct left and right, and snow is
falling in places that should never see snow it seems like. Our planet Earth is
in a state of ruin due to these acts against Mother Nature. We are losing the
very resources that helped us in the beginning of time before technology came
about. Deforestation (according to the Miriam-Webster dictionary) is defined as
“the action or process of having been cleared of forests”. However, this catastrophe
is affecting Native American specifically due to the fact that all tribes are
not only living off the land and creating a way of life there, but they ARE
nature. This is another form of erasure due to society and its greed.
When
deforestation occur, the forests of whatever place it is in is destroyed and/or
degraded, “tribal groups are forced to change their resource base. In some
cases they move into areas occupied by other groups, straining the area's
resources. In other cases they are forced to relocate outside of forests,
permanently altering their way of life by converting to agriculture or to cash
employment. Rarely are the rights of these groups to the lands they occupy
recognized. Further, their intimate knowledge of the area's resources and how
to manage them are nearly always ignored” (Cultural Survival Magazine, 1982).
This is having Native American people literally uproot their lives and to face
the fact that their home, will never be home again, despite the fact that they
occupied said land/territory firsthand. Unfortunately, the damage is irreplaceable
and their cries for change and help go unnoticed despite the fact that this act
of eliminating resources and a way of living has been going on for centuries.
Take this for example with the United States.
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| Source: https://decolonialatlas.wordpress.com/2014/11/03/the-deforestation-and-colonization-of-the-united-states/ (Map by Jordan Engel) |
Many people of society do not
realize that the transformation both the natural and cultural landscapes of
places such as the United States have happened due to centuries of settler
colonialism (which also resulted in one of the hugest genocides/ecocides the
world has ever witnessed in history) but the depletion of natural resources and
wildlife. Since 1600, “90% of the old-growth forests that once were expansive
over the Continental US have been burned, logged, and cleared away.
Concurrently, 90% of the land that was once occupied by Native American tribes
has been taken by colonial powers” (The Decolonial Atlas, 2018). Aforementioned,
not only are human beings affected by this issue, but the wildlife that have
occupied these lands alongside us, have suffered. For example, species such as
the Carolina Parakeet and Eastern Elk have gone extinct along with Native
American languages such as Mohican and Catawba. It goes without saying that
these extinctions are related. Nor is it a concurrence that an insect species
such as the Mountain Pine Beetle is draining the forests of the West whereas
beforehand, Native Americans preventing outbreak events such as this from
happening “by routinely burning the land to regulate wild forage production”
(TDA, 2018). From here on, we can observe the cycle of causation from the
declining biodiversity to the decline of cultural diversity amongst Native
Americans and vice versa, all for the sake of interconnectedness amongst human
beings and the natural system of Planet Earth.
Governments use deforestation as a
pre-emptive tactic to evict Native Americans tribes from their homes and they
often succeed in doing so even before the actual clear-cutting begins. The
destruction of their homelands not only leaves the exposed Earth to wither and
die but it displaces Native Americans who turn to depend on said species and
the planet’s forests to sustain their way of life. Now because their cries and
outrages are unheard, we as a modernized society, do not know of the immediate
and direct effect this has on Native Americans globally even though we too
sustain a dependency on the forests of the world. For example, the rainforests
provides resources to the globe such as wood, indirect forests products (nuts,
resins, oils, etc.), agriculture/food, genetic diversity, climate, medicine. The
causes for deforestation includes “the need for food, fuel, shelter, and
foreign exchange. The problems of converting forest areas for agriculture,
fuelwood, and industrial logging are clues to more fundamental factors -
problems of population pressure, unemployment, and inequitable land tenure”
(CSM, 1982). However, the question is, now that we know the cause behind
deforestation, is there a successful, diplomatic way to meet the quotas and
guidelines set by society without completely depleting the resources nature has
given us and uprooting human beings from their homelands and taxing them for
just living their way of life?
Sources:
‘Deforestation: The Human Costs’ by Cultural Survival Quarterly Magazine (January 1982)
‘Effects
of Deforestation’ by Pachamama Alliance (February 2018)
‘The
Deforestation and Colonization of the United States’ by The Decolonial Atlas
(December 3, 2014)
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