Indigenous Environmental Network

The Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) is a coalition of Indigenous and grassroots environmental-justice activists whose work is centered primarily in the United States and, more broadly, across North America. It was created in 1990 to bring greater public and political attention to environmental and economic injustices affecting Indigenous peoples. The network emerged from the Protecting Mother Earth gatherings, whose early discussions took place on the Navajo Nation in Arizona after local activists had opposed a hazardous-waste incinerator proposal. Early organizing also grew from meetings hosted in the home of Lori Goodman on the Navajo Nation. IEN approaches environmental protection as both a political and spiritual responsibility. Its work links the protection of land, air, water, wildlife, food systems, natural resources, and sacred sites with Indigenous self-determination, cultural survival, human rights, and community health. The network argues that environmental hazards and extractive development are often imposed disproportionately on Native American reservations, First Nations reserves, and other Indigenous territories. Its environmental-justice agenda therefore addresses not only pollution and climate change, but also decision-making processes that exclude Indigenous communities and projects that threaten treaty rights, religious practices, traditional economies, or control over ancestral lands. During its early years, IEN concentrated on toxic-waste and nuclear-waste facilities near Indigenous communities. It also developed educational, organizing, and public-awareness programs involving tribal communities, youth, elders, and environmental staff. In 1991, participants established an Environmental Code of Ethics at Bear Butte, South Dakota, emphasizing the cultural, political, spiritual, and ancestral relationships Indigenous peoples maintain with particular lands. In 1995, IEN began hiring staff, allowing it to expand from largely volunteer and meeting-based organizing into a more sustained network of advocacy, education, policy engagement, and community capacity building. The organization became especially visible through opposition to major oil-pipeline projects. It participated in the campaign against the Keystone XL pipeline and became a prominent organizer and communications participant in resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline. In that context, IEN worked with allied environmental and social-justice groups, supported divestment and emergency-action efforts, and helped elevate Indigenous concerns about water protection, tribal consultation, treaty obligations, and fossil-fuel infrastructure. Its Indigenous Rising Media project has supported movement communications and public education concerning Indigenous rights and environmental threats. IEN also participates in international climate and environmental-policy debates. Indigenous representatives associated with the network attended the United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen in 2009 and the Paris climate conference in 2016. The Red Road to Copenhagen initiative connected traditional knowledge and the experiences of Indigenous communities in climate- and energy-impact zones with rights-based climate policy. The network has also engaged international negotiations concerning persistent organic pollutants and has criticized market-based forest and carbon policies, including REDD, when such measures are perceived to undermine Indigenous land authority or require the displacement of forest communities. A central organizational feature is the annual Protecting Mother Earth Gathering. Hosted in a different Indigenous nation or community in many years, the gathering provides a forum for members and allies to review goals, develop strategies, share knowledge, and formulate resolutions for the coming year. IEN also emphasizes multigenerational participation through elders and youth structures. Its stated goals include strengthening Indigenous communities, reaffirming traditional knowledge and natural law, promoting sustainable livelihoods, influencing policy at local through international levels, involving youth and elders, and protecting the ability of Indigenous peoples to practice cultural and spiritual traditions. The network is best understood as an advocacy and movement-building organization rather than a consumer-products brand.

The Indigenous Environmental Network was formed in 1990 as a vehicle for Indigenous and grassroots organizing around environmental and economic injustices affecting Native communities. Its origins are associated with the first Protecting Mother Earth gatherings on the Navajo Nation in Dilkon, Arizona. Those gatherings followed local opposition to a proposed hazardous-waste incinerator and created a setting in which activists who would later form or work with IEN could exchange strategies. Early meetings were also held in Lori Goodman's home on the Navajo Nation. The network's initial concerns included toxic-waste and nuclear-waste facilities located near Indigenous lands. From the outset, IEN treated environmental threats as inseparable from political exclusion, cultural survival, and the rights of Indigenous peoples to govern and protect their territories. Its organizing sought to educate tribal communities, youth, elders, and the wider public while building the capacity of grassroots organizations and tribal environmental programs. In 1991, at Bear Butte in South Dakota, IEN participants developed an Environmental Code of Ethics. The code reflected the view that Indigenous communities maintain distinctive cultural, political, religious, and ancestral relationships with land. This perspective informed the network's subsequent opposition to pollution and extractive development, especially where projects were planned without meaningful Indigenous consent or threatened sacred places and traditional resources. The annual Protecting Mother Earth Gatherings became IEN's principal forum for planning and movement development. Gatherings have been hosted by different Indigenous nations and communities. Examples include a 1992 meeting at Celilo Falls in Oregon, a 1993 meeting at the Sac and Fox Reservation in Oklahoma, a 1994 meeting at the Mole Lake Indian Reservation in Wisconsin, and the first Canadian gathering in Penticton, British Columbia, in 2001. The meetings have addressed nuclear waste, mining, dams, wild-rice and salmon ecosystems, sacred sites, climate change, and community strategies. A 2004 gathering again took place near Bear Butte. By 1995, IEN began hiring staff, giving the network a more permanent organizational structure. Its activities expanded to include policy advocacy, public education, communications, community building, and participation in national and international environmental debates. The organization has also emphasized youth and elder involvement, including a Youth Council and an Elders Council, reflecting its commitment to intergenerational transmission of knowledge and leadership. IEN became involved in international negotiations concerning persistent organic pollutants. During the negotiations that led to the Stockholm Convention, signed in 2001, the network communicated Indigenous concerns about pesticides and other hazardous chemicals to international delegates. It later opposed REDD-related approaches to forest conservation when those approaches were seen as capable of restricting Indigenous autonomy or displacing forest peoples. The network has likewise criticized carbon taxes and other climate mechanisms that it believes may burden Indigenous communities or commodify relationships with land. Climate activism and fossil-fuel infrastructure became major areas of public attention. In 2009, IEN launched the Red Road to Copenhagen initiative and sent a delegation to the United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen. The initiative sought to bring Indigenous traditional knowledge and experiences from climate- and energy-impact zones into international climate policy. Indigenous representatives connected with the network also participated in the 2016 Paris climate conference. IEN's most prominent campaigns in the United States have involved the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines. In the Keystone campaign, it worked alongside organizations including the Sierra Club and 350.org. During the Dakota Access protests, IEN helped coordinate action, communicate Indigenous concerns, and support the movement camp near Standing Rock. Members were involved in media operations at the Oceti Sakowin camp. The network rejected efforts to remove protesters from construction areas and continued to argue that pipeline approvals required environmental review, tribal consultation, and respect for Indigenous rights. The network has continued to frame its work as spiritual activism: protecting Mother Earth, sacred sites, water, and all forms of life while strengthening Indigenous sovereignty and community health. Its projects, campaigns, gatherings, media work, and policy engagement make IEN a movement organization focused on environmental justice rather than a conventional commercial brand.

• 2016

  Participation connected with the Paris climate conference

  [1]Indigenous Environmental Networken.wikipedia.org

  IEN members represented Indigenous concerns in connection with the United Nations climate conference in Paris.

• 2009

  Red Road to Copenhagen initiative

  [1]Indigenous Environmental Networken.wikipedia.org

  IEN organized an Indigenous delegation and policy initiative connected with the Copenhagen United Nations climate conference.

• 2001

  First Protecting Mother Earth Gathering held in Canada

  [1]Indigenous Environmental Networken.wikipedia.org

  The annual gathering took place in Penticton, British Columbia, marking the first Canadian host location identified in the reference material.

• 2001

  Engagement with persistent-organic-pollutants negotiations

  [1]Indigenous Environmental Networken.wikipedia.org

  IEN communicated Indigenous concerns during negotiations associated with the Stockholm Convention on persistent organic pollutants.

• 1995

  Staff hiring begins

  [1]Indigenous Environmental Networken.wikipedia.org

  IEN began hiring staff, expanding its capacity for sustained organizing, education, and policy advocacy.

• 1991

  Environmental Code of Ethics developed at Bear Butte

  [1]Indigenous Environmental Networken.wikipedia.org

  Participants articulated ethical principles concerning Indigenous relationships with land, sacred places, culture, and environmental protection.

• 1990

  Network established

  [1]Indigenous Environmental Networken.wikipedia.org

  IEN was created to address environmental and economic injustices affecting Indigenous peoples, emerging from Protecting Mother Earth gatherings on the Navajo Nation.

A grassroots Indigenous environmental-justice network that combines community organizing, traditional knowledge, spiritual responsibility, human-rights advocacy, and climate activism to protect Indigenous lands, waters, cultures, and self-determination.

• Conference and movement-building program · 1990

  Protecting Mother Earth Gatherings

  IEN's recurring gathering brings together Indigenous activists, community members, youth, elders, and allies to discuss environmental threats, review organizational priorities, exchange traditional and practical knowledge, and develop campaigns and resolutions for the coming year. The host location changes among Indigenous nations and communities.

• Indigenous media and communications project

  Indigenous Rising Media

  An IEN project focused on communicating Indigenous rights, environmental protection, and movement priorities. Its documented work has included public information about the Dakota Access Pipeline and efforts to support a more just and sustainable future grounded in Indigenous perspectives.

• International climate advocacy initiative · 2009

  Red Road to Copenhagen

  Introduced in 2009, this initiative connected Indigenous traditional knowledge and the experiences of communities affected by climate and energy policies with international climate negotiations. It supported an Indigenous-rights-based approach to climate policy and included participation at the Copenhagen climate conference.

• 2017Peoples Climate March

  United States

  IEN participated in the Peoples Climate March in Washington, D.C., supporting a broad climate-action mobilization and connecting environmental protection with Indigenous and environmental-justice concerns.

  Outcome. The event provided a national platform for climate and environmental-justice advocacy; no separate organizational outcome is specified.

  Source
• 2015Dakota Access Pipeline resistance

  United States

  IEN helped organize and communicate opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline, focusing on risks to water, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Lake Oahe, tribal consultation, and Indigenous rights. It supported media work at the Oceti Sakowin camp and participated in broader international actions.

  Outcome. The pipeline was completed, while the protest movement substantially increased international attention to Indigenous rights, water protection, and fossil-fuel infrastructure.

  Source
• 2014Keystone XL pipeline opposition

  United States · Canada

  IEN became a major Indigenous participant in opposition to the Keystone XL oil pipeline, arguing that pipeline construction could threaten water, land, treaty interests, and Indigenous self-determination. It worked with environmental allies including the Sierra Club and 350.org.

  Outcome. The campaign generated substantial public attention and coalition activity; the reference material does not specify a complete campaign outcome.

  Source

• 2015

  Escalation of Dakota Access Pipeline organizingStrategy

  Background

  Pipeline construction raised concerns about water protection, the route near Lake Oahe, tribal consultation, and the authority of Indigenous communities over affected lands.

  Action taken

  IEN supported protest organizing, movement communications, international actions, and resistance to orders seeking to remove protesters from construction areas.

  Aftermath

  The pipeline was completed, but the campaign became a defining example of contemporary Indigenous-led environmental activism and drew global attention to tribal rights and fossil-fuel infrastructure.

  Source

• 2009

  Launch of the Red Road to Copenhagen initiativeStrategy

  Background

  International climate negotiations created an opportunity to bring Indigenous experience, traditional knowledge, and rights-based policy demands into global climate discussions.

  Action taken

  IEN organized a delegation and advocacy initiative connected with the Copenhagen United Nations climate conference.

  Aftermath

  The initiative increased the network's participation in international climate advocacy; representatives later engaged with the Paris climate conference in 2016.

  Source

• Opposition to REDD and carbon-tax approachesStrategy

  Background

  IEN has argued that some market-based forest and climate mechanisms can restrict Indigenous autonomy, displace forest communities, or treat land and nature primarily as commodities.

  Action taken

  The network publicly opposed REDD and carbon taxes as described in the reference material, advocating instead for approaches that protect Indigenous rights and authority over land.

  Aftermath

  The position established IEN as a critic of climate policies that lack strong Indigenous-rights safeguards.

  Source

1. 1Indigenous Environmental Networken.wikipedia.org
2. 2Indigenous Environmental Network official websiteienearth.org