Despite our proven sustainable cultural practices that respect and honor the natural environment, the lived experiences of our communities are overlooked. In many policies and strategies for action, the scientific world is looked to for both water policy development and climate change strategies. As original caretakers and guardians of Mother Earth, we have valuable insights for sustainable water practices that could inform and suggest alternatives to current water management and governance systems. A growing community of Indigenous leaders from across the regions of Mother Earth is unifying to address the imbalance in humanity’s relationship with water. In 1999, at the World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education in Hilo, Hawai’i, a call was issued to Indigenous peoples to address water issues by organizing an Indigenous-led Conference on Water.

     Since then, there have been similar calls at the World Water Forum, and at the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. In 2008 a meeting was held at Beecher Bay, Coast Salish Territory, under the leadership of Tom Goldtooth, Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network, a gathering was convened with indigenous leaders who have worked on water issues for many years. These people formed an International Advisory Body for the planning of the next Indigenous World Forum on Water and Peace. The IWFWP is converging to develop innovative water solutions, seek new opportunities for positive adaptation, Indigenous resiliency, and applications for the recognition and implementation of our water rights and our responsibilities. Through this effort we are raising the awareness of the need for our voices to be heard and to participate in guiding the way toward the preservation of our sacred World of Water. IWFWP is just one step in reclaiming balance; knowledge, experience and traditional wisdom will contribute to the dialogue of science, offering solutions for a sustainable future that are rooted in language and cultural practices. This work is not just about Indigenous peoples: it is for all humanity, and all life on Mother Earth.” (Darlene Sanderson)

Following the vision of the Indigenous World Forum on Water and Peace, as well as elder Mona Polacca and Darlene Sanderson, in 2014, Sophie Lavoie, Felipe Quetzalcoatl Quintanilla and Juan G. Sánchez Martínez co-edited and translated Indigenous Message on Water / Mensaje Indígena de Agua, a multilingual anthology—English/Spanish/Native languages—that gathered wisdom, thoughts, verses, short-stories, poems, and general reflections on the various local issues pertaining to water, written by East/West/North/South Indigenous elders, activists and poets: Pinay, Maori, Hau’ula and Chamoru friends from the Pacific; Sakha from Russia; Cree, Tsalagi, Cherokee, Yoeme, Anishinaabe, Lakota, Lipan Apache, Metis, Lōh and Gitxan friends from North America; K’iche’, Kaqchikel, and Q’anjob’al friends from Guatemala; Maya and Nahuatl friends from Mexico; Wayuu, Palenque and Guna friends from the Caribe; Uitoto, Okaina and Tikuna from the Amazonia; Camëntsá from Putumayo; and Yanakuna and Mapuche-Huilliche friends from the Andes.

A decade after this collective initiative, we are expanding our project to a sustainable online platform with the support of the Indigenous Environmental Network –IEN. The internet has been an ideal medium for Indigenous artistic and activist voices, and we hope Indigenous Message on Water 2.0 will further this process sparking trans-Indigenous conversations among Native writers and peoples as well as the public at large. In this multilingual archive, some of the authors and artists will be established, while others will be new voices. Finally, we will collaborate with both professional and amateur translators to provide the best versions available.

Most Native writers writing in their native languages usually self-translate their work to languages such as English, Spanish, or Portuguese. In our project, we will include the work in their Native languages, and when possible translate from the original Indigenous language, hoping to anchor their respective poetics and epistemology. We will also translate from their English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, or Interlingua versions. Despite the colonial history of Spanish, English, French, and Portuguese, and their epistemological violence in legal and education settings, these languages are also lingua-francas and are both political and creative tools that also belong to Indigenous peoples.

• Elder Mona Polacca, Indigenous Environmental Network
• Darlene Sanderson, PhD, University of Northern British Columbia
• Juan G. Sánchez Martínez, PhD, Lakehead University
• Sophie Lavoie, PhD, University of New Brunswick
• Felipe Quetzalcoatl Quintanilla, PhD, Western University
• Durin Mundahl, Information Technology Fellow, Indigenous Environmental Network
• Website Divi Build: Mapache Salazar Gonzalez, Comms Team, Indigenous Environmental Network
• Website Art & Assets: Achu Kantule

• Melissa D Birkhofer
• Carolina Bloem, PhD
• Carolina Camacho
• Gloria Chacón, PhD
• Andrea Echeverría, PhD
• Estefanía Fernández and her students.
• Lorrie Jayne, PhD
• Jocelyn Montalbán
• Nolan Schmerk
• Paul M. Worley, PhD