Environmental protection and rights of indigenous peoples (USA)

When the last tree is felled, the last river poisoned, the last fish caught, only then will people realise that you can’t eat money. Attributed to Sitting Bull, who, with the rest of the aborigines of the American plains, had a bprofound knowledge of Nature, of the narrow link between its components, and of the need to keep them in balance so that future generations could receive a habitable world.

The Sioux, who lived on the Great Plains of North America, led a nomadic life organised around the movement of the herds of buffalo which provided all their needs. In1868, following a period of war and rebellion to defend their lands, they made a pact to occupy the Black Hills reservation, which was a sacred site for them. The discovery of gold in the Black Hills, led to the occupation of he reservation by adventurers and colonists. Around 28,000 Sioux now live on a reservation in South Dakota.

Photo, Joaquín Otero Úbeda