A survey of close to 700 articles from different disciplines and regions of the world highlights key factors that contribute to this situation. These include Indigenous peoples’ reliance on traditional practices of hunting, fishing, and gathering berries in areas where the land, water, and wildlife are polluted; the disproportionate location of polluting infrastructures such as mines and pipelines in their communities; the poor quality of water to which they have access; and the relatively low levels of governmental support available to them.

But the research also suggests that Indigenous peoples are contributing to limiting pollution in different ways, including through environmental monitoring and global policy advocacy, as well as through legal battles and local resistance to polluting activities.

“This is really a human rights issue. We all have the right to clean air, water, and food. Unfortunately, millions of Indigenous peoples worldwide do not,” says Niladri Basu from McGill University’s department of natural resource sciences and School of Human Nutrition, and co-author of the study in Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management.

Key findings of the study are:

  • There are mounting cases worldwide in Indigenous peoples, of a range of ill health outcomes that are linked to pollution, such as certain cancers, respiratory diseases, high rates of miscarriage, kidney diseases, etc.
  • In the past, many of the infrastructures associated with pollution, such as mines, pipelines, or waste incinerators were located on Indigenous land.
  • Levels of water quality and sanitation in Indigenous peoples’ lands are generally low. Even where Indigenous peoples have access to treated or piped water, this water is often of poorer quality than in other areas.
  • For some Indigenous peoples harvesting and consuming traditional foods (such as fish and wildlife that pollution may affect), and attachment to ancestral lands may have cultural benefits that make them willing to take certain risks despite the dangers for their health.

Read the full article about Indigenous peoples' experiences with pollution by Frederique Mazerolle at Futurity.