The Indigenous Peoples of the Americas have lived for over 500 years in confrontation with an immigrant society that holds an opposing world view. As a result we are now facing an environmental crisis which threatens the survival of all natural life.



We believe in unified action, sharing of information, and working together with mutual respect. We recognize we must assert our sovereignty and jurisdictional rights through the application of our traditional laws and recognizing our traditional forms of leadership of our indigenous nations. We stand on principles of empowering and supporting each other to take direct, informed action and affect our ability to protect our lands from contamination and exploitation. By attempting to fulfill our responsibility to defend our mother earth we are assuring the survival of our unborn generations.



The members of IEN are unified in our recognition that the traditional teachings, lifestyles, spirituality, cultures and leadership of our people as well as the survival of our future generations, are entirely dependent upon our respectful relationship with the natural world and our responsibility to the sacred principles given to us by the creator.



As Indigenous Peoples, we speak for ourselves, no one else is authorized to speak on our behalf. Environmental groups have no right to represent Indigenous People. We represent ourselves.



We will always stand by the strongest position in defense of Traditional Natural Law.



We will support Indigenous People`s rights to self-determination.



We will not make accommodations for, or deals, with polluters.



We support basic principles of environmental justice, including the rights of people to a clean environment regardless of race, economic position, gender, or national identity. Violations of environmental justice we understand to be violations of International Law, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the United Nations Convention on Genocide.