GCILL at the 12th World Wilderness Congress
Indigenous Leadership, Stewardship & Sovereignty
GCILL has been proud to co-organize WILD12, the 12th World Wilderness Congress, alongside The WILD Foundation and the Congress host: the Sicangu Lakota Oyate Treaty Council.
WILD12 featured Indigenous leadership in its plenaries, global Indigenous sessions, Indigenous knowledge exchange, and ceremonies & exhibitions. As part of our ongoing work with WILD, we strove to ensure that Indigenous delegates who can offer spiritual guidance and direction to the Congress were present at WILD12. We are also committed to ensuring that the outcomes of the Congress best follow the wisdom and guidance of supporting Indigenous communities and our Mother Earth.
The Global Center for Indigenous Leadership and Lifeways (GCILL) supports projects that educate and inform people about Indigenous ways, raise human consciousness, and co-create a harmonious relationship with Mother Earth, with a core focus of sharing the messages of Elders and wisdom keepers.
At the invitation of the Oceti Sakowin, the traditional leadership of the Lakota Nation, the 12th World Wilderness Congress, WILD12, took place on August 25-31, 2024, in the Black Hills, South Dakota. The theme of the meeting was the Sovereign Wild, placing the values, rights, and kinship practices of Indigenous Peoples at the center of conservation. GCILL was invited to co-organize the event to elevate Indigenous voices and share the messages of Indigenous Elders and wisdom keepers. As a co-organizer of WILD12, all of our efforts were in coordination with local Lakota Elders to respect the local traditions and customs.
The World Wilderness Congresses are an environmental decision-making platform open to all members of civil society to build a global community for the protection of lands, waters and peoples. This community is for people from all sectors – business, the arts and sciences, activism, Indigenous Peoples, students, and more – to sit at the table with government actors and come to shared understandings of both the problems we confront and the coordinated actions we can and must take. Indigenous People’s and their leadership has been present at each Congress since inception in the 1970s, but never centered as it will be at WILD12, with an Indigenous hosting organization.
GCILL was proud to be a part of a groundbreaking and international effort to highlight Indigenous sovereignty, stewardship, and values in the arena of conservation, and played a key role in the development of multiple Resolutions, including the He Sapa Resolution - On Sovereignty and Wilderness: Deepening the Wilderness Concept Through Indigenous Knowledge and Wisdom and Empowering Ecological Outcomes by Honoring Treaties as well as spontaneous resolutions developed by delegates who we brought to participate.
