Improving risk and impact assessments via sustainability guidance from Anishinaabe Gikendaasowin (Anishinaabe-specific Indigenous Knowledge)

Abstract

Many critical minerals underpinning green energy technologies are disproportionately located on or near Indigenous lands. Hence, there is a risk that an improperly managed green energy transition will violate Indigenous rights, thereby mirroring the extractive harms of current fossil fuel-based systems. There is a need to understand the capacity for current decision-making processes to engage with Indigenous Knowledge and uphold Indigenous rights. Several forms of impact assessment, risk assessment, and systems analysis exist to inform permitting, policymaking, and other decision-making processes. Here, we evaluate 18 such assessments to identify risks of Indigenous sovereignty violation. Contextualizing each aspect of our analysis within Anishinaabe Gikendaasowin (Anishinaabe-specific Indigenous Knowledge), we conduct a thematic analysis of over 50 assessment protocol sources in parallel with teachings shared by Anishinaabe Gikendaasowin holders. The teachings of Asemaa, Ma'iingan, and the Seventh Fire Prophecy emphasize consent, connection, and kinship as tenets of sustainability. Yet we find that consultation-based, often ambiguous participation protocols risk undermining consensus-building. Additionally, complex connections between assessments bely methods that isolate elements of sustainability in contradiction to Anishinaabe teachings of intertwined human and ecological well-being. Our analysis culminates in recommendations for co-developing more comprehensive, sovereignty-affirming assessment processes. The implementation of these recommendations will vary across contexts; however, the structure of our analysis provides a broadly applicable example of collaborative research that bridges knowledge systems. As depicted in the Seventh Fire Prophecy, we stand at a sustainability crossroads; ultimately, our analysis seeks to improve assessment protocols and guide decision making toward a more sustainable path.