In this piece, we highlight the need to bring indigenous cultural and scientific knowledge into peacebuilding. In this Q&A with renowned peacebuilder Binalakshmi Nepram, she shares why the world of today needs indigenous knowledge more than ever and why indigenous peacebuilding should inform peace research.

As a child, Binalakshmi Nepram did not realise that she grew up in a war zone. She thought living amidst violent conflict was normal. She wanted to go into science and be a physicist, but her journey took a different route. At some point, she realised that growing up in conflict should not be considered normal for any child. Binalakshmi Nepram grew up in Manipur, a former nation-state located now in India’s North Eastern part, bordering Myanmar. She is the founder of the Global Alliance of Indigenous Peoples for Gender, Justice, and Peace and she is an advocate for not only victims of the forgotten conflict in Manipur but also of the power and wisdom of indigenous peacebuilding.

Inclusive Peace recently talked to Binalakshmi Nepram over a Zoom connection from her in a hotel room in New York in between her meetings during UNGA week about what the world can learn from indigenous peacebuilding.

How did your journey as a peacebuilder start?

My journey as a peacebuilder did not start as a project or a career choice. It started with trying to find answers to bring peace to one of the world’s most forgotten conflicts. I saw my 14-year-old niece die, my parents nearly being shot, and I, myself, have been threatened multiple times. My journey as a peacebuilder started with the spirit to be alive, to stay safe, and to be able to bring peace to the villages in my home region in the mountains of Manipur.

There are more than 134 armed conflicts [including intra-state conflicts: Source] in the world [including state-based intra-state and non-state conflicts, see more here], many of which you do not even know about. The conflict that I come from, the Manipur conflict, is one such conflict. My starting point as a peacebuilder was trying to find solutions to a crisis that the world does not acknowledge or understand. As someone caught in this conflict, I must spread awareness and offer my knowledge in search of solutions.

What is the type of knowledge that indigenous peacebuilding offers?

We live in an era of information and knowledge, but not all knowledge is considered equal worth. Indigenous knowledge is an example of a type of knowledge that is not always being taken into account. 476 million indigenous people are living in 90 countries and territories, and currently, 80% of the world’s conflicts are happening in biodiversity hotspots, where indigenous people live. In many of the peace agreements, peace talks, and peace conferences, I hardly see indigenous people at center stage. How can we try to resolve the conflicts of today, if we do not acknowledge the wisdom and power of indigenous knowledge and peacebuilding?

Our work is not just to be angry about what happened to us – our work is to engage and inform the right people, policymakers, and people who are working in different parts of the world on peacebuilding to include indigenous peoples in peacebuilding. The first objective is to convenience decision-makers to engage with Indigenous peoples. Do not just ignore them – listen and engage. Ask what wisdom they carry and what are some of the innovative methods they have evolved in their communities to coexist with one another despite differences.

How to do that?

To convince, decision-makers and nation-states, we need research and network. There is very little research done on the indigenous methodology of peacebuilding. We have started in the last year and a half to work on this, but there is still much more to do. We have to ensure that wherever we are working, we can sit down with indigenous people, learn from them, and weave their wisdom into peacebuilding methodology. Then we need convening spaces. This year, the first global summit on Indigenous peacebuilding in April was held, which brought together 120 Indigenous peacebuilders from 30 countries and territories from seven social and cultural zones of the world. At the summit, we launched the global network of indigenous peacebuilders, mediators, and negotiators. The aim is that this network of indigenous leaders, elders, women, and youth will eventually be able to enter conflict zones and negotiate meaningful peace.

Finally, we have now the International Declaration on Indigenous Peacebuilding. We would like the world’s decision-makers to take a look at that declaration and to ensure that decision-makers calculate the principles in the declaration. The blueprint for how to meaningfully integrate indigenous peacebuilding into mediation, negotiation, peacemaking, and conflict resolution is already there – now it needs to be applied. Currently, we are working closely with the United Nations to ensure that indigenous peacebuilding, indigenous mediation, and indigenous forms of negotiation in resolving and mitigating violent conflicts in included in the wider field. I repeat; when 80% of the world’s conflicts are happening in biodiversity hotspots, which is linked to environmental violence, the protection of people, peace, and the planet, will have to include and put indigenous people at the center stage if we want to build a more sustainable world that works for all.

But for all of our work on research and convening to have an impact, there has to come to both acknowledgment and investment from nation-states. First of all, acknowledge that indigenous peoples exist. Countries like China and India do not recognise indigenous peoples. Bangladesh has thrown out the term indigenous peoples and called them ethnic minorities. Nation-states need to embrace indigenous peoples and make them a part of the governance structure. It is time to learn from indigenous people and include them in this local, national, and multilateral decision-making.

Then comes investment. Indigenous peoples are one of the poorest communities in the world because of how post-colonial structures work. It is time for nation-states to apologise and help indigenous peoples live up to their potential. This also means investing in preserving indigenous ways of life, language, cultural and scientific knowledge such as music, medicine, and crafts and finally, wisdom. Indigenous people may just be 6% of the world, but they take care of 80% of the world’s biodiversity. And then, there needs to be investment in indigenous peacebuilding which means resources for research and resources for indigenous peoples to travel to conflict areas to engage.

Why is indigenous peacebuilding more important today than ever before?

The world is hurting, and the people of the earth are hurting because we have forgotten that we belong to each other. We are living under structures that dictate competition and sovereignty to kill. Indigenous people have done things differently. They have said that human beings are not alone in the Anthropocene world. We are not at the top. We are just one of the many elements. Our way of life is to live in humility with the world around us, and not with the arrogance that we think that we can control and conquer everything. Greed and the human search for power have destroyed our world. Indigenous peoples’ worldview and their cosmic vision bring peace and not war. They talk about coexistence, not annihilation. They talk about spirituality and not the domination of one or two religions. They talk about coexistence with the natural environment around us, and not to extraction and depletion of Mother Earth.

I grew up in an indigenous community in Manipur, but I am also a citizen of the modern world. I see two worlds, the indigenous world, and the non-indigenous world, and I realise that the more I go into the non-indigenous world, I feel that we are hurting ourselves. The indigenous worldview is like a bond on a wounded soul. It will bring that peace, that seven billion people on this planet deserve.