ABSTRACT
Several overarching takeaways are explored in the final chapter. First, I discuss how divergent mechanisms across the sites of contention are relevant to understanding the various strategies of action utilized by Indigenous actors as well as the political and ideological opportunities for meaningful decolonization of natural resource regimes. Related to this is the revelation that, despite structural obstacles, Indigenous actors are able to innovatively deploy strategies of action that allow them to assert themselves upon dominant political processes in culturally and materially meaningful ways. Second, I explore evidence of progress toward decolonizing the legal systems that govern Indigenous natural resources. Such evidence reveals that decolonization, much like the achievement of environmental justice, is a multi-part process that requires dismantling legal and institutional systems as well as the ideological and discursive foundations of those systems. Third, I discuss how the cultural paradigms of both Indigenous and settler communities are relevant to understanding the dynamics of contention over valuable resources. I conclude by highlighting the shared interests of Indigenous and non-Indigenous stakeholders and suggesting how Indigenous peoples’ environmental expertise, interests and vision of sustainable utilization can benefit all stakeholders. By understanding their commonalities, it is hoped that interested parties on all sides of natural resource debates will have greater motivation to overcome the institutional and cultural obstacles that have kept them divided for so long, in order to negotiate broad and creative settlements that are respectful and mutually beneficial.
