ABSTRACT
One of the most powerful aspects of associations between people and the land is the part it plays in forming the identity of its inhabitants. This reaches to the root of whom individuals are, and they will passionately hold beliefs of how the world should therefore be. This is recognised in the European Landscape Convention. When people are separated from their land, they grieve for it. Much has been written about the dispossession of First Peoples, or First Nations, from ancestral territory by colonisation, as seen in the Americas and Australasia. Reclaiming it, self-determination and combatting cultural appropriation are key objectives in environmental justice campaigns, joining others such as equal access to environmental benefits and access to the decision-making process and environmental democracy through public participation. Concerning historic injustices between peoples, if perpetrated generations or even centuries ago, such as slavery and segregation, what to do about them now, specifically how can landscape designers and planners promote social justice? The cycle of apologies and reparations are much discussed.
