EDITORIAL I ndigenous. Defined as “originating naturally in a particular place,” it is a term rich with meaning for the communities who survive – physically, culturally and spiritually – off of the land they have occupied for generations. Unlike the nonindigenous who can live a transient existence, moving from one location to another, indigenous peoples are rooted where they are found. They are not from a place. They are of that place. This excerpt from the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples puts it in the broader perspective: “Land is the foundation of the lives and cultures of indigenous peoples all over the world. This is why the protection of their right to lands, territories and natural resources is a key demand of the international indigenous peoples’ movement and of indigenous peoples and organizations everywhere. It is also clear that most local and national indigenous peoples’ movements have emerged from struggles against policies and actions that have undermined and discriminated against their customary land tenure and resource management systems, expropriated their lands, extracted their resources without their consent and led to their displacement and dispossession from their territories. Without access to and respect for their rights over their lands, territories and natural resources, the survival of indigenous peoples’ particular distinct cultures is threatened.”2 It is against this backdrop that this issue of Lok Niti on Indigenous Peoples and their Sacred Lands is presented. It contains scoping studies on the situation of communities native to areas in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan and the Philippines – prepared by the Land Watch Asia (LWA) partners. The LWA campaign has brought to the fore aspects of land rights and tenurial security that are distinct to special groups – women, victims of the ‘new land grabbing,’ and now indigenous communities. Issues of Lok Niti have been dedicated to each one,1 shining a light that will hopefully raise awareness on their unique situation with regard to land, and lead to policy change and concrete actions to safeguard what is essentially their basic right. In the case of IP groups, despite the diversity of locales, languages, customs and beliefs of those in the different countries presented here, their ties to the land are one and the same. Lok Niti – Land Grab: The Struggle Continues and Lok Niti – Women Stake Their Claim to Land can be accessed at the ANGOC portal <www.angoc.org/portal/>. 1 4 As each scoping study reveals, the basic bond to the land that has been the IPs lifeblood for centuries is now gravely threatened by forces far more complex and powerful than they are equipped to face. Other stakeholders in the field of land issues must join forces with them. Civil society groups, government agencies, law and policy makers, and the academe can – and must – United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) (2007). Report on the Sixth Session. UN Doc. E/2007/43. 2 Asian NGO Coalition for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ANGOC)