Episode 24: Guardians of Nature with Wade Davis

Ahkameyimok Podcast with Perry Bellegarde

"The vast percentage of the world's intact biodiversity is on lands that belong to First Nations. These are not just the metaphorical guardians of nature. These are the literal guardians."

Wade Davis joins National Chief Perry Bellegarde to discuss the important role First Nations have to play in reversing the dramatic loss of biodiversity on our planet. The United Nations estimates that a million species of plants and wildlife will become extinct if humankind continues along the path it is on. In September 2020, Canada was one of seventy nations that pledged to reverse this trend, by committing to put nature at the centre of COVID-19 economic recovery plans. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says working with First Nations people is at the centre of making that happen.

Davis and the National Chief talk about why a rebirth of indigenous knowledge and culture is an important part of rebuilding biodiversity, and how the decline in First Nations language and cultures is directly linked to the mass die off of plant and animal species happening right now.

Wade Davis is a best-selling author, explorer, film-maker, Harvard trained botanist, professor of anthropology at the University of British Columbia and a leading expert and supporter of indigenous language, culture and knowledge. He is also the BC Leadership Chair in Cultures and Ecosystems at Risk at UBC.

A big thanks goes out to the Red Dog Singers of Treaty 4 Territory in Saskatchewan for our theme music.

The Ahkameyimok Podcast is produced by David McGuffin of Explore Podcast Productions.