by Isabella Zizi, Movement Rights National Organizer
When the idea of holding an “Emerging Leaders” breakout session at the 3rd Convening of the 4 Winds came up, there was a wave of feelings of excitement for a growing opportunity in the Rights of Nature Movement.
The idea of Emerging Leaders spending time alongside traditional elders, storytellers and long-time Indigenous Rights activists is what inspired Movement Rights to host a two day Emerging Leaders Track during the upcoming 4th Convening of the 4 Winds gathering in Niobrara, NE May 17-18, 2025.
Emerging Leaders is not a new term, but is something that we considered more fitting when talking about the younger generations that are inclusive of a variety of ages from teens to young adults. Over the last two years, Movement Rights has been exploring how we can empower young people to think about how Rights of Nature might look in their hands and hearts. Among our activities, we held an Emerging Leaders session at the 2024 Convening in Mvskoke Territory. Heather Milton Lightening, a 1995 founding member of the Native Youth Movement that empowered youth politically and socially to make change in their communities, reflected during the last Convening:
“Our young people are really organized. They’re so innovative. They’re on top of it and that means we’re actually doing something right, if youth are really leading, they are way ahead of us you know because that means they were raised right by somebody, somebody was intentional and that’s really important.”
Through Indigenous values and teachings, it is because of our ancestors seven generations back who intentionally prayed for and sought directions and pathways for the next seven generations to continue and carry the deep connection to Mother Earth and her teachings forward. During the Emerging Leaders breakout session, there were different focus points that allowed us to witness a build up of motivation and realization that each person carried a positive trait of what leadership looked like. It became clear that when describing a leader, it wasn’t focused on one specific person, but a myriad of people who collectively create leadership towards something much larger than us in our lifetime. There were moments of silence and deep listening as we continued to reflect on the importance of what it means to be present with one another during times of growth and discovery as emerging leaders collectively and with community.
This year, the excitement will continue to build from those conversations and make room for education, creativity and inspiration not only for the participants, but for each member that includes the moderators. We are thrilled to be in shared space with tribal emerging leaders from: Nebraska, South Dakota, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Louisiana, Oklahoma and California. When we think about Rights of Nature being the fastest growing movement around the world, we like to imagine what this could mean to each one of these communities and what we could all learn from one another.
We’ve also been excited and amazed with the leadership young people have already taken, such as the Mashpee Native Environmental Ambassadors (NEA), a Mashpee Wampanoag youth cohort created in partnership with Bioneers Indigeneity Rights of Nature program and the Wampanoag’s Tribal Education Council, took to their tribe a resolution recognizing the Rights of the Herring fish, fish that they have had a deep relationship with from time immemorial unanimously April 26, 2023.
“The youth are declaring that Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal members are the natural stewards of this land, and that we have the responsibility to protect and advocate for herring in our traditional homelands. We will use our sovereignty and traditional ecological knowledge to pass tribal laws to give herring rights of nature and take authority of the runs back from the state.” – From the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal website Declaring the Rights of Herring:
“ WHEREAS The Mashpee wampanoag recognize that the hearing face a crisis of migration as their traditional migratory routes through certain rivers and streams leading to their mating ponds are significantly and unnecessarily obstructed by man-made “runs”, “fish bridges”, or “fish ladders” (hereinafter collectively referred to as “fish ladders”), which are artificial structures used to facilitate the herrings is natural migration and purport to enable fish to pass around the barriers by swimming and leaping up a series of relatively low steps.” – A passage from the Declaration of the Rights of Herring
Since our introduction to these amazing emerging leaders taking initiative in their tribal community from the ages 16 to 31 years, there have been many opportunities to share their historical journey across Turtle Island. They participated amongst the Indigenous delegation and Rights of Nature delegation in the New York Climate Week march to End the Era of Fossil Fuels among the 75,000 in attendance in September 2023. witnessed the 12th Local International Rights of Nature Tribunal in North Carolina at the Yesah Tribunal “Mountain Valley Pipeline and the Rights of Rivers” in June 2024. They were also a key voice during the 3rd Convening of the 4 Winds in Okemah, Oklahoma at the Phillips Deere Roundhouse and we are so thrilled to support their ongoing efforts at the next Convening.
Imagine what Rights of Nature could look like, and what inspiration would spark amongst the tribal youth groups or youth councils in attendance at this year’s Convening, when they have an entire program track built to support them. We are anticipating more than 20 emerging leaders to gather and provide insight with each other during the two day Emerging Leaders Track. There are endless ideas and relationships that could develop creative ways of organizing with Rights of Nature and we are honored to provide such a space for emerging leaders in attendance of the Convening of the 4 Winds and beyond.
Please consider donating to the Convening of the Four Winds! Your donation will go towards the attendance of local and regional tribal emerging leaders.
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Working with Tribes and Communities to Align Human Laws with Natural Laws and advance climate justice. We are in the streets, in the news and in the courts, providing research and reports, convening strategic gatherings, speaking at the UN, community meetings, regulatory hearings, and more. We work with national and global climate allies, sovereign Indigenous Nations and communities. We have helped thousands of people connect the dots between the critical time we find ourselves in and the solutions that Indigenous people have always known: human activity must take place within the natural system of laws that govern life on Earth. We sit on the steering committee for People Vs Fossil Fuels coalition, and are a co-founder and Executive Committee member of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature. Movement Rights works for climate justice, the rights of Indigenous peoples and the Rights of Nature. Consider making a donation today to support our work.
