Gínga & Igniñ Collective brings Indigenous peoples together to strengthen shared responsibility to homelands and waters and to uplift Indigenous knowledge as living, practiced law. The Collective works alongside Indigenous Nations to advance sovereignty through their own governance systems and priorities, carrying forward initiatives like Indigenous Law of the Sea, Indigenous-led mariculture that supports food security and cultural continuity, and collective efforts to care for lands and waters. Together, this work reinforces Indigenous authority, affirms self-determination, and supports the ongoing stewardship of our communities and futures.

Indigenous Law of the Sea

For millennia, Alaska Native and Indigenous Nations across the Arctic and Pacific have upheld a sacred and inherent responsibility to care for the ocean. The ocean is a powerful spirit, a relative, a teacher, and a living lawgiver. It exists for its own purpose, for the world, and in relationship with all beings. Laws and governance systems emerge from these relationships. Theyare not written only in statutes but are carried in stories, songs, ceremonies, Native languages, and daily practices that ensurebalance, abundance, and continuity for future generations.

Western governance systems have largely ignored these truths. They treat the ocean as a resource to be managed or exploited, separate from people and other living beings. This separation has severed vital relationships, caused ecological degradation, andundermined the authority of Indigenous governance systems. Small policy improvements are not enough to address these challenges. The pace of climate disruption, biodiversity collapse, increased industrial activity, and erosion of cultural knowledgedemands a fundamental shift. We must return to right relationship with the ocean.

This project calls for the development of an Indigenous Law of the Sea (ILS) — a legal framework grounded in Indigenous knowledge, governance, and stewardship that reaffirms the ocean as kin and codifies our collective responsibilities to ensurebalance, abundance, and intergenerational wellbeing. This work began in 2024 in Fairbanks, Alaska, where Ocean Conservancy and Gínga & Igniñ Collective convened Tribal leaders, Elders, youth, legal scholars, and cultural knowledge holders to begin articulating the laws and responsibilities that flow from the ocean. The participants at this gathering made it clear: thismovement must grow, be supported, and shared across the Arctic and Pacific.

Inuit Rising

Inuit across the Arctic – from Alaska, Chukotka, Canada, Greenland and beyond – are rooted in a shared culture and responsibility to the beautiful Arctic that has sustained them for millennia. Though separated by different colonial borders and systems that de-center Indigenous governance and stewardship, Inuit carry perpetual love and care for the Arctic – always have and will. Inuit Rising draws upon the strength of Inuit kinship, cultural practices and knowledge to catalyze opportunities for meaningful collaboration and collective action toward a self-determining future across Inuit nunaat (homelands).