This website is an activity of the Indigenous Water Initiative, a new program of the Center for Respect of Life and Environment (CRLE), dedicated to understanding and articulating indigenous perspectives on water and development.  The Initiative grew out of the World Water Forum held in Kyoto, Japan in March 2003, where CRLE co-organized several sessions on indigenous water issues (as reported elsewhere in this website).  These sessions helped define a number of prioriy areas where indigenous communities could benefit from closer interaction among each other and with international water and development organizations, and also areas where the international water policy discussions need to be made more aware of indigenous perspectives. 

CRLE works in partnership with several organizations in implementing the Indigenous Water Initiative, and through these organizations we seek to link our work with their ongoing programs on indigenous water and, more broadly, on related issues of natural resources management.   The CRLE contact person for the Indigenous Water Initiative is  David Groenfeldt (DGroenfeldt@indigenouswater.org).  Partner organizations and contact persons are:

Wageningen University, Irrigation and Engineering Group, Wageningen, Netherlands manages a program on Water Law and Indigenous Rights (WALIR) focusing on the Andean region of South America.  Contact person:  Rutgerd Boelens (Rutgerd.Boelens@wur.nl)

Tebtebba Foundation, Bagio, The Philippines, is an indigenous peoples' organization born out of the need for heightened advocacy to have the rights of indigenous peoples recognized, respected and protected worldwide.  Tebtebba is involved in a variety of indigenous water and natural resources policy issues, and has launched an email list-serve called, "Indigenous Water Caucus".   Contact person:  Victoria Tauli Corpuz (Director), vco@skyinet.net. 

Indigenous Environmental Network, Bemidji, Minnesota (USA) is an alliance of grassroots indigenous peoples whose mission is to protect the sacredness of Mother Earth from contamination and exploitation by strengthening maintaining and respecting the traditional teachings and the natural laws.  IEN recently launched a water campaign to bring attention to indigenous water issues.  Contact person:  Tom Goldtooth (Director), ien@igc.org.