Our Theory Of Change
One of the root drivers of environmental degradation is human ownership, extraction, and commodification of land. Our western system of law has codified the belief system that humans are superior to Land and can do what they want with it for their own benefit.
Sacred Contract directly addresses this root driver through its Land That Owns Itself Program. The program aims to change the belief of Land being a commodity and owned to one of Land being sovereign with Rights that are upheld in perpetuity. The program does this by enabling Land and ecosystems to own themselves, be represented by indigenous voices, and assert their own legal rights.
Our Approach
We work within a region [Node] to initiate and support a rights of nature based land tenure model that can scale to meet the growing needs of our ecosystems and communities. We support a proven legal pathway along with a culturally relevant governance process which together create a pragmatic and visionary way for regional guardians to protect the rights of nature.
We start with community leaders who understand what is at stake in the climate emergency and are willing to bring what they have to the table. For title holders, it is debt free land. For native and non-native guardians, it is their time and willingness to participate in an intercultural process and to teach others.
Our projects
The pilot “land that owns itself” project was completed in 2023 for a three acre parcel of forest in northeastern Washington State which abuts national forest land and other conservation land. Partnering with Sacred Contract, the title-holder placed a “rights of nature” easement on the land, the first of its kind in Washington State. That easement recognized the rights of the forest itself and the other ecosystems dependent on the land, as well as prohibiting development on the land. Next, Sacred Contract created an association consisting of the forest and its component ecosystems (the soil, the air, the fungal, wildlife, water, and other ecosystems) and obtained federal tax-exempt status for that association. Finally, Sacred Contract worked with the landowner to transfer title to the land to the ecosystems which comprise the association. Today, that three acre parcel of forest is the only land in the U.S. that legally owns itself.
Following that project, Sacred Contract began work with a a person in Colorado who held title to a mountain that is considered to be a “sacred site” for the indigenous tribes of the region. Sacred Contract has created an unincorporated association of the ecosystems that comprise the mountain, will be placing a “rights of nature” easement on the mountain, and finally, will transfer land title over to the ecosystems that exist within the unincorporated association.
For the Colorado project and all future projects, Sacred Contract is working to assemble a guardianship council which can serve as a voice for the ecosystems that comprise the unincorporated associations. Indigenous-led, these guardians will infuse cultural wisdom and land histories into their guardianship of the land. Sacred Contract is committed to supporting these indigenous guardianship councils, liberating more parcels of land into a self-ownership system, and protecting ecologically significant regions through enabling lands to own themselves.
