Inaugurating the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, leaders from 20 cultures of North, Central, and South America, the Pacific Rim, Eurasia, and the polar regions brought their message to the United Nations for the first time, speaking eloquently on issues affecting their own cultures and populations as well as the global disaster facing humanity. This book makes us keenly aware of the global nature of the disaster facing indigenous people and the human race as a whole: the disappearance of diversity and traditional ways of life, as well as the loss of the vital knowledge of how to sustain equilibrium with our planetary environment.