What in the World - What's the Land Back movement?

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For centuries, Indigenous people around the world have been fighting to reclaim lost land. In most instances, the term Indigenous is used to refer to the people who lived somewhere before colonisers and settlers from a different place arrived. In North America, nearly 99% of Indigenous land has been seized since European colonisers arrived.

These days, an online movement using the hashtag #LandBack is supporting Indigenous people who want to take back their ancestral land.

BBC journalist Vanessa Igoe explains what the movement is and talks us through the arguments for and against it. Marika Sila, an Indigenous Inuit in Canada, explains what the landback movement means to her. Ailsa Roy, a Wunna Nyiyaparli woman, tells us about the challenges they’ve faced trying to reclaim ancestral lands in Western Australia. And Vanessa Racehorse, a Law professor in the US, looks at the impact on the environment when indigenous people reclaim their land.

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Presenter: Hannah Gelbart
Producers: Vanessa Igoe, Julia Ross-Roy, Maria Clara Montoya and William Lee Adams
Editor: Verity Wilde

Published on Monday, 30th June 2025.

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