Saguaros as Sacred Plants

This report begins with a resolution of the San Xavier District Council (No. SXDC 01-21-04) to grant saguaro cacti (Carnegiea gigantea) “juridical personhood” and legal protection as a sacred plant and historically recognized kin to all O’odham people. It then reviews historical, cultural and legal precedents that make the case for this protection, as well as the case for the O’odham’s inviolable access to and traditional use of saguaros. This protection and respectful access to saguaros and other sacred plants by these Indigenous First Nations communities are needed to maintain the O’odham himdag or spiritual traditions.

Resolution of the Traditional O’odham Leaders – O’odham in Mexico

The Tohono O'odham and our ancestors have inhabited lands from the Gila River area in present-day Arizona south to the Sea of Cortez in Northern Mexico from time immemorial.

Traditional Leaders of Tohono O’odham, Sonora, Mexico to UNESCO

On behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity, representatives of the Tohono O'odham Communities of Sonora, and Greenpeace Mexico, A.C., we strongly urge the World Heritage Centre (WHC) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to propose an "in danger" inscription for Mexico's...