The 2016 draft Joint Concept for Integrated Campaigning suggests that the U.S. Joint Force will face both high and low-end threats in a contested and disordered world.  Two overarching challenges are ‘spreading disorder’ and ‘contested norms’.  Native communities from Canada to Nigeria, Peru to New Zealand are contesting norms and mobilizing against forces – companies, governments, and policies – perceived to aggravate environmental degradation and food insecurity or threaten land rights, sacred sites, or cultural integrity. 

This project explores indigenous consciousness-raising and geographies of protest to identify drivers and action thresholds, commodity frontiers, resistance techniques, spatial attributes, and successful mediation responses.  Potential conflicts around resource extraction, transport, and waste disposal involve the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers both domestically and internationally and this topic is cross-cutting, impacting situational awareness (Geospatial Research and Engineering), force protection and maneuver (Military Engineering), water resources (Civil Works), and environmental sustainability (Environmental Quality and Installations).