The lack of governmental will to recognise land demarcation among the main reasons for deepened water-related issues for indigenous people.

From 21 March to 30 May, Suanne has divided her time between Aldeia Barra Velha, in Bahia, Brazil, and Diyarbakir, Turkey, where she is working along with Pataxó and Kurdish people, respectively and local research partners, to understand the perception of Pataxó and Kurds concerning disaster governance.

In the Aldeia Barra Velha, the Pataxó people identified that water scarcity is an increasing (slow-onset) issue, both associated with the changes in the rainy season and with the human activities occurring (e.g., deforestation and monoculture) in and around their Indigenous territory. Most participants have identified that the lack of governmental will to recognise land demarcation is among the main reasons for deepening their water-related issues.

Meanwhile, the project in Diyarbakir is still ongoing, but some preliminary data suggests that, along with earthquakes, the Diyarbakir region is dealing with a burst of energy-related projects causing (and is forecasted to cause) environmental devastation, such as deforestation. This is occurring amid a lot of political changes in the country that complicate the negotiations between the Turkish government and the local Kurdish NGOs.

In both cases, the environmental-related disasters have direct impacts on the cultures of Pataxó and Kurdish people, undermining their ability to cope with the degradation of their environments to which their cultures are intrinsically linked, despite their vast and historical knowledge they hold about their lands and their surroundings