Ownership Of Land - A Deeply Flawed Concept?

[Pygmy-Na'vi]

The indigenous peoples of the Xingu river basin (where that dam that Cameron:co protested against was going to be built) does not own land. Each plot is only owned by a person as long as he/she uses it, instead they own the crops that grow there. After the harvest, the plot is abandoned until someone else clears it and plants something there. The plants own the land, not they.
The nomads of Siberia (and until the 50's in northern Scandinavia) does not own land. They own the herds of horses and reindeers that graze there. They move with their herds, the herds own the land, not they.

This is not land ownership, just right of use of the resources that come from it, but not forever. You own the tent or hut or whatever you live in, but not the land it's built on. You own the crop that grows or the animal that graze in a meadow, but not the meadow itself. You own tools that you've made or traded for and that you use, you own clothes and perhaps jewellery that you wear and keep, but you can't bring the earth with you on a sled as you move, so how can you own that? The earth owns you, because you depend on it, not the other way around.

But of course, since these people doesn't own the land they've lived in for thousands of years, they're evicted by corporations that tear up the countryside, ruin the sensitive arctic swamps with huge trucks, clearcut the tajga for cheap lumber, and poison the rivers and lakes while mining oil and minerals. But they own the land or rent it from the government, and the indigenous peoples doesn't...

Ownership in itself is a basic human right, it's not inherently wrong. But the exclusive ownership of land itself, of earth and water gives rise to many problems (if you own a lake, can you forbid people from drinking from it?) and in many countries there is no exclusive ownership of resources. If some valuable mineral is found in quantity on your land for example, you HAVE to exploit it, mine it, or let others mine it, you're not allowed to simply leave it in the ground. The same with forest in Sweden, you're not allowed to leave it, you HAVE to "tend" it, that is cut and use or sell. And you can't just cut a tree now and then if it's planted forest (most forest in Sweden are) - you HAVE to clearcut. So you own the ground, but not the resources in/on it. If I have a piece of land that I really want to keep as it is, I have to negotiate with the local authorities who will evaluate whether it's worth making it a nature preserve. Usually it's not, and then I have no say.