Group members have represented Native American concerns at international events such as the United Nations Climate Change conferences in Copenhagen (2009) and Paris (2016).

[2] Its formation took place at the annual Protecting Mother Earth gatherings that began in 1990 on the Navajo Nation in Dilkon, where the group of activists that would become Diné CARE had recently defeated a hazardous waste incinerator proposal.

[5] Indigenous peoples have historically suffered injustice through environmental racism, having faced repeated despoliation of sacred lands as well as over-exploitation of resources by governments and other actors.

The IEN meets locally, regionally, and nationally to promote awareness about issues of social justice, but primarily holds focus in North America.

[7] After the initial focus on environmental hazards presented by these facilities, the network spread awareness across youth and tribal populations that paved the way for it to progress to campaigns and public activism.

[8] The project has placed information about the North Dakota Pipeline on its website aimed at combating the dangers that directly affect indigenous people.

The rally was hosted by Dallas Goldtooth, a prominent activist protesting against the North Dakota Pipeline, along with Carrie Fulton, an African-American environmental-justice organizer.

[9] The Peoples Climate March took place on the 100th day of Donald Trump's presidency, and served as a protest to policy changes being made regarding environmental protection and conservation.

Certain practices of coal mining, oil drilling, and fishing and hunting in the United States are said to directly infringe upon Native land and values.

[10] In 1991, at Bear Butte, South Dakota (a sacred site to many of the Plains Indians), the IEN established an Environmental Code of Ethics.

[1] Key points include that indigenous people culturally, and Native Americans politically, are tied to their land; Native Americans in the United States and Canada are restricted to reservations if they want to maintain any kind of nationalistic ideals; and that indigenous people often have religious or ancestral ties to specific tracts of land.

[1] The IEN states that part of their mission is to protect and maintain sites sacred to, primarily, indigenous communities in North America.

In addressing perceived injustices perpetuated against these peoples, they list protection of sacred, historical and culturally significant areas as one of their main goals.

They also argued for a paradigm founded on indigenous thought as well as a philosophy that grants equal rights to nature and honors the interrelationship of all life forms on the planet.

The pipeline is currently complete, with the exception of the section mapped to be located under Lake Oahe, which is a major water source for the native Sioux tribe of Standing Rock in North Dakota.