Great to see a new Conservation International study, led by Sushma Shrestha (an Indigenous Newar researcher from Nepal), on how Indigenous knowledge protects Earth’s ecosystems. Researchers interviewed 49 Indigenous leaders from six continents about how they steward their land, spanning territory from the Amazon rainforest to East African savannahs and Pacific Islands.
The study pushes back on what is an all-to-common assumption: that Indigenous lands are ecologically rich simply because they’re remote or lightly populated. In fact, the health of Indigenous lands, the richness of their biodiversity, and their capacity to store carbon, come directly from active stewardship by the people living there. They’re a product of specific cultural practices, not a mere accident of isolation and low population.
What cultural practices? Things like avoiding overfishing, maintaining sacred spaces, watching for fires and other threats, and directly resisting extractive industries all contribute to the health of Indigenous territory.
Anything on agricultural biodiversity? Alas, that’s not a framing the paper uses explicitly. However, adaptation strategies that are mentioned include sowing seeds that can be harvested in a short period to combat flooding, and planting crops in the shadow of trees to adapt to rising temperatures. On support needs, there was a specific request for seed banks to store Indigenous seed varieties. This is taken up again in the discussion section, which recommends, among other resourcing priorities, establishment of Indigenous seed banks.