Indigenous culture strengthens climate storage, researchers warn

A new Conservation International report and peer-reviewed study says Indigenous knowledge and cultural stewardship directly protect forests and store carbon—while also warning that climate policy too often sidel ines Indigenous leaders, even as 43 surveyed com

For decades. Indigenous lands have been cited as climate hope: rich biodiversity. strong carbon storage. and ecosystems that keep giving back. But a new study argues that the recognition hasn’t matched the reality on the ground—especially in who gets a seat at negotiations. who can access resilience funding. and whose rights are enforced when those ecosystems are threatened.

The research, led by Sushma Shrestha—an Indigenous Newar from Nepal—turns that imbalance into something more urgent than critique. It says the global conversation about why Indigenous territories are carbon-strong has often been built on a misconception: that these lands are healthy mainly because they are remote or sparsely populated.

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” the study argues, pointing instead to stewardship. In this account, the carbon and the health of the land come from the people who live there and care for it.

Shrestha said the timing could not be worse. “All of humanity relies on everything that Indigenous peoples have to contribute and offer in terms of their lands, in terms of carbon storage, in terms of biodiversity conservation,” she said.

The study was released both as a narrative report and as a peer-reviewed study. It examines how Indigenous knowledge, community protocol, and culture contribute directly to protecting forests, wildlife, and the environment.

It also maps the toll already being paid. Shrestha’s team found that all 43 surveyed communities are experiencing drought, extreme weather, and other adverse impacts from climate change. More than half are affected by extractive industries like mining and logging.

To understand how protection happens. researchers interviewed 49 Indigenous leaders from six continents—ranging from the Amazon rainforest to East African savannas and Pacific Islands. The study describes traditional management practices such as avoiding overfishing. maintaining sacred spaces. watching for fires and other threats. and using direct resistance against extraction. Ninety-six percent of respondents said they had land set aside for special uses—spiritual practices among them—that also protect the environment by safeguarding those spaces and ecosystems.

Those details matter because the report’s central thread is not abstract. It’s about what disappears when Indigenous culture is treated like scenery rather than infrastructure.

“All of humanity relies on everything that Indigenous peoples have to contribute and offer in terms of their lands,” Shrestha said, returning to the same point: this is not optional knowledge, and it is not an afterthought.

The interview findings show how climate pressures collide with outside intrusion. While drought and extreme weather were the top climate impacts cited. 61 percent of those interviewed also called mining. commercial agriculture. logging. and other incursions serious concerns. In the study’s framing, these pressures threaten to disrupt stewardship practices that have endured for millennia.

Indigenous peoples, the report says, are asking for specific support: mitigation and resilience funding, legal advice for protecting their territories, and recognition of national and international land rights.

Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim—an Indigenous Mbororo from Chad and former chair of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues—wrote in the report’s forward that the stakes are immediate. not theoretical. “Indigenous Peoples’ Knowledge cannot exist without Indigenous Peoples or without the ecosystems where we live,” Ibrahim wrote. “To protect our knowledge, there is an urgent need to recognize us, and our rights and lands must be secured.”.

The study also describes concrete methods communities are already using to defend land and protocol. Respondents from countries including Bolivia. Mexico. and the Philippines mentioned community monitoring or patrols to protect their land from outsiders and violations of traditional protocol. Some also called for stronger legal protections so their lands can’t be sold or developed.

At the same time. Indigenous leaders included in the study say the world should not only seek protection lessons—it should adopt them. Shrestha. Ibrahim. and other Indigenous experts point to examples such as the Kichwa people in Ecuador restricting hunting of female tapirs and other animals to help slow population decline. They cite the Tacana people in Bolivia. among others. who do not permit tree clearing along rivers—an approach the study says helps maintain water quality and prevent erosion.

Ibrahim said she hopes those far-reaching voices can push the planet toward action. “It is my hope the voices of the sisters and brothers from all over the world reflected in this report trigger the action we need for the planet we all want. the action we need for Indigenous Peoples Knowledge to flourish. and honor our grandparents and our children that are yet to come. ” Ibrahim said.

In her view, the urgency has to translate into policy changes and enforcement. Shrestha said that as threats intensify, enforcement of Indigenous land rights is more important than ever. “One thing that everybody can do. whether that is at the national level. or at the global level. is to really secure indigenous peoples’ rights to lands. ” she said.

The report’s central message lands with force: if Indigenous stewardship is treated as climate evidence but Indigenous rights are treated as negotiable. the protection system breaks. The communities in the study are already dealing with drought. extreme weather. and mounting pressures from extraction—so the next step. for researchers and policymakers alike. is to make sure the knowledge that keeps carbon locked away and ecosystems intact is matched by the power to defend it.

Indigenous knowledge climate change carbon storage biodiversity Conservation International land rights drought extreme weather mining logging community monitoring resilience funding Indigenous autonomy