Enrolling indigenous knowledge in environmental conservation programs empowers communities and promotes responsible land management. Conservation programs in Australia and Canada rely on indigenous communities to monitor and maintain remote and protected areas. Investment in these programs not only furthers the goal of environmental conservation, but also pays dividends by bringing jobs to indigenous communities.

The indigenous practice of setting regular fires to manage land hasn’t been used in generations, but it’s now being brought back to help manage wildfires in Australia. With support from the Wunambal Gaambera Aboriginal Corporation and 10 Deserts Project, indigenous people are re-learning old traditions to help the land, though they are still learning to navigate complex relationships with the government about which land can be used.

The indigenous Cofan community in Ecuador, battling miners and other seeking to use their ancestral land, have a new tool to fight them: mapping. By working with non-profits who trained locals to use data and GPS technology, the Cofan now map the environmental resources worth protecting. They are using this data to make the case for why the land should stay in their hands.

In Northern Quebec, scientists, government officials and researchers have seen the positive environmental effects that stem from giving indigenous groups their land rights back. Because many of these indigenous communities have closely observed and lived within the native forests, they know how to properly care for and coexist with the forest rather than cut it down; the result is a drastic decrease in deforestation as well as the restoration of indigenous land rights.

The Swinomish tribe in Washington state is combining traditional knowledge and science to combat the effects of climate change and improve the health of its land, water, and people. In recent years, their salmon harvest has diminished due to warming waters, but they’ve instituted salmon recovery efforts by restoring tidelands and channels and planting trees along stream beds to cool the waters. Their focus on ecosystem and community health could be a model for other Indigenous tribes looking to create their own climate plans.

In Central African Republic, the first community forest was created with the hope of reversing the area’s deforestation and empowering the Indigenous communities living in the forests. By placing the community forest inside a logging zone, local inhabitants can explore alternatives to timber production that are more eco-friendly. While the future of the country’s community forest depends on government negotiations, the model can provide a road map for other Indigenous communities throughout the region.