Agroecology schools help communities restore degraded land in Guatemala

A community-led conservation project spurred by traditional knowledge allowed the residents of Khonoma, India, to become self-sustaining and earn additional income from ecotourism, as opposed to relying on hunting and logging.

After there was a fungal disease outbreak in the 1990s that affected cacao crops in Brazil, a group of 150 community members got together to collectively manage a farm to grow back cacao trees using agroforestry techniques. Because of their efforts, they sell their cacao to major chocolate brands and have seen their monthly income more than double.

A community gardening project growing the guajiro bean has allowed Wayuu farmers in the Colombian desert to achieve food security despite the effects of climate change and external pressures. While scaling this agricultural success to other Indigenous clans can be difficult, using a low-tech irrigation system and red earthworm compost has allowed one settlement to feed its community and make their soil fertile again.

A group of women called The Women, Food and Agriculture Network was founded in 1998 in Iowa to educate female landowners about land conservation and implementing sustainable practices on their farms. The group has held more than 250 meetings since 2009, reaching more than 3,800 women landowners—and their surveys find that after a one-day session, 50-70% of the women go on to take an action to improve conservation on their property. Longterm, this group empowers women to play a bigger role in the future of agriculture in the state.

Organizations like Ho’oulu ka ‘Ulu are reintroducing small-scale farmers to breadfruit — a traditional Hawaiian starchy fruit that fell out of style following the rise of plantation farming and colonialism. Growers are taught how to cultivate and sell the fruit, and their network of now 200 farmers are helping to keep part of their culture alive. Similarly, in California a Food Roots program connects farmers growing traditional Asian produce like bok choy to local businesses and markets to provide accessibility to culturally relevant fresh produce.

After initially not involving the indigenous Q’eqchi community in designating land for the Río Sarstún Multiple Use Area – land that this community lives on – the government and the Q’eqchi since partnered together to advance conservation efforts and land management. Over a decade later, the two stakeholders work together on things like overfishing and ecotourism, part of a larger global trend of governments and local communities working collaboratively toward conservation.

The Karuk Tribe of Northern California is revitalizing its ancient practice of cultural burning as both a proactive wildfire management strategy and a revival of crucial cultural traditions. Through coordinated, culturally-focused prescribed burns called KTREX, the tribe is restoring the ecosystem, improving community wildfire resilience, and strengthening traditional ecological knowledge.

A former illegal logger in Sumatra transformed into a forest protector by planting 1,000 trees and leading his Indigenous community to secure legal recognition of 521 hectares as customary forest, creating sustainable income alternatives while restoring damaged ecosystems.

A community of mananambal, or healers, in the Philippines are helping to conserve the forests around their community by practicing their sustainable, healing traditions and spiritual beliefs. They protect the nature around them because it is considered a source of healing and home to spirits, and they only prune trees and gather herbs in ways that promote growth.

Two nonprofits came together to manage Hawai'i's Kaua‘i’s Hā‘ena State Park in a community-led way, creating a more equitable relationship between the tourism industry and the local community. Native Hawaiians work at the park, lead restoration projects and run educational programs. And to prevent overtourism, tourists must make reservations and pay to enter.