Tree Keepers: Where Sustaining the Forest Is a Tribal Tradition

Since 2017, Rewilding Ukraine has reintroduced native grazing species like kulan and water buffalo to the Danube Delta, which has restored more than 18,000 hectares of wetlands, doubled carbon storage in soils, increased plant diversity, reduced wildfire risk, and helped native fish populations recover—even amid ongoing war.

Bangs Circular practices sustainable beekeeping across eight communities, launching the Tiwai Honey Project, which builds hand-made beehives to support the native bee population. This practice allows beekeepers to closely monitor the bees’ well-being, thus leading to more honey production and reforestation efforts. So far, the group has trained more than 400 local beekeepers.

The Resilient Cerrado Project funds Indigenous-community-led economic projects in Brazil’s Cerrado region. Projects like the Terena people’s beehive installation and beekeeper training help to protect the region’s biodiversity, cultural diversity, and improve community members’ welfare.

The Decolonizing Wealth Project is a network of people working together to create more equitable, capital opportunities for communities of color, with an emphasis on Indigenous land keepers. Through its work with other groups, the project offers a series of grant opportunities like the Indigenous Earth Fund to provide Indigenous-led organizations with the resources needed to target climate and conservation issues.

North Bay Jobs With Justice teaches immigrant and Indigenous farmworkers how to restore the land’s ecological health and mitigate impacts of climate change and disasters like wildfires through training efforts and ancestral knowledge. The group has also helped workers organize for respect, safer conditions and fair pay.

Rewilding Europe is a river-restoration project working to preserve rivers as biodiversity hotspots and prevent damage from human activity. Since Rewilding Europe was founded, its projects have stretched across the continent, including to countries like Spain Italy, Bulgaria, and Sweden and was recently awarded a grant of £4.1m to scale up its work.

Throughout the west, a growing number of ranchers and scientists are reimaging the way they see beavers and considering them as tools for climate resilience. The vast network of beaver dams can help protect crops during droughts and store water and provide a buffer against wildfires, while simultaneously creating a habitat for a variety of species.

Beavers and the dams they build have been found to be tools against climate change as the planet’s temperature continues to rise. Dams slow water down and allow it to seep into the Earth, providing groundwater for humans, and also cools down both water and air temperatures. Beaver dams also create wetland ecosystems that are practically resistant to wildfires.

The Turkish organization, Living Soil, Local Seed, is working with Turkish women and Syrian refugees to help rebuild and diversify the local agricultural system that was once thriving. Using local knowledge and surveys, the organization has gathered different varieties of native crops which it then uses to work with local farmers and employ women in order to create more complex ecological systems. In 2019, the program yielded over 400 tons of wheat and has proven to be more financially beneficial to farmers.

In 1980, the Ugandan government signed an agreement with local communities in the Mugandu–Buramba wetland that gave them the right to own, manage, and conserve their own property. Today, the wetlands are thriving —reducing degradation and improving biodiversity— and creating a livelihood for the 276 people that live there. The government says that since they are using the land responsibly, their agreement will continue.