DISES: Resilient Socio-Environmental Systems: Indigenous Territories in the Face of Change

Indigenous peoples are capable of conserving their natural environments in the face of significant development pressures. Nevertheless, little is known about the conservation efficacy of their social-environmental practices. The study addresses this issue through a partnership with an Indigenous nation to ascertain how they have been able to achieve cultural and biodiversity conservation, even with threats arising from resource extraction and large-scale infrastructure projects.

Thus, the study provides information critical to tropical forest conservation. Research results on climate change mitigation strategies will be broadly disseminated among Indigenous communities. Since Indigenous peoples manage 40 percent of protected areas globally, the potential conservation impact is great.

The study builds local capacity by training eight Indigenous research technicians, and it empowers Indigenous communities by facilitating the design of territorial management plans that foster long-term Indigenous resilience in the face of development pressures. In addition, the study supports a post-doctoral researcher and promotes diversity by training three graduate students from historically under-represented populations.

This study enhances cross-cultural learning by partnering undergraduate students through online "virtual exchanges" and summer field courses. A robust science communication strategy ensures that study results will inform both academics and the general public about how Indigenous social-environmental practices shape contemporary conservation strategies.

This study focuses on the Indigenous territory (IT), an integrated socio-environmental system capable of maintaining sustainable interactions between a human population and the physical environment. ITs can be resilient to external threats by virtue of biocultural heritage: the language, knowledge, and practices Indigenous peoples use to sustain the ecological integrity of their homeland environments.

The study problem resides in our incomplete knowledge about how such resilience functions, and the goal is to fill this gap. Specifically, we seek insight into the responses of ITs to development pressures that spark encroachments on Indigenous lands but also make available the goods, services, and jobs of a market economy. At what point does IT resilience attenuate, precipitating the loss of biocultural heritage and ecosystem degradation?

How do ITs sustain system integration as development pressures mount? The study team will address such questions with its Indigenous partners, which is subject to threats from resource extraction and infrastructure development that are similar to those impacting the entire region. The study integrates ecology, socio-environmental modeling, human geography, and spatial sciences.

It will collect data via ecological assays, scientific surveys, and key informant interviews. Analytical techniques include both quantitative and qualitative methods. The study contributes to systems theory by conceptualizing the IT as an integrated socio-environmental system, and it enhances an understanding of IT resilience.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.