Indigenous Stewardship of Environment and Alternative Development

In the face of climate change and biodiversity loss, the INSTEAD research program works to protect Indigenous collective
life projects and recognize their vision for the future. In partnership with Indigenous communities and organizations in
Quebec, Canada, and Latin America, the team conducts participatory research to contribute to the development of
territories of life—areas conserved and protected by Indigenous peoples and local communities—on the American continent.

Our program aims to create links between the communities involved in our research activities, while encouraging the
transformation of academic practices in order to drive profound changes in legal, political, and policy institutions.
Indigenous conceptions of well-being play a central role in these life projects in that they offer a concrete
alternative to development models based on economic growth and neoliberalism. These relational ontologies, which include
all communities of life beyond humans, form the ethical and philosophical basis of these worldviews.

The program currently includes fifteen co-researchers from eight Quebec institutions and fifteen collaborators working
with thirteen Indigenous nations and seven organizations fighting to defend their territories and secure recognition of
their rights. Their strategies for promoting the prosperity of living territories are based on four interdependent areas: life projects and relational ontologies, resilient livelihoods, conservation governance, Indigenous law and interlegalities.

Concerted action across these four areas is essential to the vitality of territories of life. Building on long-term
partnerships between Indigenous representatives, researchers, and community members, INSTEAD works to create synergies
between research findings, field practices, and concrete policy proposals to support the actions of these partners.

Issues common to all partners include extractivist pressures and their effects on the balance between conservation and
self-determined development (particularly in the energy sector), the promotion of livelihoods linked to land and
waterways, the intergenerational and inclusive transmission of knowledge, and the legal and institutional frameworks
relating to treaty-making, the protection of rights, and free, prior, and informed consent.

Our methodology is based on participatory knowledge co-production, supported by INSTEAD’s network of inter-community
alliances. Comparative learning across diverse cultural, economic, and geographic contexts takes place through exchanges
at multiple levels: community workshops, group discussions, and interregional meetings. The team uses multimodal,
visual, sensory, and cartographic tools to document and disseminate knowledge within and between communities.

Our innovations in collaborative research promote exchanges, awareness, and the creation of alliances between
communities, thereby amplifying INSTEAD’s impact in protecting and implementing a vision of the future based on thriving
and sustainable territories of life.

INSTEAD Indigenous Partner
Groups

INSTEAD researchers work with
communities and organizations from all of the above peoples.

INSTEAD Research Projects