Environment & Natural Resources

"As Indian nations take more effective control of their own affairs, they’re doing innovative things, and the environmental arena is no exception. Here we’re seeing new intergovernmental relationships... and innovative tribal environmental policies and management practices."

–Stephanie Carroll Russo

Native nations continually work to address environmental issues impacting their communities. These issues impact not only their lands, but also their cultures, agricultural, and subsistence practices. Their traditional efforts around environmental stewardship are being reintroduced alongside contemporary actions. Some the these actions are being done in partnership with non-Indigenous stakeholders such as universities, local communities, and governmental agencies.

Publications & Projects

Native Nations, Envrionment and the State of California EPA

This report provides a summary of discussions at the workshop, “Native Nations, the Environment, and the State of California: Tribal-State Relationships and Environmental Quality,” which provided a venue for the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA) through which to receive comments from tribes on the agency’s proposed “Policy for Working with Tribes along the California-Baja California Border.”

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A global assessment of Indigenous community engagement in climate research

For millennia Indigenous communities worldwide have maintained diverse knowledge systems informed through careful observation of dynamics of environmental changes. Although Indigenous communities and their knowledge systems are recognized as critical resources for understanding and adapting to climate change, no comprehensive, evidence-based analysis has been conducted into how environmental studies engage Indigenous communities.

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