about
Healing land, people, and all OF our relations
Indigenous Peoples’ sophisticated cultures, societies, economies, and scientific systems give rise to a holistic conservation approach: an intricate web of multi-dimensional alliances and treaties, millennia of observational data and reciprocal relationship with the natural world. It is conservation based in abundance and care.
In contrast, the scarcity-mindset and othering embedded in the Western conservation paradigm gives rise to a quieting of awe and a dissociative relationship with the natural world. This fractured relationship is clearly not working. In the face of the looming existential threat of climate destruction, we need a restorative movement.
This movement looks like:
Deploying diplomacy and strategic partnership to the forces of ecological and cultural fragmentation and socio-political division.
Providing scientific leadership that draws on Indigenous and Western science, as well as cultural knowledge, to advance cutting-edge research and inform decision-making and policy change.
Restoring ecological and cultural keystone species and ecosystems.
Proving the power of Indigenous-led conservation to meet the challenges of the biodiversity and climate crises.
Drawing on storytelling, art, and culture to inspire, activate, and transform.
Photo credit for all photos on this page: Louise Johns
About our logo
INDIGENOUS LED’s logo was designed by our Knowledge Keeper, Shane Little Bear. It represents several critical elements: the return of Buffalo to our people, the significance of Chief Mountain or Nínaiistáko as our home, Buffalo’s hoof prints guiding us from all directions, and the life line moving us in one direction through our Blackfoot way of life.