Revisiting the Role of Indigenous Peoples and their Knowledge in Sustainable Forest Governance

Sustainable forest management is critical for addressing global challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and social equity. Several international agreements, including the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forest and Land Use (2021) and the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (2022), recognise the importance of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) in halting and reversing forest loss. However, conventional science-driven approaches to forest management often overlook the deep ecological and cultural insights embedded in IKS. As a result, despite its acknowledged importance, IKS remains poorly integrated into formal scientific knowledge systems and policy frameworks.

Indigenous communities have managed forest landscapes for millennia, developing profound ecological understanding through place-based observation, lived experience, and cultural traditions. Indigenous Knowledge Systems complement scientific methodologies by fostering innovative, adaptive, and co-management practices, as well as culturally sensitive conservation techniques.

Drawing on multiple case studies from the Western Ghats, India, this study examines Indigenous Peoples’ perceptions of changes in tropical natural forest systems and how these changes affect their livelihoods, cultural values, and relationships with forests and the broader environment. The study also highlights the potential of integrating geospatial data with Indigenous Peoples’ place-based knowledge to enhance environmental understanding.

Our findings indicate that collaboration among Indigenous Peoples, scientists, and decision-makers, as well as the integration of IKS into forest management, face significant institutional, epistemological, and governance-related challenges. We argue that revisiting the role of Indigenous Peoples in forest management and developing meaningful, respectful pathways to integrate Indigenous knowledge into sustainable forest governance are essential to halting and reversing forest loss.