Teaming Up to Tailor Climate Education for Indigenous Communities

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By Saima May Sidik, Eos/AGU. 

Excerpt: Research shows that communities are best able to mitigate the effects of climate change when they can work alongside scientists on adaptation plans. Hanson et al. recently extended this finding to Indigenous communities in the Colorado Plateau, including members of the Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, and Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. ...the researchers conducted a series of listening circles, interviews, and consultations with Indigenous peoples and Westerners with extensive experience working in Indigenous communities. They collaborated with members of the Nature Conservancy’s Native American Tribes Upholding Restoration and Education, or NATURE, program, which aims to equip Indigenous college students with natural resource management skills. ...Indigenous students are most likely to engage in climate education when they’re actively recruited for a program, when mentors are willing to learn from students as well as teach them, and when a program emphasizes the value of integrating Traditional Knowledges with Western science, for instance. ...Indigenous students are “uniquely positioned to engage in environmental restoration” because they have deep connections with natural systems, the researchers wrote.... (Community Science, https://doi.org/10.1029/2023CSJ000054, 2025). 

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