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Recent research confirms what many of us have known for generations: Indigenous stewardship is good for the land.

The United Nations 2019 Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services found that lands managed by Indigenous Peoples tend to be healthier and more vibrant than other areas. This is in stark contrast the report’s other findings: over 1 million species of plants and animals are threatened with extinction. Yet Indigenous territories sustain animals, plants, clean air and fresh waters that are in dangerous decline elsewhere.

A University of British Columbia study had similar conclusions. Researchers looked at land and species data from Canada, Australia and Brazil and found that the number of birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles were highest on lands managed by Indigenous communities.

Indigenous stewardship works because it honours the relationship between people and the land. It recognizes that caribou herds, salmon runs and songbird nesting grounds benefit from respectful management. In our communities, that management is guided by Indigenous law, generations of traditional knowledge, and responsibility.

The lands cared for by the Dane nan yḗ dāh Network—the land guardians for the Kaska First Nations in British Columbia—are home to seven herds of caribou. And the guardians who manage Pimachiowin Aki on behalf of four Anishinaabe First Nations—Bloodvein River, Little Grand Rapids, Pauingassi and Poplar River—look after 5,600 lakes, and lands that support for over 40 kinds of mammals and 220 species of birds. Straddling the border of Manitoba and Ontario, Pimachiowin Aki has been designated as a United Nations World Heritage Site in part because of its exceptional diversity of healthy plant and animal species.

Having Indigenous Guardians on the ground ensures places like this continue to sustain moose, wolverine, lynx, warblers and other songbirds, caribou, lichen, medicinal plants and countless other species—species that are threatened in much of the world.