Indigenous knowledge and participation are helping shape more effective sustainability systems. Projects supported by the ISEAL Innovations Fund are working with Indigenous communities to inform approaches to mine rehabilitation, impact verification and landscape monitoring.

ISEAL Innovations Fund projects are testing new approaches to sustainability challenges by bringing together diverse partners and perspectives across sectors, geographies and jurisdictions.

Over the past three years, the Fund has supported 60 projects involving over 100 organisations, including smallholders, local and Indigenous communities. Their knowledge and lived experience have helped shape project learning and strengthen sustainability systems in a range of ways.

Supporting mine rehabilitation

In its Bauxite Mine Rehabilitation project, Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) worked with its existing Indigenous Peoples Advisory Forum (IPAF), building on established relationships and trust. The project aimed to strengthen the capacity of Indigenous Peoples to participate in future mine rehabilitation processes.

The project generated outcomes beyond ASI's original objectives, highlighting the contributions Indigenous and traditional communities can make to the sustainability practices of commercial operations.

In India, the IPAF established a local community cooperative to contribute to mine rehabilitation operations. In Suriname, Indigenous communities informed local mine closure plans, while in Australia, the Aurukun community developed new partnerships with the state government, three universities and the local mine operator.

Significantly, these communities informed revisions to ASI’s standard, including requirements related to mine closure, livelihoods, Free, Prior and Informed Consent and community participation.

Strengthening impact verification

The Forest Stewardship Council’s (FSC) latest project explored impact verification frameworks in Indigenous and traditional communities, recognising both the valuable verification data these communities can provide and the challenges posed by a lack of data standardisation.

Simple, consistent measures helped ensure data could be collated in a compatible format. These included allowing Free, Prior and Informed Consent to evolve throughout the project, adapting technical tools into accessible language and formats and supporting the meaningful participation of women and girls.

The project also stressed the importance of recognising communities' contributions, seeking external sponsors and ensuring benefits were distributed equally among contributors. FSC concluded that an impact verification framework could provide benefits for both the sustainability standard and Indigenous communities, providing the rigour needed by FSC while respecting cultural diversity and the priorities of Indigenous Peoples.

Informing landscape- and rangeland monitoring

The Sustainable Fibre Alliance’s (SFA) recent STEPPE project sought to test the value of Indigenous Traditional Knowledge in a new context: landscape- and rangeland-scale monitoring. The project explored the contribution that Indigenous Peoples from the Shinejinst Soum in southern Mongolia could make to SFA’s sustainability system.  

By consulting with Indigenous communities on their Pastoral Ecological Knowledge, SFA was able to identify suitable monitoring sites in the region more efficiently. This reduced monitoring costs and the number of disputes over site selection.

Together, these projects show how working in partnership with Indigenous Peoples and communities can strengthen sustainability systems while creating lasting local benefits.

Explore the Innovations Fund project pages for more examples of members working with Indigenous communities, opportunities to get involved and lessons learned from funded projects.

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