Recognizing Indigenous rights in environmental data

Every day across the globe, environmental scientists are collecting approximately 274 terabytes of data, a number that is growing thanks to advancements in science and technology.

The data, which ranges from soil composition to streamflows, is often collected or sampled from ecosystems that are stewarded by Indigenous peoples.

In a new Perspectives piece in Nature Communications, a group of researchers called the Earth Data Relations Working Group provide recommendations for how research practices can improve the governance of Indigenous data.

With the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples having stated that Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination, including the rights to protect the environment, including their lands, territories, and resources as well as their cultural and traditional knowledge, understanding how to handle and steward related data is an important issue.

“There is an abundance of data available about Indigenous homelands and even more being collected on a daily basis, but far too often Indigenous peoples and their governance practices are separated from the data,” says lead author Lydia Jennings, a citizen of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe (Yoeme) and Huichol (Wixáritari) and an assistant professor of environmental studies at Dartmouth.

“Our work describes how principles such as the collective benefit and ethical governance of Indigenous data can be incorporated into ecological data practices that can align with already existing data infrastructures.”

The 18-member team included Indigenous and non-Indigenous scientists, with more than 14 distinct Indigenous peoples from regions throughout the U.S. and U.S. territories represented.

To align Indigenous rights and interests with big data and open science, Jennings and her fellow co-authors draw on themes of ethics and responsibility, collective benefits, and sustainability, including the Global Indigenous Data Alliance’s CARE principles.

They recommend that scientists examine current institutional practices and identify opportunities to improve communication and establish collaborative relationships with Indigenous rights holders. For example, researchers can explore how data can be aligned with Indigenous expertise and worldviews, so that the living relationships between people, places, animals, and ancestors are recognized.

“We really wanted to identify how to build out research infrastructures so that they can be more comprehensive of different knowledge systems,” says Jennings, who is also chairing the new Indigenous data governance task force for the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Some of the other recommendations include examining the processes for gaining permission to access Indigenous sites such as applications for land and/or research permits, and improving protocols for data collection, and improving data and specimen management.

Applying cultural knowledge protocols could entail things like including Indigenous names associated with the place and origin of the material, which can in turn help increase Indigenous visibility and stewardship. As for managing specimens, researchers could explore the prospect of storing biological samples at Indigenous-run facilities on Indigenous land, which would recognize and acknowledge Indigenous worldviews.

As the co-authors report, establishing agreements with Indigenous partners and communities about the data related to Indigenous peoples, including who has the authority to grant access to it and protocols for when and how it may be made available or restricted is also an important part of the process. In some cases, tribal elders or other cultural keepers may need to be consulted on a project and its data.

Lastly, the team cautions that as Indigenous data is made available online, it needs to be cited properly, specifying if permission from Indigenous peoples was obtained, as appropriate, with guidance on how the content can be used.

“There’s a global movement happening around building better data relationships to our ecological systems,” says Jennings. “I think this type of work plants a seed to create a different type of scientific process that’s more reciprocal in relationship with Indigenous communities that scientists are invited to work with. And so we’re developing these types of processes to really be in a better relationship with one another.”