In 2024, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) adopted a treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources, and Associated Traditional Knowledge to prevent erroneous patents derived from Indigenous knowledge and resources. While this marked important progress, the study highlights gaps in protecting Indigenous heirloom seeds and cultural heritage under current frameworks. The authors call for new governance models that align Western law with Indigenous customary law to support seed rematriation and safeguard cultural heritage.

This study examined why the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) failed on the Hopi Reservation, where nearly all contracts issued between 1999 and 2004 were cancelled. Researchers identified four major barriers—multi-layered land tenure, lack of capital, poor communication, and institutional design flaws—that made participation unworkable for Hopi farmers and ranchers. The findings call for reforms, culturally appropriate outreach, and recognition of Indigenous conservation practices to improve payment-for-ecosystem-services (PES) programs.

This research highlights how colonial policies, such as the General Allotment Act of 1887, continue to obscure and complicate access to reliable land data for Native Nations. Outdated and exclusive federal systems marginalize Indigenous communities by limiting their ability to use data for land planning and governance. The study recommends strengthening Tribal data sovereignty as a foundation for inclusive, accurate, and protected land information systems.

The Indigenous Foods Knowledges Network (IFKN) connects leaders, scholars, and communities across the Arctic and U.S. Southwest to strengthen food sovereignty and resilience. Grounded in Indigenous research processes and Knowledge systems, IFKN emphasizes relational accountability, story, and sovereignty in addressing environmental change. This collaboration highlights how community-driven approaches can revitalize lifeways while shaping respectful partnerships with mainstream researchers.

This study introduced a spatial-temporal modeling approach to estimate livestock exposure to uranium mine waste by incorporating animal behavior classifications into GPS tracking data. Conducted with a Tribal community in the Southwest, the research tracked sheep and goats near 52 abandoned uranium mines, showing that models accounting for grazing, resting, and traveling behaviors better aligned with community observations. The findings provide a more accurate framework for assessing livestock exposure and can inform remediation and policy decisions.

The Navajo Birth Cohort Study examined how exposure to mixtures of metals, including arsenic, cadmium, lead, and uranium, affects preterm birth among Indigenous women. Using a Bayesian mixtures analysis, researchers identified subgroups with elevated exposures and found that the most highly exposed women had nearly three times the risk of preterm birth compared to the lowest exposure group. The findings underscore the need for further research on combined environmental exposures and maternal health disparities.

This study evaluated how different meteorological data sources affect predictions of exposure susceptibility to abandoned uranium mines in the Navajo Nation. Using machine learning and GIS modeling, researchers compared national datasets, regional airport reports, and local weather stations. Results showed that direct local measurements produced the most accurate predictions, underscoring the importance of community-based data collection for risk assessment and policy decisions.

The Diné Network for Environmental Health (DiNEH) Project documented widespread exposure to uranium mining wastes and metals in Navajo communities. Blood and urine testing revealed autoantibody positivity more than twice the U.S. average, with higher risks for women living near waste sites. This community-engaged study demonstrates the potential of clinical biomarkers as early indicators of environmental metal exposure and its health impacts.

Researchers examined the mobilization of arsenic from riverbank sediments affected by the gold mining legacy in north-central South Dakota. Mining waste from the Homestake Mine discharged into Whitewood Creek and the Cheyenne River, leaving sediments with high arsenic concentrations. Laboratory experiments showed that arsenic release was strongly influenced by bicarbonate and phosphate, offering insights into how ion displacement processes affect water quality for nearby communities.

This study investigated the mechanisms of uranium uptake by Tamarix (Salt Cedars) growing along the Rio Paguate, which flows through the Jackpile Mine near Pueblo de Laguna, New Mexico. Uranium was detected in both roots and shoots, with accumulation concentrated in root cortex cells. Controlled laboratory experiments confirmed that uranium precipitates in root cell walls, highlighting pathways of plant uptake in contaminated environments.

Researchers examined the mobilization of arsenic from riverbank sediments affected by the gold mining legacy in north-central South Dakota. Mining waste from the Homestake Mine discharged into Whitewood Creek and the Cheyenne River, leaving sediments with high arsenic concentrations. Laboratory experiments showed that arsenic release was strongly influenced by bicarbonate and phosphate, offering insights into how ion displacement processes affect water quality for nearby communities.

This study analyzed contaminated sediments collected from Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal lands in South Dakota to identify chemical and microbial processes that influence arsenic, iron, and manganese release. Experiments showed that anaerobic conditions with electron donors triggered the highest releases, driven by microbial reductive dissolution. Results reveal how redox transitions and microbial activity shape metal mobility, with implications for water and sediment quality.

Indigenous peoples experience water insecurity disproportionately compared to other populations. This article illustrates how jurisdictional and regulatory injustices, combined with political and economic asymmetries advanced by settler colonial states, reproduce water insecurity for Indigenous communities in Canada and the United States. The authors also show how Indigenous peoples are pushing back through state and non-state strategies, revitalizing Indigenous knowledge and governance systems to assert water rights.

This article examines how Diné and Lepcha youth articulate decolonial futures that diverge from large-scale infrastructure development models. Rather than advocating for dams or power plants, Indigenous youth imagine energy and environmental futures rooted in their own territories and values. Their activism is framed as “youthful decolonial futurity,” a politics that centers community control, ancestral stewardship, and intergenerational decision-making.

This article argues that colonialism is advanced through the development of national infrastructures, which arrive in some places while being withheld in others. By examining the Central Arizona Project, it highlights how infrastructure planning across space and time established conditions for dispossession and marginalization of Navajo resources. The study shows how physical, legal, and political systems converge to reinforce colonial control through infrastructure development.

After the 2015 Gold King Mine Spill released 3 million gallons of acid mine drainage into the San Juan River, researchers worked with Diné communities to study impacts. The project developed and evaluated individualized household results materials, moving beyond one-way communication from researcher to participant. This Diné-centered approach emphasized dialogue, cultural sensitivity, and community involvement in reporting environmental exposure results.

A tribal-university partnership with the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe examined climate change threats to ecosystems, water, and culturally significant species. Through community-driven workshops, participants identified local challenges, priorities, and adaptation strategies, leading to resources such as interpretive climate tools and videos. The project demonstrates how decolonizing, participatory research methods strengthen accountability to Indigenous protocols and produce practical, community-centered outcomes.

In the Dilkon Chapter of the Navajo Nation, over 40% of residents lack access to running water and rely on hauled supplies from regulated and unregulated sources. Testing of nine wells revealed uranium, arsenic, and total dissolved solids above recommended levels for various uses. This paper provides groundwater consumers with information on local sources, common contaminants, water quality regulations, and well maintenance practices.

This collaborative project reframed the impacts of the 2015 Gold King Mine Spill by centering Indigenous worldviews and methodologies. Led by Diné scholars and community leaders, researchers conducted focus groups in Navajo communities to explore social, spiritual, and relational dimensions of the disaster. The findings broadened understandings of environmental harm, emphasizing connections across time, space, and spirituality, and pointing to Indigenous-informed pathways of environmental justice.