Researchers' responsibility to uphold Indigenous rights

Good data relations key to Indigenous research sovereignty: A case study from Nunatsiavut

Although researchers are committed to Indigenous data sovereignty in principle, they fall short in returning data and results to communities in which or with whom they conduct their research. This results in a misalignment in benefits of research toward researchers and settler institutions and away from Indigenous communities. To explore this, we conducted a case study analyzing the rate researchers returned data to Nunatsiavut, an autonomous area claimed by Inuit of Labrador, Canada. We assessed the data return rate for all research approved by the Nunatsiavut Government Research Advisory Committee between 2011 and 2021. In two-thirds of projects, researchers did not return the data they had collected. Based on our results and their contextualization with researchers and Nunatsiavut Research Centre staff members, we compiled recommendations for researchers, academia, government bodies, funding bodies, and Indigenous research governance boards. These recommendations aim to facilitate data return, thus putting data sovereignty into practice.

Centering relationships to place for more meaningful research and engagement

Research has the potential to simultaneously generate new knowledge and contribute meaningful social-ecological benefits; however, research processes and outcomes can also perpetuate extractive patterns that have manifested the climate, biodiversity, and social justice crises. One approach to enhance the societal value of research processes is to strengthen relationships with places of study and the peoples of those places. Deepening relational engagement with the social-ecological context and history of a place can lead to more accurate results and improved public trust in the scientific process and is particularly important for natural scientists who work at the interface of nature and society. We provide three actionable pathways that range from individual to systemic change to enhance place-based relationships within research systems: 1) deepen reflection and communication about relationships with places and peoples; 2) strengthen collaboration among research teams and partners; and 3) transform systems of knowledge creation to foster place-based roots. Action on any of these proposed pathways, but especially action taken across all three, can build empathy and connections to place and people, strengthening the meaningful impact of research both locally and globally.

While clearing the forests: The social-ecological memory of trees in the Anthropocene

The Anthropocene concept raises awareness of human-induced planetary changes but is criticized for being 'too global'. We examined the social-ecological memory that emerges from people-tree relationships in South American temperate territories, Chile. We integrated dendrochronology (analysis of tree rings of 35 memorial trees; 17 species) with dendrography (participant observation complemented with semi-structured and go-along interviews with 14 interviewees; six women, eight men). We found that assemblages of people-tree relationships reflect marked historical changes in the territory, associated with the historical clearing of forests, which may be imprinted in both tree growth rings and in the social meanings and practices associated with memorial trees. In devastated territories, practices of tree care emphasize interconnectedness, multispecies collaborations, and the blurring of boundaries between humans and other-than-humans. We discuss some of the interdisciplinary and relational insights of our study, which may prove valuable for future research, political agendas, and educational programs in South America and beyond.

Cultural water and Indigenous water science

Australia shows the need for more sustainable and just water management.