The health of soil, a fundamental resource for life on Earth, is severely compromised by global environmental change. Evidence shows that the knowledge of Indigenous Peoples and local communities influences sustainable land management, hence the importance of understanding Indigenous soil classification. Using a participatory approach, we conducted semistructured interviews, focus groups, and collective mapping of soils in 4 Aymara communities of the Bolivian Altiplano. We found that families in the 4 communities organize their territory in homogenous zones, based upon characteristics perceivable by sight, touch, smell, and taste. The description and meaning of the zones refer to characteristics such as location, soil color, preferred land use, and topography. We argue that homogenous zones are kaleidoscopic and polysemic units of spatial organization of the Aymara territory. Each meaning conveyed is like a face of a kaleidoscope and refers to different features of the zone. They are polysemic because the descriptions of the zones refer to multiple elements of different kinds (eg color and fertility). Indigenous and local knowledge of soils has coevolved with thousands of years of Altiplano farming, leading to prescriptive and flexible homogenous zones of sustainable land management. These knowledge systems and the cultures they belong to constitute crucial elements for generating knowledge supporting transitions to sustainability.

Indigenous mountain people are often marginalized from mainstream development and are not able to express their concerns over the impacts of ecosystem changes on their livelihoods. Living in geographically difficult terrains, they engage in traditional ritual practices concerning their livelihoods that build on generations of deep-rooted beliefs. Yet, the availability of literature on traditional rituals practiced in the context of farming systems is scant. We conducted an exploratory study, through structured survey questionnaires, to document the traditional ritual practices observed in farming across the country of Bhutan. The study revealed the continuing practice of diverse and unique traditional rituals being propitiated to local deities for the welfare and wellbeing of individuals and communities across all ethnic groups in Bhutan. This study documented various tangible and intangible cultural values adopted in farming practices in Bhutan that are at risk of disappearing due to anthropogenic pressures.

The ongoing global and large-scale changes in markets, demographics, and use of resources are impacting mountain peoples and regions. In mountain areas, resources have been governed through community-based systems for resource management for centuries, ensuring stewardship and local decision-making over the resources. Due to the importance of such systems to mountain societies, there is a need to understand local effects of global changes and reconfigure community-based resource management (CRM) to meet local needs while tackling global challenges. Changes include biodiversity loss and the climate crisis, as well as increasing social and economic disparities. Studies on the role of knowledge cocreation in the process of CRM innovation in response to ongoing changes in mountain social–ecological systems are missing. This study aimed to explore the reconfigurations that enable CRM to foster sustainable development and thriving communities. The study focused on an intervention promoting community entrepreneurship in community-based tourism for the revitalization of collective resources in 2 mountain communities in Northern Italy. We adopted a transdisciplinary approach and a research action methodology to codesign the interventions and research. Data from focus groups, a survey, participatory activities, interviews, and participant observation were collected and analyzed using a qualitative content analysis method. Results show that emerging reconfigurations in CRM include recognition of new values and uses of collective resources, inclusion of new stakeholders, and innovation of the organizational model, shifting the perspective from resource management to resource governance. The study recommends striking a balance between pushing innovation and increasing power imbalances. It is important to pay attention to the inclusivity of the process and to avoid excessive commodification of resources.

The contribution of overgrazing to high-elevation rangeland degradation is a problem across the Himalayan region, and it leads to tensions among users. In the alpine areas of eastern Bhutan, 2 communities of settled and seminomadic herders have been engaged in enduring open conflict over access to a large natural pasture. To reestablish a communication channel between these communities, a participatory modeling and simulation process was implemented with the concerned stakeholders. A training workshop on this collaborative approach and its key tools, particularly computer-assisted role-playing games, was attended by research and extension officers and was immediately followed by a field workshop attended by 6 herders from each community. The participants used their empirical knowledge to improve the relevance of the spatial distribution of the land degradation problem on the proposed game board. They also established a link between the features and rules of the role-playing game and the actual circumstances of the rangeland. The gaming sessions allowed the participants to share their respective viewpoints on the land degradation process in a nonthreatening environment. The assessment of the field workshop identified multiple effects regarding awareness of the problem, participants' confidence, colearning, and mutual trust. This intervention enabled the emergence of social capital ahead of the preparation of major development-oriented interventions in the watershed. This study demonstrates the pertinence of using simple but relevant abstract models, codesigned with their users, to mitigate tensions between parties in conflict over the use of renewable natural resources.

Mountains are often recognized as sites of biocultural diversity, and local ecological knowledge (LEK) is an integral part of community life. Rapid cultural standardization and urbanization have threatened biocultural diversity, posing threats to LEK in mountain areas. The current study aimed to gather data on the status of LEK in the Yasin Valley, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, and discuss options with the local population for revitalizing LEK in future educational programs. We explored the perceptions of local communities on the importance of LEK and its possible revitalization and transmission in the school curriculum. Data were collected from students, teachers, and local knowledge holders in 4 schools located in the valley. In the area, LEK is considered an important part of the local biocultural heritage, playing a potential role in socioenvironmental sustainability, but we observed a lack of intergenerational transmission of LEK, using LEK of wild food plants as a proxy. Participants confirmed that the existing environmental and food education does not cover the local cultural ecologies, and thus the prevailing centralized curriculum system has isolated students from learning LEK. Preliminary interactions with participants did not reveal any opinions on the transmission of LEK through teaching–learning processes. During group discussions, however, we discovered some potential strategies that could help in the revitalization of LEK in schools, such as study trips, traditional food day celebrations, developing herbaria, art competitions, and the introduction of food scouting. More importantly, place-based education, connected to the local biocultural heritage, could provide a useful foundation for the intergenerational transmission of LEK. Therefore, on the basis of our case study, we appeal to local policymakers to pay attention to the erosion of LEK and ask that it be given space in future development programs to achieve sustainable development and help mountain communities.

We describe collaborative archaeological research on caribou hunting sites in the homeland of the Shúhtagot'ine in the central Mackenzie Mountains of Canada's Northwest Territories. Shúhtagot'ine Elders and cultural resource managers are working together to investigate important cultural places that are at risk of destruction from climate-driven landscape changes. We use 3 case studies to illustrate how knowledge production in the context of long-term, place-based research has led to key insights about ancestral caribou hunting sites, including perennial alpine ice patches and wood hunting structures, and how that knowledge is being mobilized to help conserve important values in the Shúhtagot'ine cultural landscape. Archaeological research promotes the sustainability of Indigenous cultural landscapes through the preservation of cultural heritage, via the recall of “landscape memories,” and by unlocking archives of ancient biological material. The process of knowledge coproduction is mutually beneficial for all participants, especially when Indigenous Elders and youth are brought together in fieldwork settings.

For many Indigenous communities who live in mountain regions around the globe, the histories of mountain park development have often facilitated dispossession from ancestral territories. Diverse Indigenous communities share similar experiences, where park interests have conflicted with Indigenous lands. However, colonial practices of park management are consistently being rethought. Canada and Aotearoa/New Zealand are examples where new designations of parks are now emerging to support management practices that assert Indigenous knowledge and land rights. Guided by Indigenous methodologies and supported by secondary literature, the analysis of policy documents, and community-based research with Indigenous communities in Canada and Aotearoa/New Zealand, this article highlights grassroots Indigenous-led park management practices that move beyond colonial frameworks. This research indicates the potential of protected areas to strengthen the livelihoods of Indigenous Peoples and mountain ecosystems by demonstrating how colonial histories can be reconciled and conservation policies integrated to support the sustainable development of mountain regions.

The Canadian Mountain Network (CMN) is the country's first Network of Centres of Excellence (NCE) focused on the resilience and health of mountain systems, peoples, and regions, and the first to recognize Indigenous governments and organizations as NCE-eligible partner organizations. CMN's Indigenous-led and -co-led research, training, knowledge mobilization, and networking programs represent a first-in-a-generation learning opportunity focused on how to support the weaving of Indigenous and Western knowledge systems towards respectful and impactful mountain systems research.