Today, on the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, we celebrate by honoring the resilience, knowledge, and cultural richness of Indigenous communities around the world. We also reaffirm our commitment to supporting and documenting their rights to their land and resources. At Cadasta, we reaffirm our belief that secure land rights are foundational to Indigenous self-determination, environmental stewardship, and intergenerational justice. We are proud to stand Indigenous Peoples through our Strengthening Land and Forest Rights Program— a collective effort to advance secure land tenure, protect ancestral forests, and promote sustainable livelihoods around the world.
In the tribal belt of Gujarat, India, we’re proud to support our partners at ARCH-Vahini, who are training forest-dwelling tribal communities to use digital tools to map ancestral lands and claim their rights under the Forest Rights Act. As a result, over 64,000 parcels of forest land across 14 tribal districts have been documented. Since 2023, with support from UK International Development from the UK government, an additional 17,000 hectares have been mapped for 13,000 households–including 700 women-headed households.
In Indonesia, we’re working with youth from Ngata Tompu and Kasepuhan Jamrut Indigenous communities, training them to use smartphones and GIS tools to protect their forests and preserve their cultural heritage. To date, they have documented more than 8,200 hectares of Indigenous territory.
In Southern Belize, Cadasta partnered with the Julian Cho Society (JCS) to support Maya communities in documenting and protecting their ancestral lands. Despite a landmark 2015 court ruling affirming Maya land rights, formal titles remain absent for all 41 villages. Together with JCS, Cadasta helped six communities map over 25,000 hectares of territory, capturing data on agricultural use, water sources, sacred sites, and forest resources. More than 150 community members were trained in GIS and mobile data collection, with women and youth playing key leadership roles. These maps are now being used to support legal claims, guide reforestation efforts, and strengthen customary governance, providing critical tools for intergenerational knowledge sharing and long-term land stewardship.
Across all these efforts, one lesson remains constant: technology is most powerful when it complements, rather than overrides, Indigenous knowledge and governance systems. Participatory mapping, mobile data collection tools, and GIS platforms have proven effective not because they replace traditional knowledge, but because they help document, preserve, and validate it. By training Indigenous youth and community members to lead mapping efforts, our partnerships strengthen intergenerational knowledge transfer and build a bridge between Indigenous wisdom and modern data. This approach helps to amplify local voices, honor Indigenous knowledge, and support communities in safeguarding their land, livelihoods, and heritage.
