2026 LEEF Conference Wakulla Wild

Indigenous youth in the Amazon navigate rapid social and environmental changes while sustaining traditional knowledge and territorial stewardship. This study collaborates teachers, students and community members of a multiethnic Indigenous territory in the Colombian Amazon. Working alongside Indigenous teachers, researchers explore integrating traditional ecological and biocultural knowledge with K-12 science and environmental education through curriculum co-design. The collaborative process integrates a needs assessment done to understand the community views on education, conservation science, environmental issues and current practices for traditional knowledge articulation. Findings highlight the importance of community-based and traditional knowledge to root learning in the local context and facilitate nature stewardship. The researchers share about their co-design experience and the strategies developed to articulate indigenous and local knowledge with scientific and global perspectives of territories and conservation.