The researchers define an indigenous socioecological system as:

a linked system of “people and nature” [1] that encompasses the interactions between Indigenous peoples and their local surrounding environment [2,3]. It includes naturalresources such as water, land, and wildlife, which these people depend on. This alsoencompasses the spiritual and cultural aspects attached to these resources.

Sakapaji, Molinos, Parilova, Gavrileva, Yakovleva (2024), https://doi.org/10.3390/resources13040056

They wanted to understand whether legal and regulatory frameworks help communities with sustainability and resilience to climate or environmental changes by comparing multi ethnic communities in Sakha, Yakutia and Karen indigenous communities in Thailand. They investigated land tenure, resource rights, traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), traditional hunting, gathering, fishing, conservation and environmental management themes. They used desktop research, literature reviews and developed a model to compare different legal frameworks and power dynamics.

In 1949, Thailand was no longer a colony which meant that Karen communities were affected by redesignation of land as public land, affecting access, resources and conservation policies for biodiversity and water resource management. Forced relocations have interrupted or destroyed education and cultural practices. In Yakutia, Soviet collectivised agriculture in the 1920s and ongoing small settlement building have gradually morphed into indigenous tribal communes with some legal land rights but more for specific uses of land and resources in these areas. Economic development impacts traditional migration routes, employment, and causes forced relocations and environmental pollution but overall, regulatory issues are affected by challenges with federal legislation vs regional implementation.

Karen communities have used legislation, often human rights mechanisms to challenge the Thai government to improve standards of living, community development and preservation of cultural heritage which they have supplemented by building international networks to raise the profile of their existence and challenges they face within their communities. For Yakutia, there have been challenges with consent and influence in developmental decisions especially around state and private ownership as well as usage of land but they are continuing to seek input into decision making at all levels.

The researchers recommend consideration of TEK in all policy making and involvement of indigenous communities in creation and revision of legal frameworks. They note that climate adaptation, resilience and sustainability can happen if capacity building and access for funding for indigenous groups is available. The contribution of knowledge and research could be in collaboration with the communities, academia and government. They believe global and climate sustainability is unattainable without these contributions.

Sakapaji SC, García Molinos J, Parilova V, Gavrilyeva T, Yakovleva N. Navigating Legal and Regulatory Frameworks to Achieve the Resilience and Sustainability of Indigenous Socioecological Systems. Resources. 2024; 13(4):56. https://doi.org/10.3390/resources13040056