Through a collaborative process including in-person assessments of community needs, training courses and a NASA webinar series, the EO4IM program enables indigenous peoples to use geospatial technology — tools to map and monitor Earth’s geographies — to address threats to their lands.
Conservation International, a GEO Participating Organization, is leading a project to put monitoring tools in the hands of indigenous people. These tools help them sustainably manage their territories. The Earth Observations for Indigenous-led Land Management (EO4IM) project is being carried out with the Awajún people of Peru and the Achuar Nation of Ecuador — two indigenous groups whose land is increasingly vulnerable to encroachment from new migrant settlements and illegal logging.
Based on these pilot programs, Conservation International will develop targeted training materials and technologies to support indigenous peoples as they build on their existing knowledge of nature to help face modern threats to their lands
Women in the Palomar community review a cultural map created by the Suri indigenous community in Brazil to digitally record their people's cultural and ecological knowledge.
“We have many challenges with colonizers in our territories who destroy our forests and resources, and technology can help us. Our communities are traditional, yes, but we can learn to use these tools through this project and they will help us manage our lands.”
Awajún leader