The Indigenous Stewardship of Environment and Alternative Development (INSTEAD) research program is a knowledge co-creation partnership of Indigenous communities, representative organizations, university researchers, and activist civil society organizations. The collective aims to tackle conceptual and practical challenges faced by Indigenous peoples and communities in the stewardship of their environmental and cultural heritage in diverse regions of the Americas.

This book presents several of INSTEAD's founding Indigenous and academic partners to profile their diverse agendas and struggles. The intention is to bring together experience on diverse Indigenous territories, nurturing a sustained alliance of partners and researchers committed to the co-production of comparative knowledge, strategy formation, and policy action. Drawing on local knowledge experts and community leaders in collaboration with researchers dedicated to each partner territory, the book delves into the circumstances of each locale, critically comparing institutional and political contexts and assessing the creative strategies at play.

Emphasis is placed on the co-creation of knowledge toward the goals and engagements of INSTEAD's Indigenous partners, influenced by a legacy of thinking about Indigenous methodologies and research partnerships. Throughout, the book focuses on the challenges of protecting the integrity and diversity of socioecological communities within alternative models of development.