Migrant Ecological Knowledge 

This is a catalytic time for equity and diversity in environmental, conservation, and sustainability efforts. In the past four years, there has been a growing attention to the need of challenging historical disparities and reducing barriers to participation in order to advance benefits to more people. As a result, a plethora of cross-scale organizations have been working to engage a more diverse group of landowners in sustainable agriculture, restoration, and conservation.
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There have been strides made in honoring and supporting ancestral Indigenous connections to land as well as uplifting the needs of environmental justice communities that are being harmed alongside their ecosystems. It is important to note that these efforts are contextualized within the reality that people of color own at most 4% of land in the U.S.A. That means that efforts working to engage diverse landowners will inherently be focused on a small group of people and communities with more resources and power. 
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There has also been a significant lack of attention to the connection migrants have to the environment. Because they are newcomers to a place, they predominantly have less access to resources and land, and this may be related to their exclusion from  the aforementioned efforts. However, many migrants have arrived with important ties to the environment as they have often participated in agriculture and conservation in their home countries. Not to mention that many migrants are Indigenous people in their homelands and have maintained ancestral social-ecological relationships. Because of the distance to their homes and communities and lack of access to land, the ecological knowledge of migrants is threatened with disappearing, especially with the common pressure of assimilating to a new country in order to succeed.​
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Equity and Sustainability Co. is leading the  Migrant Ecological Knowledge Project project in order to celebrate the ecological knowledge of migrants that has often been marginalized. It hopes to contribute to documenting their knowledge and ecological  experiences of their home and current countries, so it is not lost and can be accessible to diverse communities, including the descendants of migrants. Through uplifting the international narratives of migrants, the project will also shine light on the interconnected global forces impacting our communities and environments in our global social-ecological system as well as the priorities of migrants for changing these conditions. Because of the cultural  background of the project lead, this initiative will begin by working with migrants from Southern American countries to the U.S.A.​​​
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If you are interested in learning more, please email Katia at equityandsustainability@gmail.com. If you are interested in sharing your story, please fill out this form bit.ly/migrantknowledge.