Indigenous Political Ecology

Amidst escalating global socioecological crises and persistent failures of conventional environmental governance, Indigenous Political Ecology (IPE) offers an important paradigm for advancing ecological wellbeing and justice. This article argues for a transformative IPE that moves beyond merely incorporating Indigenous perspectives to fundamentally recentering Indigenous legal orders and relational accountability as foundational to equitable environmental governance and justice. IPE asserts that global environmental crises are inextricably linked to ongoing processes of colonialism, dispossession, and violations of Indigenous sovereignty. We define IPE as a critical, decolonizing framework grounded in Indigenous sovereignty, land-based legal orders, and relational ontologies. This article advances a global IPE and traces its foundations and historical trajectories, while engaging contemporary debates and emerging frontiers that expand its analytical scope and relevance in addressing decolonizing futures. We explore IPE's intersections with allied fields — decolonization studies, climate justice, environmental humanities, and critical development studies — highlighting its capacity to contribute to transdisciplinary conversations. Drawing upon diverse global case studies, this article demonstrates how Indigenous-led approaches to stewardship, relationality, and place-based responsibility offer viable, time-tested pathways for ecological wellbeing. We advocate for a paradigm shift for embracing Indigenous self-determination, epistemologies, and relational principles to confront and dismantle colonial-capitalist logics of domination and extraction.