Beyond participation: Indigenous researchers leading biodiversity monitoring and territorial governance in the Amazon

<jats:p>Indigenous Territories harbor some of the world’s best-preserved ecosystems and are central to biodiversity conservation. Paradoxically, the knowledge of the people who have historically maintained these ecosystems remains underrepresented in conservation science. Here we present a collaborative program for monitoring biodiversity and water quality of the Nãnsêpôtiti (Iriri) River in the Panará Indigenous Territory of the Brazilian Amazon. Integrating diverse knowledge systems through co-production between Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers, digital technologies, and scientific methods, the program engaged Indigenous people throughout the research process and compiled a comprehensive database of aquatic and terrestrial organisms, including fish, aquatic insects, aquatic macrophytes, terrestrial plants, birds, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles. Grounded in co-production and the intergenerational transmission of knowledge, this initiative shows how equitable intercultural approaches can simultaneously strengthen conservation science, sociobiodiversity, and Indigenous territorial governance, while offering a potentially replicable model for addressing the challenges of biodiversity monitoring in other tropical regions.</jats:p>