Critical Relationships

The food, fuel, and materials that sustain our way of life come from local communities. Too often, these communities are left out of the decision-making processes about whether and how resources are developed.

The Resource Exchange connects people to the tools, knowledge, resources and relationships they need to drive local decisions about natural resources. It is a global network that supports inclusive, local land and natural resource governance. This can include conservation and restoration management, cultural and traditional land use, and natural resource development such as mining, forestry, renewable energy, and agriculture.

Our Mission
Our mission is to share the tools, knowledge, resources and build the relationships needed for inclusive and community-led decisions about land and natural resources. We also co-create initiatives and resources across the globe.

Our Vision is to LEARN, SHARE and BUILD
Our vision is that Indigenous and local communities are included in decisions about natural resource development and that resources can be managed in resilient and sustainable ways between communities, governments, and businesses.

Our Community
The Resource Exchange is composed of global and local partnerships that include community leaders, civil society and grassroots organizations, government officials involved in land and natural resource administration, and the private sector. While these stakeholders may have differing objectives, approaches and experiences, they all want to see more inclusive, local natural resource management happen.

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We Focus on 7 Key Themes:

Traditional governance and community participation.
Are traditional governance systems and decision-making processes inclusive?

Indigenous and community-led conservation and restoration.
What do effective community-led monitoring and enforcement programs look like? 
How is conservation and restoration connected to food security?

Land planning processes and community visioning.
What does effective collaborative land planning look like?
How do we consider, track and manage cumulative impacts in decision making?

Information for decision-making and planning.
What information do communities need to make decisions about natural
resource development? What tools are we using to collect and track information related to
environment and biodiversity, or community wellbeing?

Trauma-informed governance.
How can our understanding of trauma inform how we make decisions about natural
resource development, manage benefits and mitigate impacts?

Negotiations and agreements.
What leads to effective negotiations and agreements? How do agreements consider cumulative impacts?

Multi-stakeholder collaboration.
How do actors from various sectors align, co-ordinate and collaborate to achieve common objectives?