Framings in Indigenous futures thinking: barriers, opportunities, and innovations

Jessica Cheok, Julia van Velden, Elizabeth A. Fulton, Iain J. Gordon, Ilisapeci Lyons, Garry Peterson, Liz Wren, Rosemary Hill · 2025 · Sustainability Science

Summary. Indigenous peoples bring distinctive perspectives to futures thinking—shaped by colonisation, unique knowledge systems, and commitment to biodiversity—that enable innovative solutions to climate change and social injustice. This paper identifies four framings of Indigenous futures thinking (Adaptation oriented, Participatory, Culturally grounded, and Indigenising) and finds that innovation increases when Indigenous people lead research teams, co-design projects, use Indigenous methodologies, and apply decolonisation approaches. The authors create a glossary to standardise terminology across this emerging field.

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@article{cheok-2025-framings-indigenous-futures-thinking-barriers,
  title   = {Framings in Indigenous futures thinking: barriers, opportunities, and innovations},
  author  = {Jessica Cheok and Julia van Velden and Elizabeth A. Fulton and Iain J. Gordon and Ilisapeci Lyons and Garry Peterson and Liz Wren and Rosemary Hill},
  journal = {Sustainability Science},
  year    = {2025},
  doi     = {10.1007/s11625-024-01615-1},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-024-01615-1}
}

TY  - JOUR
TI  - Framings in Indigenous futures thinking: barriers, opportunities, and innovations
AU  - Jessica Cheok
AU  - Julia van Velden
AU  - Elizabeth A. Fulton
AU  - Iain J. Gordon
AU  - Ilisapeci Lyons
AU  - Garry Peterson
AU  - Liz Wren
AU  - Rosemary Hill
JO  - Sustainability Science
PY  - 2025
DO  - 10.1007/s11625-024-01615-1
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-024-01615-1
ER  - 

Details

DOI

10.1007/s11625-024-01615-1

Countries

Australia, France, South Africa, Sweden

Regions

Oceania, Europe, Africa

Categories

indigenous-innovation, climate-and-environment, innovation-theory

Added

2026-04-28