Polacca Joins Inclusive Conservation Academy’s Steering Group

Senior Fellow Mona Polacca has joined the inaugural Steering Group for the Inclusive Conservation Academy, a recently formed international capacity-building project. The ICA is envisioned as a vehicle for building the capacities of and expanding the support network for all relevant stakeholders, including representatives of Indigenous peoples and local communities, as well as conservation organizations, the private sector and governments.

The ICA is creating a pool of trainers that would include experienced leaders from Indigenous peoples and local communities as “faculty” members. Polacca (Hopi, Tewa, and Havasupai) joins other Indigenous leaders from around the world to guide the development of this innovative and timely initiative.

The creation of the ICA follows a series of consultations with Indigenous peoples and local community representatives that took place in 2021, led by the Tribal Link Foundation in collaboration with the World Wide Fund for Nature.  An important, innovative feature of the ICA is that it has been co-created with Indigenous peoples and local community leaders, as well as other pioneering civil society organizations involved in inclusive and rights-based approaches to development, equity and social justice.