By Sebastien Turbot, Director of Advocacy and Communications, Earthna

In the highlands of Cameroon, communities are reviving water harvesting systems built by their grandparents. In Colombia, an Indigenous community leader is bringing decades of lived experiences back into environmental decision making. In Kenya, farmers are rediscovering traditional crops and agricultural practices to strengthen food security. Across five countries, from Madagascar to Belize, coastal communities are managing fisheries using ancestral knowledge, and fish populations are rebounding.

These are not experiments. They are practical, proven solutions improving lives today. They are also among the inaugural winners of the Earthna Prize.

Together, they point to a simple truth: an integral part of the knowledge we need for the future has been with us all along. For too long, traditional tools and practices have been treated as cultural artifacts to preserve rather than as practical assets to use. Yet, communities worldwide have, across generations, managed water, cultivated resilient crops, and protected fragile ecosystems.

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These ancient systems often complement modern infrastructure, filling critical gaps in resilience. In Rajasthan, India, ancient stepwells store water while naturally cooling the surrounding environment, helping communities endure extreme heat long before the advent of modern air conditioning. In Oman, the ancestral aflaj system channels water from mountain aquifers across one of the driest landscapes on Earth through networks that have functioned effectively through the ages. Across the Sahel, traditional zaï farming techniques are restoring degraded land by capturing scarce rainfall and injecting life back into exhausted soils.

Further west in the Andes, terraced farming systems are being revived to slow water runoff, reduce erosion, and protect crops against increasingly unpredictable weather. Meanwhile, from Qatar to West Africa and Southeast Asia, coastal communities that have protected mangrove ecosystems for generations are discovering that these landscapes provide the ultimate natural defense against rising storms, coastal erosion, and more.

This knowledge represents environmental learning refined through generations of practice. But as communities modernize and cultural traditions fade, this invaluable playbook on how to co-exist with nature and live sustainably within local ecosystems is at risk of disappearing.

Why the Earthna Prize matters

Honoring solutions rooted in Traditional Knowledge is precisely why the Earthna Prize was established in 2024. Launched on the conviction that local communities are not merely passive recipients of climate aid, but rather frontline innovators, the Prize champions heritage-led resilience across five critical areas: water systems; food systems; terrestrial ecosystems; marine and coastal ecosystems; and built environments.

Traditional Knowledge matters deeply because it represents the ultimate form of local common sense. Long before terms like sustainability were coined, our ancestors understood a fundamental rule of survival: prosperity comes from living within the limits of nature and working with it. While modern technology provides vital tools to monitor and analyze our changing planet, traditional methods offer a gentle, localized touch. They rely on materials that are already at hand, methods that are accessible to everyone, and effective solutions that have been tested in daily life.

The goal here is not to choose between ancient practices and modern innovation, but to weave them together. The leadership and resilience needed to face a changing climate already exist on the ground. However, these communities need greater visibility, investment, and chances to grow. Perhaps, to walk the talk on climate action, it’s time to retread the path our ancestors already paved.

Earthna Prize call for applications is open until 20 July 2026.