The Earth Elders
In 2013, more than one hundred Indigenous Elders gathered to seek guidance for humanity amid mounting global crises. From that convening emerged the Earth Mandates — living instructions to restore balance with the Earth. The Earth Shield exists to bring the Fifth Mandate to life.
To nurture wise leadership rooted in the principles of care, reciprocity, and guardianship.
Through these councils, Original Peoples and allies gather to make decisions that honor the Earth as a living being, ensuring that communities speak and act in service to the whole.
To identify, defend, and regenerate sacred lands, waters, and ecosystems essential to life.
These biocultural sites hold deep ancestral memory — they are the beating hearts of our planet's biodiversity and culture, where restoration and ceremony converge.
To revitalize and transmit the teachings that sustain balance between humanity and nature.
These centers serve as sanctuaries for intergenerational learning, where Indigenous wisdom and modern understanding meet to guide collective healing and resilience.
To weave bridges among cultures and generations through shared stories, ceremonies, and action.
This Mandate calls for open dialogue that transcends boundaries — amplifying the voices of the Original Peoples and inspiring global movements for Earth's regeneration.
To safeguard the lands where culture and ecology are one, and to renew the sacred relationship between people and place.
This Mandate calls on all nations to protect life's interconnected web — ensuring that both human and natural communities can flourish together for generations to come. The Earth Shield exists to bring this Mandate to life.
The mandate this fund was born to serve
The Stewards
The Earth Elders is a global environmental non-profit working to preserve Indigenous Knowledge Systems and to empower Traditional Guardians with the tools and resources they need to safeguard nature.
Original Peoples steward more than 80% of the world's remaining biodiversity. They carry deep ancestral knowledge of the interdependent relationships that underpin life on Earth — insights that hold a key to humanity's collective future. Yet, as our ecological crisis reaches dangerous tipping points, they now face unprecedented challenges.
Through the leadership of Original Peoples, The Earth Elders carry the Earth Mandates forward as a response to the Prophecy — to heal what has been broken and guide humanity back into balance with the living world.
Guardian of Qulla Wisdom
Emma Edelmira Alemán in ceremony — an Argentine Earth Elder carrying the ancestral knowledge of the Qulla people.
Photo by Melanie Pyne
A global initiative to safeguard and restore the planet's most vital bio-cultural territories.
Centers of ancestral wisdom where people learn to protect land, life, and future generations.
Embedding natural law and biocultural rights into global policy, ensuring nature is honored.