GeoStory Camps

Putting the tools in the hands of future Indigenous leaders

In direct collaboration with Indigenous communities around the world, People’s Planet Project implements GeoStory Camps - a long-term, collective impact program delivered in 3 to 5 stages. Through these camps, Indigenous participants engage in intensive workshops on filmmaking and geospatial mapping, and are equipped to use these tools to create evidence-based stories for advocacy campaigns and legal cases aimed at protecting the world’s forests.

We work in high-biodiversity impact regions, including the Amazon, the Leuser ecosystem, and the Coral Triangle. Through this approach, video technology and geospatial data are combined as a powerful medium to monitor and expose environmental crimes in real-time.

Same Initiative, Different Phases

After surveying learning needs within the community, an advanced workshop is co-designed in close collaboration with legal experts and Indigenous leaders. This phase deepens participants’ skills by directly linking film and geospatial mapping techniques to methods of evidence collection that can hold up in legal and human rights contexts.

Participants are trained to use high-resolution video, GPS-enabled drones, and satellite imagery to systematically document environmental damage, land encroachment, and rights violations. These materials are formatted and archived to meet legal standards, enabling their use as admissible evidence in court.

By integrating local environmental and human rights law into the training, participants not only create powerful evidence-based stories but also learn to frame them within legal narratives. This empowers communities to build stronger land rights claims and assert their self-determination through Indigenous-led documentation and advocacy.

Indigenous participants receive full ownership of video and GIS equipment, along with hands-on training in both technical and narrative skills for effective documentation. This includes camera operation, audio recording, drone piloting, GPS data collection, and basic editing, as well as storytelling techniques rooted in local traditions and lived experience.

The media produced through this process is intended not only to raise awareness but to serve as legal evidence in court cases defending Indigenous land rights. To ensure this, we collaborate closely with local environmental and human rights lawyers who guide the framing of content to meet evidentiary standards.

In continuous alignment with Indigenous partners, we support the definition of legal case parameters by collating multimedia evidence, consulting with legal and scientific experts, and ensuring that all documentation remains relevant, credible, and grounded in the community’s lived reality. This collaborative process strengthens the legal standing of Indigenous claims and contributes to long-term land protection strategies.

A tailored and co-designed curriculum teaches filmmaking and geospatial mapping basics.

It is co-designed with deep consultation with community members and relevant experts, and is implemented in the local language.

Afterwards, an Indigenous-led collective impact working group is built and supported to begin advancing and utilising the skills learnt in the initial workshop.

Successful legal actions that incorporate film and geospatial evidence have the potential to protect Indigenous territories and prevent large-scale deforestation across vital ecosystems worldwide. By validating community-led documentation in court, these cases contribute to the long-term preservation of forests, biodiversity, and Indigenous ways of life.

People’s Planet Project supports this process through an intersectional and collaborative approach that centers Indigenous leadership. This includes strategic community organizing, the establishment of a collective impact backbone to unify stakeholders, deep consultation with local leaders and experts, and the adaptation of tools and methodologies to meet the specific cultural, legal, and environmental needs of each community. Through this integrated model, we work toward systemic change grounded in self-determination and environmental justice.