The 'environmental stewardship-health nexus' among Indigenous peoples: A global systematic literature review

Environmental stewardship programs can improve the health and wellbeing of Indigenous peoples, in addition to generating positive ecological outcomes. This systematic literature review synthesises global scholarly literature on the relationship between environmental stewardship and the health and wellbeing of Indigenous peoples. This review includes papers using qualitative, quantitative and mixed method studies, and proposes a framework to bring insight into the interrelationships between three main components: (1) body, (2) mind and spirit, and (3) land and all living things. By organizing literature under these three components, we illuminate how these can strengthen each other in a virtuous stewardship-health cycle, defined as an 'environmental stewardship-health nexus', to guide theory and to catalyze greater uptake of these programs as a public health intervention.