Episode Two | Indigenous Women Redefining Science

🎙️Esther Ngalula: When Ancestral Science Meets Modern Tools, Indigenous Women Lead Nature’s Future

This February 2026, in celebration of the UN International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we’re launching a special three-part podcast series that challenges how we define science, and who shapes it.

Our series, Indigenous Women Redefining Science, amplifies the voices of Indigenous women who are leading research, conservation, and community health through the power of ancestral knowledge. Produced under the Inclusive Conservation Initiative (ICI), the series explores how traditional and Western knowledge systems can work together to protect biodiversity, strengthen livelihoods, and care for future generations.

In our second episode, we travel to the Democratic Republic of Congo to hear from Esther Ngalula, an Indigenous Batwa woman and Gender Officer with ANAPAC-DRC, who is helping redefine conservation through the leadership of women. Esther shares how traditional knowledge—of medicinal plants, ecosystems, and sustainable land use—has guided her community for generations, and how tools like GPS and participatory mapping are now amplifying that knowledge rather than replacing it.

Through the Inclusive Conservation Initiative (ICI), Esther and Indigenous Batwa women are documenting biodiversity, mapping ancestral territories, and stepping into leadership roles that influence environmental governance. Her story reveals how blending ancestral science with modern tools is not only protecting ecosystems, but also transforming women’s participation, visibility, and power.