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Community-based participatory research and Indigenous Knowledge: A pathway to climate-resilient and transformative water governance

Amanda Shankland
Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; ashankla@torontomu.ca

Carolyn Johns
Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; cjohns@torontomu.ca

Kelly Fran Davis
University of Waterloo, Brock University, St. Catherine’s, Ontario, Canada; kdavis@brocku.ca

Kelsy Chan
Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; kelsychan@torontomu.ca

Julia Baird
Brock University, St. Catharine’s, Ontario, Canada; jbaird@brocku.ca

ABSTRACT: This critical reflection explores how community-based participatory research (CBPR) can serve as both a methodological and political foundation for transforming water and climate governance. Beginning with an overview of CBPR, the paper emphasises its capacity to centre community needs, redistribute power, and foster resilience through participatory governance. Rather than viewing CBPR solely through the lens of research ethics or engagement, we argue that it enables deeper structural transformation by challenging exclusionary governance systems and amplifying community-defined priorities. We examine how CBPR contributes to water and climate governance by integrating relational place-based knowledge and enabling more adaptive and equitable policy responses. Central to this approach is the recognition of Indigenous Knowledges (IK) not as supplementary to effective governance, but as foundational. By unsettling dominant epistemologies and exposing power asymmetries, CBPR facilitates the inclusion of IK and other marginalised knowledge systems in governance reform. The paper further engages with Indigenous research approaches and decolonial methodologies that inform CBPR, highlighting their role in cultivating relational accountability and shared authority. Situating CBPR within broader debates on knowledge justice and decolonial governance, we also address tensions such as institutional resistance, issues of scale, and the risk of co-optation. Ultimately, we present CBPR as a critical research approach and governance practice that supports climate-resilient, justice-oriented, and community-led policy transformation.

KEYWORDS: Community-based participatory research, Indigenous Knowledge, policy, water, climate, justice