About Gleb Raygorodetsky
For over two decades, Gleb has worked with and for Indigenous communities and their allies around the world on traditional resource management, traditional governance, sacred sites, climate change adaptation and mitigation, and biocultural Diversity.
Born and raised in a small village on the Bering Sea coast of Kamchatka Peninsula, USSR, Gleb immigrated to the USA in 1988. He made his way from New York City to Fairbanks, Alaska, where he continued the wildlife biology studies he began back in the Soviet Union. Since then, he has traversed the Americas, from Canada’s Beaufort Sea to the Brazilian Amazon, from the Andes to the shores of Lake Superior, living and working with Indigenous peoples as diverse as Aleut fur seal hunters, Amazonian Caboclos pirarucufishermen, and the Gwich’in caribou hunters. After earning his Ph.D. in Ecology, Evolution & Environmental Biology (2006, Columbia University), he has continued working with Indigenous groups around the world, from Papua New Guinea and Australia, to Peru and Finland.
Gleb has written and contributed to books, scientific and popular articles on Indigenous issues, traditional knowledge, and conservation in both English and Russian. He wrote Gwich’in Words about the Land – a book on the Indigenous ecological knowledge of Gwich’in people in the Northwest Territories in Canada that was published locally for all Gwich’in families. He has also written popular articles on Indigenous and environmental issues for various magazines, including Cultural Survival , Alternatives, and National Geographic.
Gleb is also a co-founder of Conversations with the Earth (CWE) – an indigenous-led multimedia initiative that amplifies indigenous voices in the global discourse on climate change. Over a million visitors saw CWE exhibits at National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC, and United Nations Headquarters in New York.
In The Archipelago of Hope: Wisdom and Resilience from the Edge of Climate Change (Pegasus Books, New York, 2017) Gleb explores the inextricable links between Indigenous cultures and their traditional territories as the foundation for climate change resilience around the world.


Select Publications
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- Raygorodetsky, G. “Indigenous peoples defend Earth’s biodiversity—but they’re in danger”. National Geographic Magazine, Nov. 16, 2018
- Raygorodetsky, G. “Life on the Edge”. National Geographic Magazine, Oct, 2017
- Raygorodetsky, G. “Pachamama’s Blood”. Earth Island Journal, Aug 31, 2017
- Raygorodetsky, G. “These Farmers Slash and Burn Forests—But in a Good Way”. National Geographic Magazine, Mar 8, 2016
- Raygorodetsky, G. “In the Arctic’s Cold Rush, There Are No Easy Profits”. National Geographic Magazine, Feb 16, 2016
- Raygorodetsky, G. 2015. “Hishuk Ish Tsa’walk: Tla-o-quiaht People and Climate Change”. Cultural Survival Quarterly. Issue: 39(1): 6-7.
- Galloway McLean, K., Raygorodetsky, G., Ramos-Castillo, A., Barrett, B., and C. Williams. 2013. Traditional Knowledge & Climate Science Toolkit. United Nations University.
- Raygorodetsky, G. 2013. “The World We Want: Ensuring Our Collective Bioculturally Resilient Future”. Langscape. 2 (10): 76-81
- Raygorodetsky, G. 2013. “Faces of Climate Change”. Alternatives Journal. 39 (2).
- Raygorodetsky, G. 2012. “Biocultural Resilience for Systems Change”. UNU OurWorld 2.0 November 28, 2012.
- Raygorodetsky, G. 2012. “Do REDD Trees Make the? Forest Green? National”. Geographic NewsWatch. August 1, 2012. Available online
- Raygorodetsky, G. 2012. “The Key to Addressing Climate Change – Indigenous Knowledge”. National Geographic NewsWatch Blog. February 6, 2012.
- Herrmann, T., Raygorodetsky, G., Ferguson, M., Mulrennan, M. 2012. “Recognition and Support of Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas in Canada”. In: Kothari, A. et al (eds). Recognizing and Supporting Territories and Areas Conserved By Indigenous Peoples And Local Community. Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, ICCA Consortium, Kalpavriksh, and Natural Justice, Montreal, Canada.
- Green, D. and Raygorodetsky, G. 2010. “Indigenous knowledge of a changing climate”. Climatic Change. 100 (2). Pages: 239-242.
- Raygorodetsky, G. 2007. “The Heart of Russia. 2007”. Wildlife Conservation. May/June. 110 (3): 32-37.
- Raygorodetsky, G. 2006. “Giants under Siege: Can the bears of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula survive an assault by hunters, poachers, and developers?” National Geographic Magazine. February 2006.
- Raygorodetsky, G. 2005. “The Last Bear. 2005”. Wildlife Conservation. November/December 2005. 108 (6): 40-45.
- Raygorodetsky, R., & G. Raygorodetsky. 2002. “Trails of life”. Living Arctic Publications. Special Issue. 48 pp. [In Russian].
- Raygorodetsky, G. Survival of the Fittest. 2000.Wildlife Conservation. March/April, 103 (2): 20-27.
- Raygorodetsky, G. 1999. “Gwich’in attitudes to Fish”. Pages 412-414 in D.A. Posey (Ed). Cultural and spiritual values of biodiversity. Nations Environment Programme.
- Raygorodetsky, G. 1997. “Gwich’in words about the Land”. Gwich’in Renewable Board. Inuvik, NWT, Canada. 211 pp.