Once, conservation organizations and multilateral institutions regarded many remote Indigenous and rural cultures as groups requiring relocation or “development” according to Western parameters. The 21st century has seen a burgeoning awareness that neither alternative is desirable. Nonetheless, there exists a relative dearth of examples of how best to partner with these increasingly imperiled communities to help protect their forests and their cultures as modernity presses in on all sides. This session focuses on successful efforts in northern Amazonia to help forest communities seize control of their destinies while developing a broader governance vision for Indigenous stewardship that emphasizes nonlinear economies.