Indigenous land stewardship and soil biodiversity reduce human pathogen risks: systemic analysis of microbial ecological balance

Indigenous land stewardship systems, such as Aboriginal fire ecology and Andean raised-field agriculture, demonstrate that human-managed landscapes can sustain soil microbial diversity as a natural pathogen buffer. These practices rely on polyculture, rotational land use, and organic matter cycling—mechanisms systematically dismantled by industrial agriculture. Western science is only now validating what Indigenous communities have practiced for millennia, yet their knowledge remains sidelined in policy and research agendas.

The erosion of soil biodiversity traces back to the Neolithic Revolution’s shift to monoculture and intensified land use, but the modern crisis stems from 20th-century industrial agriculture, including the Green Revolution’s reliance on synthetic inputs. Colonial land dispossession disrupted Indigenous soil management systems, replacing them with extractive models that prioritise yield over ecological resilience. Historical parallels include the Dust Bowl, where soil degradation led to catastrophic pathogen outbreaks and human health crises.

Cross-cultural comparisons reveal that microbial diversity in soils correlates with polycultural land use, as seen in Indigenous Australian, Andean, and West African systems, where diverse plant communities foster complex fungal-bacterial networks. In contrast, industrial monocultures create bacterial-dominated soils with reduced fungal diversity, increasing vulnerability to pathogen proliferation. These patterns suggest that soil health is not merely a microbial phenomenon but a cultural and ecological co-evolutionary process.

The study highlights how diverse soil microbiomes suppress pathogens through competition, antibiosis, and niche exclusion, aligning with ecological theory on biodiversity-ecosystem function relationships. However, it frames soil health as a technical problem solvable by microbial inoculation rather than a systemic outcome of land-use practices. Missing is the role of pesticides in disrupting soil microbiomes, as well as the need for longitudinal studies linking land management to zoonotic disease risk.

Artistic and spiritual traditions often personify soil as a living entity, as seen in Indigenous Australian Dreamtime stories that describe the land as a sentient being requiring care. In Hindu traditions, the earth (*Prithvi*) is worshipped as a nurturing mother, linking soil health to ethical responsibility. These perspectives frame soil biodiversity not just as a biological asset but as a sacred duty, offering a counter-narrative to the commodification of land.

Future scenarios must integrate soil microbiome restoration into land-use policies, linking agricultural practices to public health outcomes through predictive modeling of pathogen spillover risks. Regenerative agriculture—combining cover cropping, reduced tillage, and organic amendments—could restore fungal-dominated soils, reducing disease emergence by 30-50% in vulnerable regions. Policy frameworks should incentivise polyculture and Indigenous land stewardship to build long-term resilience against zoonotic threats.

Marginalised communities, particularly Indigenous farmers and smallholder agriculturalists in the Global South, possess critical knowledge on soil biodiversity but are excluded from policy dialogues. Their exclusion reinforces colonial land tenure systems that prioritise corporate agriculture over ecological stewardship. Amplifying these voices requires decolonising research funding, land tenure reforms, and participatory governance models that centre local ecological knowledge.