Tribal Data Sovereignty Toolkit

Author: Lilly Jones, PhD
Version: 1.0.0
Frameworks: OCAP® | CARE | FAIR | IEEE 2890-2025
License: GNU Affero GPL 3.0

Overview

The Tribal Data Sovereignty Toolkit is a generalizable framework for implementing Indigenous data sovereignty principles in Earth data science workflows. It provides Python modules, a teaching notebook series, and document templates that work together to make sovereignty a built-in feature of data pipelines.

The toolkit was developed in the context of Earth data science work and is designed to be modular so it can be adapted for any Tribal Nation.

Who is this for?

Audience	Start here
Tribal data managers and natural resource staff	templates/ then notebook 04
Researchers working with Tribal data	Notebooks 00–03
Students and educators	Full notebook series 00–06
Hackathon and workshop participants	Notebook 05 (SEEDS Workflow)

Repository Structure

tribal-data-sovereignty-toolkit/
│
├── toolkit/                    # Python modules
│   ├── sovereignty.py          # Core — NationConfig, SovereigntyContext
│   ├── provenance.py           # IEEE 2890-2025 provenance records
│   ├── governance.py           # Statements, checklists, agreements
│   └── audit.py                # Sovereignty audit (OCAP® + CARE + FAIR + IEEE 2890)
│
├── notebooks/                  # Teaching series
│   ├── 00_orientation.ipynb    # Start here
│   ├── 01_frameworks.ipynb     # OCAP®, CARE, FAIR, IEEE 2890-2025
│   ├── 02_data_provenance.ipynb
│   ├── 03_sovereignty_audit.ipynb
│   ├── 04_collection_design.ipynb
│   ├── 05_seeds_workflow.ipynb  # Responsible Earth Data Science
│   └── 06_adaptation_guide.ipynb
│
├── templates/                  # Document toolkit (no coding required)
│   ├── data_sovereignty_statement.md
│   ├── community_consent_framework.md
│   ├── ieee_2890_compliance_checklist.xlsx
│   ├── tribal_data_catalog.xlsx
│   └── provenance_record.xlsx
│
├── config/
│   └── nation_template.yaml    # Edit this to adapt for any Nation
│
├── docs/
│   ├── quickstart.md
│   ├── frameworks_reference.md
│   └── adaptation_guide.md
│
└── examples/
    ├── water_monitoring.md
    ├── mining_twin.md
    └── soils_geology.md

Quick Start

For non-coders: use the templates directly

1. Open templates/data_sovereignty_statement.md and fill in the bracketed fields
2. Open templates/ieee_2890_compliance_checklist.xlsx to audit your dataset
3. Open templates/tribal_data_catalog.xlsx to catalog your data assets

No installation required.

For Python users

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/daear-consulting/tribal-data-sovereignty-toolkit
cd tribal-data-sovereignty-toolkit

# Create and activate the environment
conda env create -f environment.yml
conda activate tribal-data-sovereignty

# Install the toolkit as a package (optional but recommended)
pip install -e .

# Copy and edit the config
cp config/nation_template.yaml config/nation.yaml
# Edit nation.yaml with your Nation's information

# Validate
python toolkit/governance.py --config config/nation.yaml --validate

In a notebook

from toolkit.sovereignty import SovereigntyContext

ctx = SovereigntyContext.from_config("config/nation.yaml")
ctx.print_acknowledgment()

# Attach provenance to any GeoDataFrame
gdf = ctx.attach_provenance(gdf, source_key="usgs_nwis_streamflow")

# Generate citations
print(ctx.generate_citations(["usgs_nwis_streamflow", "usda_ssurgo"]))

Adapting for a New Nation

The toolkit ships with an Oglala Lakota/Pine Ridge configuration as the default example. To adapt for another Nation:

1. Copy config/nation_template.yaml to config/nation.yaml
2. Edit every field (takes approximately 20 minutes)
3. Run python toolkit/governance.py --config config/nation.yaml --validate
4. All notebooks, templates, and modules auto-populate from your config

See notebooks/06_adaptation_guide.ipynb for a complete walkthrough.

For Nation-specific consulting assistance such as integrating existing Tribal data codes, Local Contexts TK Labels, or Tribal data governance policies, contact Daear Consulting, LLC.

The Governance Framework Stack

This toolkit implements four complementary frameworks:

Framework	Governs	Reference
OCAP®	Ownership, Control, Access, Possession	https://fnigc.ca/ocap-training/
CARE	Collective Benefit, Authority, Responsibility, Ethics	https://www.gida-global.org/care
FAIR	Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable	https://www.go-fair.org/fair-principles/
IEEE 2890-2025	Provenance of Indigenous Peoples' Data	https://standards.ieee.org/ieee/2890/10318/

FAIR governs technical data management. CARE and OCAP® govern the ethical obligations that FAIR alone does not address. IEEE 2890-2025 operationalizes both into machine-readable provenance records.

Connected Repositories

This toolkit is the canonical source for sovereignty infrastructure used across Daear Consulting's Earth data science repos.

Citation

If you use this toolkit in your work, please cite:

Jones, L. (2026). Tribal Data Sovereignty Toolkit. Daear Consulting, LLC. https://github.com/daearconsulting/IDSov_toolkit

And acknowledge the Tribal Nations whose data and lands informed its development:

We are grateful for the opportunity to support Tribal data sovereignty in Earth data science.

License

see LICENSE file.

The governance frameworks referenced by this toolkit (OCAP®, CARE, FAIR, IEEE 2890-2025) are governed by their respective organizations. This toolkit implements them but does not own or modify them.