This special issue brings together scholars and activists working at the intersections of tribal studies and ecology, drawing primarily from the fields of sustainability studies, political ecology and anthropology. Our contribution stems from a 2022 workshop, hosted at the University of Copenhagen’s Centre for Applied Ecological Thinking (CApE), which brought together academics and NGOs with varied backgrounds. Over three days, we discussed what we will here begin to call ‘tribal ecologies’ in contemporary India. In this introduction, we bring theoretical specificity to tribal ecologies and consider its applicability at different scales of analysis--from the local ethnographic encounters of tribal communities with the Indian state to the transnational mobilization of indigenous rights through international institutions. The goal is to carve out an emergent field of study that is equally applicable to academics and NGO practitioners working among tribal communities.