The loss of an Indigenous language can also mean the loss of the ecological and medicinal knowledge embedded in it (see R. Cámara-Leret et al. Nature 655, 1212–1216; 2026). Although declines in language use can be reversed, efforts to do so remain overlooked in national legislation and policies. Governments should provide sustained support for community-led immersion, family- and land-based learning and digital tools that help speakers to teach and pass on their languages to the next generation.