![• “We often have a bias towards Western knowledge.
We tend to say that academics and Western people
have all the answers. The record shows that people
here were living in a different way, living in a way
that could sustain the plants and animals they used.
“So there are lessons for conservation. We don’t
always have to create places where no humans are
allowed to go or harvest. We just need to be able to
understand how to work better with natural
processes – which is what [indigenous] people have
been doing for thousands of years.” Nancy Turner.
Ancient Pathways, Ancestral Knowledge:
Ethnobotany and Ecological Wisdom of Indigenous
Peoples of Northwestern North America.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/10-indigenousknowledge-181120223756/85/Indigenous-Knowledge-and-Sustaniability-5-320.jpg)
Indigenous Knowledge and Sustaniability
- 1. International Law, Ecology and Peace - Indigenous Knowledge and Sustainability Jorge Luis Fabra Zamora fabrajl@mcmaster.ca Fall 2018
- 2. Objective And Content Welcome and Introduction: Jorge Fabra and Nidhi Nagabhatla 01 Presentation: Sim / Akiva (UNESCO) 02 Special Guests: Cam Hill and Denise McQueen 03 Closing Remarks 04
- 3. The Agenda International Environmental Problems Climate Change • Policy • Liability and Compensation • Refugees Water Security • Water Conflict Energy • Might makes Right Agriculture and Food Security Solutions Global Governance Environmental Constitutionalism Legal Personality to Nature Indigenous and Traditional Knowledge Position Papers and KMb
- 4. • Sophisticated knowledge of the natural world is not confined to science. Human societies all across the globe have developed rich sets of experiences and explanations relating to the environments they live in. These ‘other knowledge systems’ are today often referred to as traditional ecological knowledge or indigenous or local knowledge. They encompass the sophisticated arrays of information, understandings and interpretations that guide human societies around the globe in their innumerable interactions with the natural milieu: in agriculture and animal husbandry; hunting, fishing and gathering; struggles against disease and injury; naming and explanation of natural phenomena; and strategies to cope with fluctuating environments. Nakashima, D., Prott, L. and Bridgewater, P. (2000) Tapping into the world’s wisdom, UNESCO Sources, 125, July-August, p. 12 • Traditional and indigenous knowledge, adaptation and coping strategies can be major assets for local responses” (UN System Task Team, Post 2015 Un Development Agenda, p. 28)
- 5. • “We often have a bias towards Western knowledge. We tend to say that academics and Western people have all the answers. The record shows that people here were living in a different way, living in a way that could sustain the plants and animals they used. “So there are lessons for conservation. We don’t always have to create places where no humans are allowed to go or harvest. We just need to be able to understand how to work better with natural processes – which is what [indigenous] people have been doing for thousands of years.” Nancy Turner. Ancient Pathways, Ancestral Knowledge: Ethnobotany and Ecological Wisdom of Indigenous Peoples of Northwestern North America.
- 6. • The indigenous people of the world possess an immense knowledge of their environments, based on centuries of living close to nature. Living in and from the richness and variety of complex ecosystems, they have an understanding of the properties of plants and animals, the functioning of ecosystems and the techniques for using and managing them that is particular and often detailed. In rural communities in developing countries, locally occurring species are relied on for many – sometimes all – foods, medicines, fuel, building materials and other products. Equally, people’s knowledge and perceptions of the environment, and their relationships with it, are often important elements of cultural identity. • Frederico Mayor former Director General of UNESCO,
- 7. Today’s Agenda • Welcome by Nidhi, Insights on UN initiatives focusing on Integration of Indigenous Knowledge in Sustainable Development • In the first part of the session, Students will present the UNESCO background paper: 'Indigenous knowledge and implications for the sustainable development agenda' http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0024/0 02456/245623E.pdf. • Cam Hill (Faith Keeper) and Denise McQueen (Community Navigator) from Six Nations Teachings of the Grand River. The will talk about the Six Nation's Teachings on Sustainability and what the Canadian and global communities learn from them.
- 8. Insights on UN initiatives focusing on Integration of Indigenous Knowledge in Sustainable Development Nidhi Nagabhatla
- 9. “Indigenous Knowledge and Implications for the Sustainable Development Agenda” by Giorgia Magni (Junior fellow, Bureau international d’éducation de l’UNESCO) Two versions: Background paper prepared for the 2016 Global Education Report European Education Jounal, 2017. Presentation by Akiva Shay Bartley, Simranjeet Kaur Dusanjh
- 10. Six Nation's Teachings on Sustainability Cam Hill Jr., Traditional Knowledge Guardian Denise McQueen, Community Navigator, IWQT
- 11. Key concepts
- 12. Who is are indigenous peoples according to international law? • UN Special Rapporteur of UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities. • “they are distinctive from the dominant society” • ”they self-identify as, a desire to be, different from that society.” • “uniquely connected to their land, which form the central element in their history, culture, economy and spirituality” • They assert that they are “first in time” – “time immemorial”.
- 14. Indigenous Knowledge At a workshop in Inuvik, Canada, by a group of Inuit people who agreed on a list of six principles • is practical common sense, based on teachings and experience passed on from generation to generation. • is ‘knowing the country’; it covers knowledge of the environment and the relationship between things. • is holistic – it cannot be compartmentalized and cannot be separated from the people who hold it. It is rooted in the spiritual health, culture and language of the people. It is a way of life. • is an authority system. It sets out the rules governing the use of resources – respect; an obligation to share. It is dynamic, cumulative and stable. It is truth. • is a way of life – wisdom is using knowledge in good ways. It is using the heart and the head together. It comes from the spirit in order to survive. • gives credibility to people • Adapted from Alan, R. Emery and Associates (1997) Guidelines for Environmental Assessments and Traditional Knowledge. A Report from the Centre for Traditional Knowledge of the World Council of Indigenous People, Ottawa, p. 3.
- 15. IK, continued IK is knowledge IK is not equal for all indigenous communities IK is not static or settled in certain period of time. IK is protected under international law • Positively – recognized as a right • Negatively – providing mechanisms for others to acquire it. It is a collective right (it belongs to the community)
- 16. Why IK matters? • The indigenous people who own and live it; • All the other people around the world who can learn lessons for living sustainably from it; and • The Earth which would be treated more carefully if indigenous knowledge and values were followed more widely. Maurice Strong’s • As we reawaken our consciousness that humankind and the rest of nature are inseparably linked, we will need to look to the world's more than 250 million indigenous peoples. (...) Indigenous peoples have evolver over many centuries of judicious balance between their needs and those of nature. The notion of sustainability, now recognized as the framework for our future development, is an integral part of most indigenous cultures.
- 17. Some key ideas • A spiritual relationship to the land - awareness of the interconnectedness of nature. • Natural remedies and medicines. • Sustainable resource management. • "Indigenous people today use the resources available without depleting them. They use their intimate knowledge of plants, soils, animals, climate, and seasons, not to exploit nature but to co-exist alongside it. “ • Indigenous knowledge of nature has ensured the survival of many people in fragile habitats. • Social Relationships: "Social cohesion has been the key to survival for many indigenous cultures. Food gathering and hunting depend on mutual support and co-operation, and disharmony within a part of the group is dangerous to the whole.“ • Learning Through Practice • Learning Across Generations
- 18. Lessons to be learnt Crisis: Climate Change • More affected • International recognition Health and medicines Sanitation Resource management • Land, Water • Community-based • Gender Based Agriculture Disaster-risk reduction
- 19. Some discussion questions: Even though Indigenous Peoples contribute little to greenhouse gas emissions, owing to their dependence upon and close relationship with the environment and its resources, they are among the first to face the direct consequences of climate change in all areas of the world. What should the international community do to mitigate this actions? Is cultural appropriation a concern? Practicability in the Western world? Compatibility with capitalist practices (surplus)? Tourism Making it happen: How do we incorporate this in the life? How IO, states and citizens, these fail to act, can do so?
- 20. Final Slide Grade your participation: For next class: Climate Change I