Indigenous Knowledge


Book Description

Indigenous Knowledge (IK) reviews cutting-edge research and links theory with practice to further our understanding of this important approach's contribution to natural resource management. It addresses IK's potential in solving issues such as coping with change, ensuring global food supply for a growing population, reversing environmental degradation and promoting sustainable practices. It is increasingly recognised that IK, which has featured centrally in resource management for millennia, should play a significant part in today's programmes that seek to increase land productivity and food security while ensuring environmental conservation. An invaluable resource for researchers and postgraduate students in environmental science and natural resources management, this book is also an informative read for development practitioners and undergraduates in agriculture, forestry, geography, anthropology and environmental studies.







Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Natural Resource Management


Book Description

Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Natural Resource Management examines how traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) is taught and practiced today among Native communities. Of special interest is the complex relationship between indigenous ecological practices and other ways of interacting with the environment, particularly regional and national programs of natural resource management. Focusing primarily on the northwest coast of North America, scholars look at the challenges and opportunities confronting the local practice of indigenous ecological knowledge in a range of communities, including the Tsimshian, the Nisga’a, the Tlingit, the Gitksan, the Kwagult, the Sto:lo, and the northern Dene in the Yukon. The experts consider how traditional knowledge is taught and learned and address the cultural importance of different subsistence practices using natural elements such as seaweed (Gitga’a), pine mushrooms (Tsimshian), and salmon (Tlingit). Several contributors discuss the extent to which national and regional programs of resource management need to include models of TEK in their planning and execution. This volume highlights the different ways of seeing and engaging with the natural world and underscores the need to acknowledge and honor the ways that indigenous peoples have done so for generations.




Conservation Research, Policy and Practice


Book Description

Discover how conservation can be made more effective through strengthening links between science research, policy and practice. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.




Indigenous-Industry Agreements, Natural Resources and the Law


Book Description

This edited collection is an interdisciplinary and international collaborative book that critically investigates the growing phenomenon of Indigenous-industry agreements – agreements that are formed between Indigenous peoples and companies involved in the extractive natural resource industry. These agreements are growing in number and relevance, but there has yet to be a systematic study of their formation and implementation. This groundbreaking collection is situated within frameworks that critically analyze and navigate relationships between Indigenous peoples and the extraction of natural resources. These relationships generate important questions in the context of Indigenous-industry agreements in diverse resource-rich countries including Australia and Canada, and regions such as Africa and Latin America. Beyond domestic legal and political contexts, the collection also interprets, navigates, and deploys international instruments such as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in order to fully comprehend the diverse expressions of Indigenous-industry agreements. Indigenous-Industry Agreements, Natural Resources and the Law presents chapters that comprehensively review agreements between Indigenous peoples and extractive companies. It situates these agreements within the broader framework of domestic and international law and politics, which define and are defined by the relationships between Indigenous peoples, extractive companies, governments, and other actors. The book presents the latest state of knowledge and insights on the subject and will be of value to researchers, academics, practitioners, Indigenous communities, policymakers, and students interested in extractive industries, public international law, Indigenous rights, contracts, natural resources law, and environmental law.




Indigenous Knowledge, Ecology, and Evolutionary Biology


Book Description

Indigenous ways of understanding and interacting with the natural world are characterized as Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), which derives from emphasizing relationships and connections among species. This book examines TEK and its strengths in relation to Western ecological knowledge and evolutionary philosophy. Pierotti takes a look at the scientific basis of this approach, focusing on different concepts of communities and connections among living entities, the importance of understanding the meaning of relatedness in both spiritual and biological creation, and a careful comparison with evolutionary ecology. The text examines the themes and principles informing this knowledge, and offers a look at the complexities of conducting research from an indigenous perspective.




Indigenous Methodologies


Book Description

Indigenous Methodologies is a groundbreaking text. Since its original publication in 2009, it has become the most trusted guide used in the study of Indigenous methodologies and has been adopted in university courses around the world. It provides a conceptual framework for implementing Indigenous methodologies and serves as a useful entry point for those wishing to learn more broadly about Indigenous research. The second edition incorporates new literature along with substantial updates, including a thorough discussion of Indigenous theory and analysis, new chapters on community partnership and capacity building, an added focus on oracy and other forms of knowledge dissemination, and a renewed call to decolonize the academy. The second edition also includes discussion questions to enhance classroom interaction with the text. In a field that continues to grow and evolve, and as universities and researchers strive to learn and apply Indigenous-informed research, this important new edition introduces readers to the principles and practices of Indigenous methodologies.




Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples in the United States


Book Description

With a long history and deep connection to the Earth’s resources, indigenous peoples have an intimate understanding and ability to observe the impacts linked to climate change. Traditional ecological knowledge and tribal experience play a key role in developing future scientific solutions for adaptation to the impacts. The book explores climate-related issues for indigenous communities in the United States, including loss of traditional knowledge, forests and ecosystems, food security and traditional foods, as well as water, Arctic sea ice loss, permafrost thaw and relocation. The book also highlights how tribal communities and programs are responding to the changing environments. Fifty authors from tribal communities, academia, government agencies and NGOs contributed to the book. Previously published in Climatic Change, Volume 120, Issue 3, 2013.




Indigenous Peoples, Customary Law and Human Rights – Why Living Law Matters


Book Description

This highly original work demonstrates the fundamental role of customary law for the realization of Indigenous peoples’ human rights and for sound national and international legal governance. The book reviews the legal status of customary law and its relationship with positive and natural law from the time of Plato up to the present. It examines its growing recognition in constitutional and international law and its dependence on and at times strained relationship with human rights law. The author analyzes the role of customary law in tribal, national and international governance of Indigenous peoples’ lands, resources and cultural heritage. He explores the challenges and opportunities for its recognition by courts and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, including issues of proof of law and conflicts between customary practices and human rights. He throws light on the richness inherent in legal diversity and key principles of customary law and their influence in legal practice and on emerging notions of intercultural equity and justice. He concludes that Indigenous peoples’ rights to their customary legal regimes and states’ obligations to respect and recognize customary law, in order to secure their human rights, are principles of international customary law, and as such binding on all states. At a time when the self-determination, land, resources and cultural heritage of Indigenous peoples are increasingly under threat, this accessible book presents the key issues for both legal and non-legal scholars, practitioners, students of human rights and environmental justice, and Indigenous peoples themselves.