Tag archives for traditional knowledge
Posted by Kua o ka ‘La ——— the syllables roll off the tongue as only the Hawaiian language can, like the white crested waves rolling up the black sand volcanic beaches. Literally it means “back of the sun”. This unique event occurred within the sound of the surf where the school depends on the sun! This environmental…
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This photo essay offers a glimpse of the challenges that climate change presents for indigenous and local communities in northern Europe. An Arctic people of northern Finland whose livelihoods depend largely on their environment, the Skolt Sámi are searching for ways to remain resilient in the face of climate change. _____________________________________________________________________________ The land around Rautujärvi…
Posted by By Kirsty Galloway McLean Widespread heatwaves. Spiking temperatures. Uncontrollable wildfires. Unforeseen floods. Oppressive droughts. These kinds of extreme events are becoming the norm and, according to a growing body of scientific literature, are obvious signs of ongoing climate change. This literature includes the “State of the Climate in 2011” report released by the United States’ National…
By Kirsty Galloway McLean For indigenous peoples, resilience is rooted in traditional knowledge, as their capacity to adapt to environmental change is based first and foremost on in-depth understanding of the land. As climate change increasingly impacts indigenous landscapes, communities are responding and adapting in unique ways. In a recent statement to the Conference of…
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The International Society of Ethnobiology (ISE) made news at the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development this summer. Introduced to almost 700 governments, businesses, civil society groups, and universities was the “Montpellier Statement,” delivered by Helene Mandrous, the Mayor of Montpellier, France. The statement was developed at ISE’s 13th Biannual Congress held earlier this…
Deforestation, especially of tropical forests, makes up 18 percent of annual global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions — more emissions than the entire global transportation sector. The 2007 Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) emphasized that reducing deforestation would be the most significant and immediate way to begin reducing global levels of…
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An indigenous caravan is bringing to the Rio+20 conference the philosophy of “buen vivir” – “living well” in harmony with nature – as a solution to the world’s environmental and economic crises. Indigenous leaders from all over South America are making their way by foot, canoe and eventually on buses to be part of…
A Gathering of Wayfinders of the Pacific
Posted by Elizabeth Lindsey of National Geographic Fellows Program in Explorers Journal on June 17, 2012 
National Geographic’s 2012 Explorers’ Symposium ended yesterday. It was a mind-bending, week-long exploration fest. Yet, despite the most daring and innovative presentations illustrating the technology and development of the metropolitan world (and there were many), I couldn’t help but reflect on the brilliance of native cultures from the world’s most remote regions. Consider this: before…
The planet is in peril, 3,000 scientists and other experts concluded at the recent Planet Under Pressure conference in London. Climate change, overuse of nitrogen and loss of biodiversity are just three of the perils threatening to make much of our home uninhabitable. World leaders will meet in Rio de Janeiro June 20-22 to address…
Climate change is the result of not behaving in the right way, according to the isolated Trio, an indigenous people living in Suriname’s Amazon forest near its border with Brazil. “They see climate change as big problem. They say their forests are changing, deteriorating,” said Gwendolyn Smith, a project director for the non-profit organization Amazon Conservation…
Many indigenous peoples are living examples of societies thriving with sustainable, low-carbon lifestyles. Successfully meeting the global climate change challenge requires that much of the world shift from high carbon-living to low. This shift is daunting. Current emissions for Australia and the United States average about 20 tonnes of carbon dioxide per person. In…
“REDD is the new beast in the forest,” said Patrick Anderson of the Forest Peoples Programme in Indonesia here at Climate Change Mitigation with Local Communities and Indigenous peoples workshop in Cairns, Australia. Deforestation gobbles up an area the size of Greece (13 million hectares) every year. As if that loss wasn’t bad enough, it…
Forests can not only suck climate-heating carbon out of the atmosphere, they are also an important source of food for many Indigenous peoples. “Western food is making our people sick. Our bodies are adapted to eating bush foods,” said Seith Fourmile of the Gimuy-Walubarra Yidinji Nation of Cairns. Australia’s Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander peoples…
“Planning is not part of our culture. You just get up in the morning and do what you need to do for the day,” said Marilyn Wallace of the Kuku Nyungka ‘mob’ (aboriginal nation) in northern Queensland, Australia. “Bama,” people caring for their local territory, is an important part of aboriginal culture and identity,…
We have the knowledge that can contribute to finding solutions to the crisis of climate change. But if you’re not prepared to listen, how can we communicate this to you? — Marcos Terena, Xané leader, Brazil. The precipitous rise in the world’s human population and humankind’s ever-increasing dependence on fossil fuel-based ways of living have…
Carving my Dreams into a Gourd: Mother Earth & Climate Change
Posted by Conversations With the Earth on September 21, 2011 Irma Luz Poma Canchumani (Quechua) is a traditional gourd-carver whose work is featured in the exhibition Conversations with the Earth : Indigenous Voices on Climate Change at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (Washington, DC) from July 22, 2011 through January 2, 2012. Mrs. Canchumani also participates in the exhibition as a video producer.…
Posted by Hear the views of three young people with the perspective of indigenous nations — their hopes and aspirations to make a contribution to a world changing by a warming climate and the consequent economic development of the northernmost part of the planet.
In this video interview, Martin Lougheed, of the Inuit Quajisarvingat Knowledge Center, Ottawa, Canada, makes the case for blending Inuit traditional knowledge with Western science to help understand and find solutions to sweeping changes in the Arctic.
In this video interview at the Seventh International Congress of Arctic Social Sciences (ICASS VII), held recently in Iceland, Sven Haakanson, executive director of the Alutiiq Museum, talks about how 7,500 years of history, language, and arts are being “repatriated” to Kodiak’s indigenous people.
In this video interview at the Seventh International Congress of Arctic Social Sciences (ICASS VII), held recently in Iceland, Alona Yefimenko explains her role as representative of the Indigenous Peoples’ Secretariat of the Arctic Council, and how Arctic indigenous peoples are participating in international forums to talk about not only their issues of concern, but also their language, culture, health, and traditional knowledge.
