Defining and Integrating Traditional Ecological Knowledge to Create a More Sustainable Earth

Review of Melissa K. Nelson, and Dan Shilling, editors. Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Learning from Indigenous Practices for Environmental Sustainability. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 2019. Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), defined in the mid-1990s as knowledge and practices passed on from generation to generation informed by strong cultural memories, sensitivity to change, and values that include reciprocity (Kimmerer 2000), has gone from being seen by ecologists and managers as an intriguing alternative approach for implementing applied ecology to today being widely recognized as an essential component of effective ecosystem management. In Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Learning from Indigenous Practices for Environmental Sustainability, editors Melissa K. Nelson and Dan Shilling have convened an impressive cadre of interdisciplinary scientists to hone the definition of TEK and examine its application in ecology and society today. The book was inspired and informed by a three-day seminar at the Amerind Museum in Dragoon, Arizona, held in 2013 and sponsored by Arizona State University's Global Institute of Sustainability. Participants engaged in a deep exploration of TEK and what it means in today's world, given the rapid pace of global change and the challenges to natural resources conservation and human well-being this creates. Quite simply, the resulting book is the best existing text available today on TEK. Until now, the TEK literature was the work of mostly non-Indigenous scholars. Insightful studies, peer-reviewed literature, and books by ecologist Fikret Berkes and ethnobotanist Nancy Turner, both of whom long have worked at the interface of natural and social science, have done much to define TEK and explore its application within adaptive management. Such scholars have mentored Indigenous scientists. However, until now, despite the many Indigenous ecologists and social scientists working on TEK-informed research, their voices have not been as present as they could be in the TEK literature. Such Indigenous voices are essential in order to bring authenticity to and deepen this field. In Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Learning from Indigenous Practices for Environmental Sustainability, editors Melissa K. Nelson (Anishinaabe, Metis) professor of Indigenous Studies at San Francisco State University and president of the Cultural Conservancy, an Indigenous rights organization, and Dan Shilling, former project director for Arizona State University's Humanities Council, have assembled and created a sounding board for a vibrant group of mostly Indigenous scientists. The editors have organized the book in four parts. Part I, “Introduction to key concepts and questions,” features chapters by well-known, often-cited seminal Indigenous authors, Gregory Cajete (Tewa) and ethnobotanist Robin Wall Kimmerer (Anishinaabe). This section focuses on the role of TEK in today's world and why a linear Western-science approach to this topic is not so effective. Dan Shilling and Kyle Whyte (Potowami) provide chapters that contextualize TEK. Each chapter throughout the book contains a robust “Works cited” section for those who wish to delve more deeply. Part II, “Bedrock, toward a kincentric ethic,” provides the philosophical underpinnings of TEK. Jeanette Armstrong (Syilx Okanagan) examines how TEK is informed by an environmental ethic that institutionalizes the practice of respect with regard to natural resources and subsistence. She explains that this social, moral imperative to conserve resources and care for the Earth is “the fundamental meaning of being Indigenous.” (p. 106) Part III, “Extended web: land care practices and plant and animal relationships,” gets to the core of the topic of TEK's application in today's world, with a chapter by Dennis Martinez (O'odham, Chicano) on the economics component of TEK, which he illustrates effectively with case studies, a chapter by Priscilla Setee (Cree) on food sovereignty in Canada, and another by eminent author Linda Hogan (Chickasaw) on TEK and human relationships with animals. Part IV, “The global and legal implications of Indigenous sustainability,” provides a call to action, informed by policy and law, with a case study from the Māori, in New Zealand by Rachel Wolframm (Ngai Takoto, Te Aupouri, Whakatōhea, Tongo) that illustrates how by using the concept of “home” from a cultural perspective that includes resistance, resilience, and innovation, TEK can be applied within a legal/land-tenure framework to improve ecological sustainability. The concept of kincentrism lies at the heart of TEK. Martinez defines it as “… an ancient way of being with nature, not only with plants and animals, but with the primal, natural forces of fire, water, wind, and the earth.” (p. 140) As such, kincentrism, which refers to Indigenous perceptions of the human–nature relationship, gives ecological sustainability a different meaning than the Western ecological command-and-control concepts that have been used to inform sustained-yield natural resources adaptive management. Moreover, Martinez and the other authors of this volume argue that finding solutions to sustainability problems cannot be done using the same economic/ecological model that created the problems (e.g., afforestation, rising atmospheric carbon) we are dealing with today. Why is TEK so relevant in today's world? Consider that Indigenous people have land-tenure rights to or manage one quarter of the earth's land surface: 38 million km2 of land in 87 countries or regions that are politically distinct. This represents 40% of all the protected natural areas on Earth (Garnett et al. 2018). This lucidly illustrates why incorporating Indigenous perspectives on ecology and land management is essential to create resilient ecosystems and for their effective management. Given the above, Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Learning from Indigenous Practices for Environmental Sustainability provides an outstanding ecological foundation for ecologists and their students as well as natural resources managers who seek to gain a more in-depth and current understanding of what TEK is, and how it can be applied to design research that will increase ecological understanding, help restore ecosystems, and contribute to solving ecological problems. Without incorporating TEK in the lands described above, ecology risks being another form of colonialism that misses the important pieces of knowledge necessary to advance science.