Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Environmental Decisionmaking

• Date: 01 April 2019

4-2019 NEWS & ANALYSIS 49 ELR 10309

DIALOGUE

Traditional Ecological Knowledge

in Environmental Decisionmaking

Summary

Traditional ecologica l knowledge (TEK) is dened

as a deep understanding of the environment devel-

oped by local communities and indigenous peoples

over generations. In the United States, Canada, and

around the world, indigenous peoples are increasingly

advocating for incorporation of TEK into a range of

environmental decisionmaking contexts, including

natural resource and wildlife management, pollution

standards, environmental and social planning, envi-

ronmental impact assessment, and adaptation to cli-

mate change. On October 31, 2018, ELI hosted an

expert panel on TEK, co-sponsored by the National

Native American Bar Association and the American

Bar Association Section of Environment, Energy, and

Resources. e panel discussed the challenges that

indigenous peoples face in defending the legitimacy

of, and intellectual property in, TEK; how policymak-

ers can modify existing laws and regulations to better

incorporate TEK; and the potential for TEK to meet

today’s most pressing environmental chal lenges. Below,

we present a transcript of the discussion, which has

been edited for style, clarity, and space considerations.

Greta Swanson (moderator) is a Visiting Attorney at the

Environmental Law Institute.

Minnie Degawa n is Director of t he Indigenous and

Traditional Peoples Program at Conservation International.

Kathy Hodgson-Smit h is an Attorney and TEK Member

of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation.

Anthony Mof a is a Visiting Associate Professor at the

University of Maine School of Law and former Sta

Attorney with the Oce of General Counsel of the U.S.

Environment al Protection Agency.

Greta Swanson: A warm welcome to our panel of

experts on the use of traditional ecological knowledge,

or TEK, in the context of both national and interna-

tional legal frameworks.

Our rst speaker will be Anthony Moa, assistant pro-

fessor at the University of Maine School of Law, who will

be addressing TEK in the context of U.S. law and regu la-

tion. He has written extensively on TEK and environmen-

ta l law.

Next, Kathy Hodgson-Smith, a Canad ian attorney who

is Métis and an expert in aboriginal rights law and tradi-

tional knowledge, and a member of the Commission for

Environmental Cooperation, will be discu ssing TEK in

Canadian and indigenous law. She will also discuss its use

in the context of the Commission, which supports coop-

eration among North American Free Trade Agreement

(NAFTA) partners to address a multitude of environmen-

tal matters.

Finally, Minnie Degawan, the Director of the Indig-

enous and Tribal Peoples Program at Conservation Inter-

national, will be considering TEK a nd climate adaptation

internationally. She has been an international leader in

indigenous rights and is an indigenous Kankanaey Igorot

from the Phi lippines.

Today, we will explore how TEK can contribute to

environmental policy and rulemaking. Before we dive

in, what is TEK? According to the renowned expert Dr.

Fikret Berkes, it is a holistic understanding of the envi-

ronment and ecosystems that encompasses knowledge,

practice, and belief acquired by people who have a close

relationship with their ecosystem a nd have pas sed it down

through generations.1

Why is there a growing interest in TEK by the “Western

world”? rough accumulated long-term detailed observa-

tions of ecosystems, TEK can provide essential informa-

1. Fikret Berkes et al., Rediscovery of Traditional Ecological Knowledge

as Adaptive Management, 10(5) E A 1251-

62 (2000), available at https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/

doi/10.1890/1051-0761%282000%29010%5B1251%3AROTEKA%5

D2.0.CO%3B2.

Copyright © 2019 Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, DC. Reprinted with permission from ELR®, http://www.eli.org, 1-800-433-5120.