negotiation. In recent decades, environmentalists and NewAge spiritualists have been on steep learning curves inrelation to totemic sensibilities in indigenous com-munities; but, equally, indigenous peoples have been keento discover what the West’s disenchanted have to offer intheir struggle against neo-colonial domination.

When Lévi-Strauss penned Le Totémisme Aujourd’huihis intention was to dissolve the phenomenon into some-thing different and far broader. While his intention hasbeen supported by examination of the fuller content oftotemic systems, the core problematic relationshipsbetween “nature” and “culture” (animality and humanity,“primitive thought” and “modern thought”) haveremained ideologically to the fore. Indeed, the Britishanthropologist Roy Willis recently observed that, thanksto the ongoing twinning of primitivism and ecologicalconcern, the period after Le Totémisme Aujourd’hui hasbeen marked by a kind of “totemic revival” (1990: 5). TheChippewa situation described above can be taken as symp-tomatic of this neo-totemic environment in which the con-trast between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples hasbecome synonymous with the opposition between humannature (“the soul”) and its corruption by technocraticrationality. But Lévi-Strauss’s words still strike a note ofcaution; totemic emblems have never been restricted tonatural species, any more than they have been exclusivelyreligious in the conventional sense. We live in a worlddense with personal and corporate emblems, only some ofwhich resonate with the juxtaposition of religion andnature.

John Morton

Further ReadingEstés, Clarissa Pinkola. Women Who Run with the Wolves:

Contacting the Power of the Wild Woman. London:Rider, 1992.

House, Freeman. Totem Salmon. Boston: Beacon Press,1999.

Knudtson, Peter and David Suzuki. Wisdom of the Elders.London: Allen and Unwin, 1992.

Lévi-Strauss, Claude. Le Totémisme Aujourd’hui. Paris:Presses Universitaires de France, 1962.

Long, James. Voyages and Travels of an Indian Interpreterand Trader, Describing the Manners and Customs of theNorth American Indians. Toronto: Coles, 1791.

Stanner, W.E.H. White Man Got No Dreaming: Essays1938–1973. Canberra: ANU Press, 1979.

Willis, Roy, ed. Signifying Animals: Human Meaning inthe Natural World. London: Routledge, 1990.

Willis, Roy. Man and Beast. St. Albans: Paladin, 1975.See also: Anthropology as a Source of Nature Religion;Ecology and Religion; Estés, Clarissa Pinkola; IndigenousReligions and Cultural Borrowing; Religious Environ-mentalist Paradigm; Totemic Practices in Borgu (WestAfrica).

Traditional Ecological Knowledge

The theme of traditional ecological knowledge is import-ant for the consideration of a broad range of questionsrelated to nature–human relations. Different groups ofpeople in various parts of the world perceive and interactwith nature differently, and have different traditions ofenvironmental knowledge. Their perceptions and know-ledge are in part shaped by their values, worldviews, andenvironmental ethics – religion in the broader sense. In theexploration of environmental ethics and religion towardan ecologically sustainable society, indigenous peoplesand traditional ecological knowledge have attracted con-siderable attention from both scholars and popular move-ments. Traditional ecological knowledge may be definedas “a cumulative body of knowledge, practice and belief,evolving by adaptive processes and handed down throughgenerations by cultural transmission, about the relation-ship of living beings (including humans) with one anotherand with their environment.” As a knowledge-practice-belief complex, traditional ecological knowledge includesthe worldview or religious traditions of a society. It is bothcumulative and dynamic, building on experience andadapting to change, as societies constantly redefine whatis considered “traditional.” It is an attribute of societieswith historical continuity in making a living in a particu-lar place.

Many discussions of traditional ecological knowledgeand indigenous knowledge focus on North AmericanIndian peoples. However, there are traditions of ecologicalknowledge in various indigenous societies in SouthAmerica, Australia, and parts of Africa and Asia. Cultur-ally transmitted, cumulative, multigenerational know-ledge is held also by some groups that have Europeanbackgrounds, such as Newfoundland fishers and SwissAlpine people.

TEK in Our Common FutureTribal and indigenous peoples’ . . . lifestyles canoffer modern societies many lessons in the man-agement of resources in complex forest, mountainand dryland ecosystems . . . These communitiesare the repositories of vast accumulations of trad-itional knowledge and experience that linkhumanity with its ancient origins. Their disap-pearance is a loss for the larger society, whichcould learn a great deal from their traditionalskills in sustainably managing very complex eco-logical systems (Our Common Future 1987: 12,114–15).

Fikret Berkes

1646 Traditional Ecological Knowledge

Traditional ecological knowledge may be considered asa sub-set of indigenous knowledge, defined as local know-ledge held by indigenous peoples or local knowledgeunique to a given culture or society. There is controversyover the term, traditional. Some scholars consider that theterm implies backwardness, and instead favor “indige-nous” or “local.” Others point out that many indigenouspeoples themselves see “tradition” in a positive light. Theydo not take it to mean inflexible adherence to the past butrather to mean time-tested and wise.

These considerations make it difficult to generalizeabout traditional ecological knowledge. But in any case,one cannot generalize about “the Amerindian (or African)view of nature.” Every cultural group has within it a rangeof environmental values and ethics, and a range of prac-tices. Environmental relations of a group are not uniform;they are shaped by the day-to-day contingencies, as wellas their worldview and ethics. Environmental ethics do notdescribe how people actually behave, but indicate howthey ought to behave. Human–nature relations tend to beambivalent; there often is a discrepancy between beliefand practice.

Origins of Traditional Ecological Knowledge and itsDevelopment as a FieldThe intellectual roots of traditional ecological knowledgeare in ethnoscience (mainly ethnobotany) and humanecology. The field started with the documentation of listsof species used by different indigenous groups, and elabo-rated a science of folk taxonomies of plants and animals,and later, of other environmental features such as soils.Early ethnobotany goes back at least to Barrows’ 1900work on Coahuila Indians of southern California whomade a living in a seemingly barren desert environmentby harvesting no less than 60 kinds of edible plants and 28kinds of medicinal plants. The science of folk taxonomiesis often associated with the name of Harold Conklin whodocumented in the 1950s the extensive plant knowledgeand classification systems of traditional groups such as theHanunoo of the Philippines.

There is a technical literature on various kinds ofindigenous environmental knowledge. For example, tradi-tional agricultural practice is a major field of indigenousknowledge; others include traditional medicine and archi-tecture. Much of the indigenous knowledge literatureis not about ecological relationships but about other kindsof ethnoscience, including agriculture, ethnobiology,ethnopharmacology, ethnoveterinary medicine, andethnopedology (soils). Some of these areas, for example,traditional practices of water conservation and erosioncontrol, are directly related to ecological knowledge, butothers (e.g., ethnoastronomy) are less so.

The shift of emphasis from the documentation of spe-cies used by indigenous groups and their taxonomy, to aconsideration of functional relationships and mechan-

isms, gave rise to the field of traditional ecologicalknowledge. The field borrows from the cultural ecologytradition of the anthropologist Julian Steward whoemphasized the study of adaptive processes, and arguedthat social organization itself may be considered an eco-logical adaptation of a group to its local environment. Thisemphasis on adaptive processes in human–nature rela-tions may be seen in some of the key volumes on tradi-tional ecological knowledge. As defined in this literature,traditional ecological literature overlaps with culturalecology, ecological anthropology or anthropological ecol-ogy but is not a sub-set of these fields because it often goesbeyond the discipline of anthropology.

The rapid development of traditional ecological know-ledge as a field in its own right started with the documen-tation of a tremendously rich body of environmentalknowledge, not just of species but also their ecologicalrelations, among a diversity of groups outside the main-stream Western world. These included studies of shiftingcultivation and biodiversity conservation in tropical eco-systems, and traditional knowledge and management sys-tems in coastal fisheries and lagoons, semi-arid areas, andthe Arctic. These studies showed that a variety of tradi-tional peoples, in diverse geographical areas from theArctic to the Amazon, had their own understandings ofecological relationships and distinct traditions of resourcemanagement.

By the mid-1980s, the rapidly growing literature ontraditional ecological knowledge led to a recognition inthe international arena of its potential applications to con-temporary resource and environmental problems. Thisrecognition is reflected in Our Common Future, the 1987report of the World Commission on Environment andDevelopment. The report pointed out that indigenouspeoples hold a wealth of knowledge based on thousands ofyears of experience, and that their practices can offermodern societies lessons in the management of resourcesin complex forest, mountain and arid land ecosystems.

Traditional Ecological Knowledge and ScienceEven though the importance of traditional ecologicalknowledge is recognized in the international arena and thenumber of publications has grown rapidly since the 1980s,the relationship between Western science and traditionalknowledge has remained controversial. There are bothsimilarities and differences between traditional scienceand Western science. Both kinds of knowledge are ulti-mately based on observations of the environment, and bothresult from the same intellectual process of creating orderout of disorder. But they are different in a number of sub-stantive ways. Traditional ecological knowledge is oftenan integral part of a culture, and tends to have a largesocial context. Different kinds of traditional knowledgehave their own rules, but they are different from scienceregarding rules of evidence and repeatability.

Traditional Ecological Knowledge 1647

Some of the conflict between science and traditionalknowledge is related to claims of authority over know-ledge. In the modernist tradition, Western science is seenas having a monopoly on truth. Hence, knowledge andinsights that originate outside institutionalized Westernscience are not easily accepted. Scientists tend to dismissunderstandings that do not fit their own (and this oftenincludes understandings of other scientists using differentparadigms). Scientists tend to be skeptical, demandingevidence when confronted with traditional knowledgethat may not easily lend itself to scientific verification.

Some traditional knowledge may include elements,such as the religious dimensions of the environment,which do not make sense to science. For example, many ofthe Dene (Athapascan) peoples of the North Americansubarctic consider that some non-living parts of theenvironment (including rivers and mountains), as well asall living beings, have spirit. Science has no tools for thestudy of the spiritual dimensions of the environment, butnevertheless such beliefs are important for understandingDene traditional ecological knowledge.

For their own part, traditional knowledge holders areskeptical of book learning, and tend to dismiss scientistswho do not have extensive first-hand knowledge of aspecific land area. As well, they are often baffled by thepreoccupation of scientists to measure and quantify every-thing. Power relations become an issue when Westernexperts and Aboriginal experts have different politicalagendas. Traditional ecological knowledge has frequentlybeen used to assert indigenous land and resource rightsand to fight government-imposed development projectson native land. In turn, science may be used to justify thevery same projects.

Hence the issue is complex, even if one agrees withpostmodern philosophers of science that Western scientificmethodology is merely one way, and not the only way, toacquire knowledge. However, it is the one that happens tobe the dominant knowledge system by far, and the oneused as the basis of environmental decision-making bycentralized bureaucracies throughout the world.

Significance of Traditional Ecological KnowledgeTraditional knowledge and Western science need not bethought of as opposites. Rather, it may be useful toemphasize the potential complementarities of the two, andto look for points of agreement rather than disagreement.The use of traditional knowledge contributes to con-ceptual pluralism, and expands the range of approachesand information needed to solve environmental problems.

The explosion of interest in traditional ecologicalknowledge since the 1980s is in part related to its practicalsignificance. However, the interests of different parties arequite different. For many indigenous groups, the broadersocial and cultural aspects of traditional knowledge arevery significant, and this is one of the reasons why dealing

with traditional ecological knowledge has become politi-cally volatile. In many indigenous areas, researchers nolonger have a free hand to conduct their work independ-ently from the people themselves.

Politically organized groups of indigenous peoples arebeginning to assert control over their knowledge systemsfor at least two reasons. First, some indigenous groupshave seen their knowledge and biological resources (forexample, medicinal plants) turned by others into profit-making commodities. Thus, they have started to ask thequestion of who benefits from the recording of their know-ledge, and to investigate how they themselves can controltheir knowledge and products.

Second, indigenous knowledge has become a symbolfor many groups to regain control over their culturalinformation. Reclaiming their indigenous knowledge hasbecome a major strategy in many parts of the world formovements of cultural revitalization. For example, manyof the Aboriginal groups in Alaska and Northern Canadahave been carrying out their own traditional knowledgestudies as part of an effort to strengthen their culture, edu-cate their young people, prepare land and resource claims,and assert their rights. Such revitalization is not merely acultural exercise; it is about empowerment and politicalcontrol.

The need for indigenous groups to control their know-ledge has to be balanced against the importance of tradi-tional ecological knowledge as the common heritage ofhumankind. There are tangible and practical reasons whytraditional ecological knowledge is important for the restof the world’s people. I have identified seven areas inwhich traditional ecological knowledge is significant.First, it is a source of biological knowledge and ecologicalinsights. Second, indigenous knowledge is important forthe sustainability of difficult-to-manage ecosystems suchas tropical forests. Third, it is important for community-based conservation by connecting human values withconservation values. Fourth, some traditional systems areof special interest for biodiversity conservation becausethey are based on multiple-use principles that distributeresource-use pressures in space and time. Fifth, in-depthlocal environmental knowledge and trends over time for agiven site are important for environmental assessment.Sixth, traditional knowledge is essential for development,especially for “bottom-up” (as opposed to top-down)development planning with people.

Finally, traditional ecological wisdom is a source ofinspiration for environmental ethics. Belief systems ofmany indigenous groups incorporate the idea that humansare part of the natural environment, and their relationshipwith nature may be characterized as peaceful co-existence. Callicott points out that some traditional ecol-ogy sees humans and nature in a symbiotic relationship,with mutual obligations leading to “respect,” a central ideain the relations of many Amerindian groups with nature.

1648 Traditional Ecological Knowledge

These observations are significant. The explosion of inter-est in traditional ecological knowledge in recent yearsreflects in part the need to derive ecological insights fromindigenous practice, and the need to develop a newecological ethic based in part on indigenous wisdom.

Fikret Berkes

Further ReadingBerkes, Fikret. Sacred Ecology: Traditional Ecological

Knowledge and Resource Management. Philadelphia:Taylor & Francis, 1999.

Callicott, J.Baird. Earth’s Insights. A Multicultural Surveyof Ecological Ethics from the Mediterranean Basin tothe Australian Outback. Berkeley: University ofCalifornia Press, 1994.

Ford, Jesse and Dennis Martinez, eds. “Traditional Eco-logical Knowledge, Ecosystem Science and Environ-mental Management.” (Special issue) EcologicalApplications 10:5 (2000).

Posey, Darrell A. and Graham Dutfield. Beyond IntellectualProperty: Towards Traditional Resource Rights forIndigenous Peoples and Local Communities. Ottawa:International Development Research Centre, 1996.

Posey, Darrell A. and William L. Balee, eds. Resource Man-agement in Amazonia: Indigenous and Folk Strategies.New York: New York Botanical Gardens, 1989.

Warren, D. Michael, Jan Slikkerveer and David Brokensha,eds. The Cultural Dimension of Development:Indigenous Knowledge Systems. London: IntermediateTechnology Publications, 1995.

Williams, Nancy M. and Graham Baines, eds. TraditionalEcological Knowledge: Wisdom for Sustainable Devel-opment. Canberra: Centre for Resource and Environ-mental Studies, Australian National University, 1993.

See also: American Indians as “First Ecologists”; Domesti-cation; Ecological Anthropology; Ecology and Religion;Environmental Ethics; Ethnobotany; Ethnoecology; Evo-lutionary Biology, Religion, and Stewardship; Harris,Marvin; Indigenous Environmental Network; NativeAmerican Languages (North America); Rappaport, Roy A.(“Skip”); Religious Environmentalist Paradigm; A Religio-Ecological Perspective on Religion and Nature; TraditionalEcological Knowledge among Aboriginal Peoples in Can-ada; Water Spirits and Indigenous Ecological Management(South Africa); Yunnan Region (Southwest China andMontane Mainland Southeast Asia).

Traditional Ecological Knowledge amongAboriginal Peoples in Canada

Each contracting Party shall, as far as possible andas appropriate: Subject to national legislation,respect, preserve and maintain knowledge, innov-

ations and practices of indigenous and local com-munities embodying traditional lifestyles relevantfor the conservation and sustainable use of biologicaldiversity and promote their wider application withthe approval and involvement of the holders of suchknowledge, innovations and practices and encour-age the equitable sharing of the benefits arisingfrom the utilization of such knowledge innovationsand practices (from www.biodiv.org – the Conven-tion on Biological Diversity’s website).

For generations, indigenous peoples in what is nowknown as Canada have been using their own knowledgesystems to live sustainably with the land. Indigenousknowledge systems are unique systems of generating, stor-ing and transmitting knowledge completely separate andindependent from Western science and Western epis-temologies. Rooted in relations with the spirit-world,indigenous knowledge continues to provide Aboriginalpeoples with unique worldviews, languages that are con-structed to reflect those worldviews, systems of govern-ance, values, and processes and ways of knowing andinteracting with the land. Aboriginal philosophies andvalues reflect worldviews that are based on inter-relationships and interdependency with the natural worldand all other elements of the cosmos. Traditional teach-ings, stories, songs, dances and ceremonies reinforce theimportance of relationships and process in the lives ofindividuals, communities and nations. Indigenous know-ledge is dynamic and creative and, although it varies fromnation to nation, has certain common elements andthemes. Indigenous knowledge is at once ancient and con-temporary knowledge, recording through the oral trad-ition the collective knowledge of a people in addition todocumenting the impacts of colonization, colonialism andenvironmental destruction. Experts in indigenous know-ledge are not academics or researchers who study TEK, butthey are the Elders and knowledge-holders who not onlyhold the knowledge, but who have lived the knowledgeand the teachings over the course of their lives. It is theseexperts who are best equipped to provide leadershiparound this topic, and it is these experts that need to beincluded in an effective way in discussions regarding themany potential applications of Traditional EcologicalKnowledge (TEK).

During the initial stages of colonization, Europeanswere dependent upon indigenous peoples and their know-ledge for their survival. The colonizers relied upon tech-nology in the areas of transportation, hunting, fishing,food gathering, nutrition, healthcare and navigation. Theyrelied upon Aboriginal peoples for their most basic needsand in turn had great respect for indigenous knowledge.However, as the settler economy developed and the infra-structure needed to support the colonizers way of life wasrealized, they no longer relied on Aboriginal peoples and

Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Canada 1649