Sophisticated and detailed knowledge of the biophysical environment is not confined to science. Societies from all regions of the world have developed rich sets of experience, understanding and explanation relating to the natural world. Often dismissed by scientists as irrational and insignificant, these ‘other systems of knowledge’ in fact provide much of the world’s population, including the most impoverished and marginalized, with the principal means by which they fulfil their basic needs. Furthermore, these traditional knowledge systems, rooted in other cultures, are expressions of other ways of living in the world, other relationships between society and nature, and other approaches to the acquisition and construction of knowledge. As such, they harbour knowledge as yet unknown to science and potential options for sustainable livelihoods that are of benefit to all humankind. This thematic meeting was organized to consider these traditional or local systems of knowledge and their interrelationships with mainstream science and society. << Other Events

Thematic session (.pdf)
Press Release: Weakening of traditional knowledge must be reversed

PROGRAM OF THE THEMATIC SESSION II.12
SCIENCE AND OTHER SYSTEMS OF KNOWLEDGE

Chair: B.V. Subbarayappa President, IUHPS, India
Session co-ordinator: Douglas Nakashima Programme Specialist, Coastal Areas and Small Islands, UNESCO, France

Speakers:

What relationship between scientific and traditional systems of knowledge? Some introductory remarks
Douglas Nakashima Programme Specialist, Unit on Coastal Areas and Small Islands, UNESCO, France

Systems of knowledge: dialogue, relationships and process
Kenneth Ruddle Graduate School of Policy Studies, Kwansei Gakuin University, Japan

Indigenous knowledge and conservation policy: aboriginal fire management of protected areas
Marcia Langton Centre for Indigenous Natural and Cultural Resource Management,
Northern Territory University, Australia

Les savoirs agricoles traditionnels dans la production vivière en Afrique subsaharienne
Lazare Séhouéto Institut Kilimandjaro, Bénin

Improving health care by coupling indigenous and modern medical knowledge: the scientific bases of Highland Maya herbal medicine in Chiapas, Mexico
Brent Berlin Department of Anthropology University of Georgia, USA and El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, Mexico

Educating today’s youth in indigenous ecological knowledge: new paths for traditional ways
Robbie Mathew Eeyou (Cree Indian) Elder of Chisasibi Nation, Quebec, Canada

Thematic meeting report
Douglas Nakashima Programme Specialist, Unit on Coastal Areas and Small Islands, UNESCO, France

Official website | Overview

The results of the Conference (paragraphs relevant to traditional knowledge) are embodied in two principal documents:
Declaration on Science and the Use of Scientific Knowledge | Science Agenda-Framework for Action

Harnessing science to society
Paris, UNESCO 2002
Download the report to the first 30 months of follow-up