Utilizing Traditional Knowledge

[Patricia Cochran <anpac1@uaa.alaska.edu>]

Good morning.  My name is Patricia Cochran, and I am one of the panelists for today's discussion on States, Tribes and Local Governments. I am an Inupiat Eskimo, born and raised in Nome, Alaska and serve as the Executive Director of the Alaska Native Science Commission (ANSC).  The ANSC provides a linkage for creating partnerships and communication between science and research and Alaska Native communities.

Over the past six years, the ANSC has been working with the Environmental Protection Agency on a project documenting Alaska Native observations and knowledge of the environment.  The goal of this project is to build capacity among Alaskan communities to identify and address their concerns about environmental changes and contamination.  

Alaska Native leaders have sought to bring to the public attention concerns that Native communities have regarding contamination in their subsistence foods. In direct response to these concerns, we have begun the process of listening to and documenting Alaska Native observations about contaminants and environmental change. An important aspect of this project is to increase community ownership and trust. In order to accomplish this goal, the Traditional Knowledge and Contaminants project is using an in-depth, interactive process that includes regional meetings, education, training, outreach, documentation, and funding. 

This community-based project collects traditional knowledge about environmental changes within a social and cultural context based on information shared by recognized community experts (e.g., elders, hunters, gatherers, native scientists/resource managers). For all phases of this project, community experts are consulted to develop methods to preserve local control and promote local use of the information collected.

In contrast to typical scientific methods used for collecting testimony, this project utilized locally meaningful practices and protocols (traditional talking circles, spirituality, sharing, listening, etc.) to gather traditional knowledge about environmental concerns throughout all areas of Alaska. Regional meetings were organized with key community and regional experts in order to document local people's concerns and questions regarding environmental change.  The regional workshops enabled local experts to express their observation of environmental changes, as well as elaborate on which of these observations were of concern to them and their communities, and why.  As trained  observers of the natural world and carriers of long-term orally transmitted knowledge, community experts possess generations of knowledge about the environment that often goes untapped by natural science research methods. 

One of the direct outcomes of this project is a database, which systematically documents Alaska Native people's perceptions about the nature and source of contamination in each community (www.nativeknowledge.org).  The observations shared during the regional meetings were entered into a database that is a useful tool for Alaskan communities as well as providing a foundation and cultural context for further discussions between the Alaska Native and global community.  

Indigenous communities provide an opportunity for the rest of the world to see the earth and environment from a unique worldview - one that is based upon tradition, culture, spirituality and our role as stewards of the land.   How can others learn from the knowledge of the Indigenous community and how can this knowledge be incorporated into decision-making processes?