Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Difference between revisions

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(Created page with "<blockquote> In the Great Lakes region, a number of Anishinabeg communities have undertaken restorative programs for traditional ecological knowledge and the recovery of control over land on which people live.<br> On the White Earth reservation in northern Minnesota, the White Earth Land Recovery Project seeks to recover control over more than one-third of all reservation lands in the next two decades. At least that much is held by government agencies, including 21,000...")
 
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something that North Americans (including environmentalists) have yet to attain-and linking sustainable practice and governance over territory.
something that North Americans (including environmentalists) have yet to attain-and linking sustainable practice and governance over territory.
There will not be the former without the latter. Native peoples must be accorded the proprietary interest in those lands that sustain their communities; that is the only way that sustainability will be insured. However, this point remains a divisive one in terms of the North American environmental movement.<Ref>www.uky.edu/~rsand1/china2017/library/NOTES/LaDuke - Traditional Ecological Knowledge - Notes.pdf</Ref></Blockquote>
There will not be the former without the latter. Native peoples must be accorded the proprietary interest in those lands that sustain their communities; that is the only way that sustainability will be insured. However, this point remains a divisive one in terms of the North American environmental movement.<Ref>www.uky.edu/~rsand1/china2017/library/NOTES/LaDuke - Traditional Ecological Knowledge - Notes.pdf</Ref></Blockquote>
= Sources =

Revision as of 01:08, 5 February 2023

In the Great Lakes region, a number of Anishinabeg communities have undertaken restorative programs for traditional ecological knowledge

and the recovery of control over land on which people live.

On the White Earth reservation in northern Minnesota, the White Earth Land Recovery Project seeks to recover control over more than one-third of all reservation lands in the next two decades. At least that much is held by government agencies, including 21,000 acres designated as a National Wildlife Refuge, which the people seek to have returned. The White Earth people will seek to restore traditional resource management schemes to those parcels they recover. To the south of White Earth, the Mille Lacs Band of Anishinabeg is litigating against the State of Minnesota, seeking to secure harvesting access to lands within the 1847 treaty boundary that were unceded by the band. These traditional people have been restricted to only 4,000 acres of land, of which only 1,500 are secure for harvesting. The remainder is greatly diminished in wealth by environmental degradation and the encroachment of non-Indian settlers and tourist industries. The Mille Lacs Commissioner of Natural Resources, Don Wedll, documented the subsistence requirements for the band members' future to establish the amount of territory required by band members to ensure their sustenance. This approach underscores their political strategy, which, in turn, is based on cultural values and long-term self-sufficiency brought about by careful stewardship.

In northern Wisconsin, similar approaches to securing adequate food, clothing, shelter, and sustenance are forwarded by Anishinabeg bands within the 1847 treaty area. For example, a comanagement plan drafted by native activists Walt Bresette (Anishinaabe) and James Yellowbank (Winnebago) speaks to proposals for indigenous values and the common sense of rural communities trying to survive.

Similarly, the Wabigon Lake Wild Rice Management Program has been advanced by the Anishinabeg of southern Ontario. While Canadian government legislation has demarked wild rice harvesting zones in the area according to resource management districts, the Wabigon Lake people have noted that their traditional territory extends into two districts and that the Canadian government management proposals are not based on traditional resource management practices of the Anishinabeg. The Wabigon Lake Anishinabeg have responded with their own demarcation and regulation program, including provisions for traditional (canoe) harvesting followed by mechanical (airboat) harvesting. Their organically certified wild rice (by the Organic Crop Improvement Association) is marketed internationally, returning substantial revenues to their community and illustrating the potential of using traditional economies and value systems as the foundation for community control of economy and destiny. They have also developed Wabuskang Wildfruits, which hopes to continue marketing 10,000 jars of organically certified blueberry spread annually.

Other examples in the region abound, but perhaps none is so striking as the Menominee Forest Enterprises in northern Wisconsin. This reservation contains the most age and species diversified stands in the region and retains the same amount of timber today as a century ago, all due to indigenous forestry management practices paired with careful harvesting techniques. The Menominee forest is the only "green cross certified" forest in North America.

These examples illustrate the application of traditional ecological knowledge within the cultural areas of those peoples from whom the knowledge originates. Sustainable practice with continuous harvest is critical for the environmental movement to recognize; it is a practice in which humans are a part of the land and of ecosystems. Equally important is applying this knowledge within the cultural fabric of cohesive societies- something that North Americans (including environmentalists) have yet to attain-and linking sustainable practice and governance over territory.

There will not be the former without the latter. Native peoples must be accorded the proprietary interest in those lands that sustain their communities; that is the only way that sustainability will be insured. However, this point remains a divisive one in terms of the North American environmental movement.[1]


Sources

  1. www.uky.edu/~rsand1/china2017/library/NOTES/LaDuke - Traditional Ecological Knowledge - Notes.pdf