Indigenous Knowledge Could Help Tackle Climate Change — Lessons from the Ocean
For millennia, Indigenous communities have been the stewards of oceans, coasts, and marine life. Their traditional ecological knowledge (TEK)—built from centuries of observation, cultural practices, and sustainable resource management—is now emerging as a powerful ally in the fight against climate change. Traditional knowledge plays a crucial role in preserving diverse cultures and ensuring the sustainable use and stewardship of land. When combined with modern science, this knowledge can offer innovative, effective, and culturally grounded solutions to the environmental challenges we face.
In Arctic waters, where narwhals glide beneath shifting sea ice, the value of Indigenous knowledge is particularly clear. Narwhals are unique marine mammals whose remarkable adaptations and behaviors have been studied by scientists using marine science tools. The close relationship between Indigenous peoples and the marine environment provides insights that can inform adaptation, conservation, and policy at every scale.
Braiding Indigenous and Scientific Knowledge
Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK): Rooted in local culture and history, TEK captures seasonal patterns, species behavior, and environmental changes long before they appear in scientific datasets.
Scientific Knowledge: Based on systematic measurement, experimentation, and modeling, science can validate, complement, and expand on TEK.
Braiding Knowledge Systems: Initiatives like the Center for Braiding Indigenous Knowledges and Science (CBIKS) demonstrate how ethical collaboration can integrate both approaches to create robust climate strategies.
This “braiding” ensures that solutions are not only ecologically sound but also culturally relevant—critical for long-term adoption and success.
Ocean-Focused Climate Insights from Indigenous Communities
The Inuit of Nunavut, Alaska Natives, and coastal First Nations have long monitored changes in sea ice, ocean currents, and wildlife migration. These observations reveal early warning signs of climate shifts, such as:
Narwhal migration timing changes due to earlier ice breakup (see our post on narwhal migration). Shifts in pack ice and prey availability, including key species like Arctic cod and Greenland halibut, also influence narwhal migration routes and feeding behavior.
Declines in shellfish safety caused by warming waters, documented by the Sitka Tribe of Alaska.
Shifts in fish and marine mammal distribution that affect community food security.
These environmental changes can have significant impacts on narwhal populations in the Arctic.
These localized insights can be critical for predicting and mitigating impacts on marine biodiversity—information that large-scale climate models often overlook.
Why This Collaboration Works
Hyper-Local Precision: TEK provides fine-grained, location-specific data, such as ice thickness at a specific inlet or the timing of whale arrivals.
Sustainable Practices: Many Indigenous governance systems are built on sustainability principles, ensuring resources remain healthy for future generations.
Enhanced Resilience: Merging TEK with modern climate science strengthens adaptation strategies—essential for vulnerable ecosystems like the Arctic.
Real-World Initiatives Leading the Way
CBIKS: Funded by the NSF, develops ethical methods for co-producing knowledge with Indigenous communities.
Indigenous Climate Resilience Network (ICRN): Provides resources for adaptation and mitigation strategies.
Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform (LCIPP): Integrates Indigenous perspectives into international climate policy.
Tribal projects making an ocean impact:
Sitka Tribe of Alaska: Monitors shellfish toxicity linked to warming.
Seneca Nation: Integrates climate adaptation with public health to address flooding and disease.
How This Helps Marine Life, Including the Narwhal
Narwhals (scientific name: Monodon monoceros) are considered climate sentinels—their movements and feeding patterns shift quickly in response to sea ice and temperature changes. As a unique animal among Arctic animals, the narwhal is a toothed whale known for its distinctive spiral tusk, which is actually one tooth (sometimes called a one horn). Male narwhals typically have prominent tusks, but some may have a small tusk or even two tusks, and the tusk itself is a modified tooth. This spiral tusk, or narwhal tusk, plays a role in social interactions, mating, and foraging. The narwhal's pale coloration has led to the nickname "corpse whale," and its long tusk has inspired legends of the unicorn. Narwhals are related to other Arctic whales such as beluga and belugas, and are also related to bottlenose dolphins as fellow marine mammals. They inhabit the Arctic waters of Canada, where organizations like Oceans Canada are involved in their research and conservation. Narwhals can accumulate heavy metals in their tissues, which may impact their health. Indigenous hunters, who have tracked these patterns for generations, provide nuanced insights that satellite data alone cannot.
Read more:
Moving Toward Ethical Collaboration
Partnerships must be built on trust, respect, and reciprocity. This means:
Recognizing intellectual property rights over TEK, and the importance of official recognition by governments, the government, and international bodies like the United Nations in protecting the collective rights of indigenous people, indigenous populations, and aboriginal or aboriginal people. Agencies such as Northern Affairs Canada play a key role in supporting First Nations peoples in Canada, where land tenure and land rights are crucial for Indigenous inhabitants and their descendants.
Co-developing research priorities with Indigenous communities and supporting Indigenous leaders as they identify and protect their languages, ethnicity, and cultural diversity, ensuring the survival of their lives and cultures.
Sharing results in culturally appropriate ways, and acknowledging the involvement of organizations like the World Bank in supporting Indigenous rights and sustainable development.
Indigenous peoples are found in many countries, including those in Latin America, and their populations are significant in many regions. For example, native communities in a particular place, such as the Mapuche in Chile or Aboriginal people in Australia, have asserted their rights to land tenure, demonstrating how a country's policies can affect their recognition and land tenure. These examples highlight the need to recognize and support the diversity and collective rights of Indigenous populations worldwide.
When done well, these collaborations create a powerful model for tackling climate change—one that bridges the wisdom of the past with the tools of the present to safeguard the oceans for the future.
