Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Incorporate Indigenous perspectives for impactful research and effective management

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 2, pages 1680–1683 (2018)Cite this article

Subjects

Indigenous knowledge and ecological science have complementary differences that can be fruitfully combined to better understand the past and predict the future of social-ecological systems. Cooperation among scientific and Indigenous perspectives can improve conservation and resource management policies.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

Fig. 1

References

  1. United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (United Nations General Assembly, 2008).

  2. Berkes, F. & Berkes, M. K. Futures 41, 6–12 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Salomon, A. K., Tanape, N. M. & Huntington, H. P. Ecol. Appl. 17, 1752–1770 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Cullen‐Unsworth, L. C., Hill, R., Butler, J. R. & Wallace, M. Geogr. J. 178, 351–365 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Berkes, F. & Turner, N. Hum. Ecol. 34, 479–494 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Turner, N. J. & Berkes, F. Hum. Ecol. 34, 495–513 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Berkes, F. Sacred Ecology 4th edn (Routledge, New York, 2018).

  8. Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future: Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Ottawa, 2015).

  9. Rudd, K. Apology to Australia's Indigenous Peoples (Government of Australia, Canberra, 2008); https://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/our-country/our-people/apology-to-australias-indigenous-peoples

  10. Albert, T. in Fifty More Years Below Zero: Tributes and Meditations for the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory’s First Half Century at Barrow, Alaska (ed. Norton, D. W.) 265–278 (Univ. Alaska Press, Fairbanks, and Arctic Institute of North America, Calgary, 2001).

  11. Poe, M. R., Norman, K. C. & Levin, P. S. Conserv. Lett. 7, 166–175 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Alexander, C. et al. Bioscience 61, 477–484 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Housty, W. et al. Ecol. Soc. 19, 70 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Kimmerer, R. W. AIBS Bull. 52, 432–438 (2002).

    Google Scholar 

  15. Gauvreau, A. M., Lepofsky, D., Rutherford, M. & Reid, M. Ecol. Soc. 22, 10 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Aswani, S. & Hamilton, R. Environ. Conserv. 31, 69–83 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Adams, M. et al. Ecol. Soc. 19, 5 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Frid, A., McGreer, M., Haggarty, D. R., Beaumont, J. & Gregr, E. J. Glob. Ecol. Conserv. 8, 170–182 (2016).

    Google Scholar 

  19. Traditional Knowledge (WIPO, 2018); http://www.wipo.int/tk/en/tk

  20. Gilchrist, G., Mallory, M. & Merkel, F. Ecol. Soc. 10, 20 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Donovan, D. & Puri, R. Ecol. Soc. 9, 3 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Negotiating Research Relationships with Inuit Communities: A Guide for Researchers (Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), Ottawa, and Nunavut Research Institute (NRI), Iqaluit, 2006).

  23. The ISE Code of Ethics (International Society of Ethnobiology, 2018); http://www.ethnobiology.net/what-we-do/core-programs/ise-ethics-program/code-of-ethics/

  24. Ban, N. C., Eckert, L., McGreer, M. & Frid, A. Ecosyst. Health Sustain. 3, 1379887 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Trosper, R. L. Resilience, Reciprocity and Ecological Economics: Northwest Coast Sustainability (Routledge, London, New York, 2009).

  26. Frid, A., McGreer, M. & Stevenson, A. Glob. Ecol. Conserv. 6, 48–57 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Natalie C. Ban, Alejandro Frid.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

    Natalie C. Ban & Alejandro Frid

  2. Central Coast Indigenous Resource Alliance, Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada

    Alejandro Frid

  3. Heiltsuk Integrated Resource Management Department, Heiltsuk First Nation, Bella Bella, British Columbia, Canada

    Mike Reid

  4. Kitasoo/Xai’xais Integrated Resource Authority, Kitasoo/Xai’xais First Nation, Klemtu, British Columbia, Canada

    Barry Edgar

  5. Wuikinuxv Resource Stewardship, Wuikinuxv Nation, Wuikinuxv, British Columbia, Canada

    Danielle Shaw

  6. Nuxalk Stewardship Office, Nuxalk Nation, Bella Coola, British Columbia, Canada

    Peter Siwallace

Authors
  1. Natalie C. Ban
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Alejandro Frid
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Mike Reid
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Barry Edgar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Danielle Shaw
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Peter Siwallace
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

Our contributions to this piece come from three perspectives: an academic who partners with Indigenous peoples in her research (N.C.B.), an ecologist who conducts and facilitates research collaboratively with an organization of four Indigenous peoples (A.F.), and resource managers and Indigenous knowledge-holders from the Heiltsuk, Kitasoo/Xai’xais, Wuikinuxv and Nuxalk First Nations of British Columbia, Canada (M.R., B.E., D.S. and P.S., respectively). N.C.B. and A.F. drafted the paper (equal contribution). M.R., B.E., D.S. and P.S. guided the appropriate representation of Indigenous perspectives and edited the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Natalie C. Ban.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ban, N.C., Frid, A., Reid, M. et al. Incorporate Indigenous perspectives for impactful research and effective management. Nat Ecol Evol 2, 1680–1683 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0706-0

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0706-0

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing