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Indigenous cosmologies of energy for a sustainable energy future

Nature Energy volume 8, pages 19–29 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Energy development in Indigenous lands has been historically controversial from socio–ecological and ethical perspectives. Energy-development projects often privilege the knowledge of a narrow group, while, simultaneously, Indigenous knowledge and alternative epistemologies have been understudied in academic energy-access discourses and largely ignored in the planning and implementation of energy interventions. Here university-affiliated academics teamed up with Indigenous scholars and leaders to examine Indigenous perspectives in energy research and practice. We identify three core issues embedded in existing energy-development initiatives: an inconsistent use of the term ‘Indigenous’; a lack of inclusion of Indigenous knowledge and alternative epistemologies in energy-development projects; and a prevalence of inadequate methodological attempts to include such Indigenous knowledge. To enable more symmetric and people-centric sustainable energy interventions, we propose and illustrate a ‘cosmologies of energy’ approach that focuses on learning from Indigenous oral narratives to unpack Indigenous people’s lived experiences, alternative perspectives and associated practices of energy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Antonella Mazzone, Philipp A. Trotter & Radhika Khosla

  2. Kariri Xocó Indigenous scholar, Department of Human Sciences and Technologies, State University of Bahia, Salvador, Brazil

    Denizia Kawany Fulkaxò Cruz

  3. Bwindi Mgahinga Conservation Trust, Kabale, Uganda

    Scorah Tumwebaze

  4. Traditional healer and leader of the Sápara Nation in the Ecuadorian Amazon, Pastaza, Ecuador

    Manari Ushigua

  5. Schumpeter School of Business and Economics, University of Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany

    Philipp A. Trotter

  6. Department of War Studies, King’s College London, London, UK

    Andrea Espinoza Carvajal

  7. Centre for Energy and Environmental Economics, COPPE, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Roberto Schaeffer

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Correspondence to Antonella Mazzone.

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Mazzone, A., Fulkaxò Cruz, D.K., Tumwebaze, S. et al. Indigenous cosmologies of energy for a sustainable energy future. Nat Energy 8, 19–29 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-022-01121-7

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