Social Sustainability
Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)
The cumulative ecological knowledge of Indigenous peoples and local communities — an evidence system in its own right for conservation and climate adaptation.
Definition
Traditional ecological knowledge is the cumulative body of knowledge, practice and belief about the relationships of living beings with one another and their environment, evolved by adaptive processes and handed down through generations by cultural transmission (Berkes' standard definition). Embedded in Indigenous and local communities' management of fire, water, soils, species and seasons, TEK has demonstrably sustained biodiversity in community-managed territories — lands Indigenous peoples manage contain much of the world's remaining biodiversity.
Overview
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