Indigenous knowledge: searching for a model of sustainable development for humankind

Abstract

Many people are now searching for a way to sustain development while balancing the relationships between humans, society and nature. The Commission on Indigenous Knowledge and Sustainable Development, a group within the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, has been searching for solutions to this problem in the knowledge and wisdom of indigenous people. A history of the work of this panel shows that scholars from all over the world have presented different perspectives and studies of peoples of many times and places who have found ways to sustain their lives and their environments.

Keywords:

• folk culture
• cultural heritage
• sustainability
• renewable resources
• nature