Environmental education and indigenous knowledge: Towards the connection of local wisdom with international agendas in the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

ABSTRACT

This article delivers the results of an ethnographic educational research project carried out in an indigenous community in Veracruz State, Mexico, in which cultural practices were identified that produce Indigenous Knowledge aligned with the sustainability paradigm, and therefore with the SDGs. Empirical findings are shown regarding knowledge and values incorporated into the local world view that support behavior that promotes respect between people and protection toward the environment. I also present evidence of knowledge of the ecological dynamics of the ecosystems in which they live and work among the community’s inhabitants. I argue for the importance of perpetuating these cultural practices and for the incorporation of Indigenous Knowledge in the implementation of educational interventions to meet the SDGs in indigenous settings.

Acknowledgments

To Guillermo Antonio de Jesús for the invaluable support during the fieldwork and to Rob O’Donoghue for the comments and suggestions to the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología [Beca Nacional para Estudios de Posgrado].