Prioritizing Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge in federal decision-making: insights from faculty, graduate students, and tribal leaders

Abstract

In response to the mounting global climate crisis, the Biden administration began developing guidelines for incorporating Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge into US federal decision-making. Though Indigenous Peoples are the original caretakers and stewards of the land, colonization, breached treaties, and false narratives have affected self-determination, treaty rights, and land management. This has negative consequences on the environment, and health of all our relations. When considering the sensitivity of knowledge, information, and data about sacred cultural systems, many Indigenous communities are wary of the high potential of misrepresentation, disrespectful handling, and cooptation. These concerns only deepen with conversations about opening public access to Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge because such policies would allow for the broad sharing of data and its ongoing re-use. We assert that Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge must be incorporated respectfully, knowledge integration must benefit all Indigenous communities, and all Indigenous communities must lead in the process of incorporating Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge into federal decision-making.