Indigenous science has a lot to contribute to ecology

Martin Nuñez is a Senior Editor for Journal of Applied Ecology. He is also a Professor at Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Argentina, as well as a researcher at CONICET (National Scientific and Technical Research Council), Argentina. Martin’s research interests include biological invasions, conservation, mycorrhizal ecology and forestry. In this blog post, he shares his experience at the 2024 Turtle Island Indigenous Science Conference.

I am just back from my trip to the Turtle Island Indigenous Science Conference in Canada. This is one of the few indigenous science/knowledge meetings and is the first one that I have ever attended. Cleary, this was not your average scientific meeting and is one where science is defined as a way of learning about the natural world, and perhaps, does not follow the more standard definition that all textbooks have of the “scientific method” (if such a thing exists).

I have a very rudimentary understanding of American indigenous beliefs and their science, which is especially sad since I discovered recently that part of my family was also indigenous (Guaraní). Anyway, this is a very complex topic since there are many different groups and beliefs around the Americas, and the world. But clearly, some of the ideas that I heard over and over in this meeting can be appealing to many ecologists. Below, I talk about four main aspects of indigenous science (i.e., ways of understanding and learning about nature) that I consider specially thought-provoking and interesting for ecologists.

The campus of the first Nations University of Canada is where the meeting was inaugurated © Martin Nuñez

Interdependence of all living organism (Wahkohtowin in Cree)

Something that became evident to me is the clear idea of interdependence of species in many native American cultures. As I see “western” ecological science is heavily influenced by the “competition” ideas. From the seminal work of Darwin on selection to McArthur’s work on bird competition, ecology was heavily based on the ideas that organisms compete or fight each other.

Clearly this is not always wrong, but we also see a lot of cooperation in nature and interdependence. I can only wonder where ecological theory would be if, instead of basing our ideas on competition, we would have based them on interdependence.

Worshipping nature

One of the ideas that at first made me a bit uncomfortable with indigenous science is the intrinsic spiritual side of it. Indigenous people seem to worship nature and have a high level of mutual respect with all living species. Interestingly, this is something that many ecologists actually do.

Many of us worship nature, we have a deep respect for nature that goes well beyond the value based on the rarity of a species in a DNA based phylogeny. Many of us field ecologists have deep emotional experience encountering wildlife or rare flowers or fungi. I am also not an expert on religion but I believe that this indigenous view of the world, of interdependence and mutual respect likely resonates with many people, especially ecologists. In the indigenous North American perspective there seems to be less of a hierarchy of living things, and all occupy a similar position (Note: worship here is not us as a synonym of adoration for a deity, but as adoration for something at your same level).

Taking care of nature for future generations

A core principle of conservation biology is to protect nature for future generations (for them to experience it or to find new uses, for example). This goes really well with the idea of indigenous people that earth was loaned to us and that it does not belong to us. Or, as Chief Seatle said, “We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.” I am sure that this cosmovision can contribute to ecology.

The meeting had many talks from very prestigious indigenous scholars. All were thought provoking and inspiring © Martin Nuñez

A while ago, when discussing with colleagues the issue of putting a monetary value on nature, it became clear that under some scenarios it was economically sound to overharvest a species to extinction to make the most profit. Clearly, something that I hope no one wants, but from an economic perspective this is a scenario and an approach that has been (sadly) widely used. These ideas would be unthinkable in many indigenous cultures, and I believe that should be unthinkable in all cultures. So, for me, this idea is something really easy to accept and follow.

Humans belong in nature

One conflict of modern ecology is humans. Do humans belong in nature? National Parks are a clear example of nature protection plans that historically exclude humans or have them just as observers. From an indigenous perspective humans are a key part of nature, but as I said before their role is not to destroy it, but to preserve it (or use it in moderation) so that future generations can also enjoy and thrive in it.

Many conservation programs have failed when trying to exclude humans from nature (e.g., moving people out of areas where some key species was found), and now for many conservationists a key for success is trying to incorporate local people into conservation. On this aspect, the indigenous view is much more effective than the historical western approach of separating humans from nature (consider the word “pristine”).

Great locations for an indigenous science meeting, like this site where a fundamental treaty between the indigenous groups and the European government was signed (the Qu’Appelle Treaty). Several talks were inside this modern tipi © Martin Nuñez

Concluding thoughts

These are just four examples on how indigenous science and cultures relate to modern ecology. Indigenous science is cored on values. Values to respect nature, to see all living organisms as equals. I think that the work of many ecologists may feel a lot closer to this cosmovision than the one provided by western cosmovision. I do not want to over-romanticize indigenous cultures; around the world there are multiple examples of extinctions driven by native people. Nonetheless, there is a lot to learn from their cosmovision and ways of learning about nature.

No one studied to be an ecologist to become wealthy or to see their H-factor go up. So, these indigenous science ideas are perhaps more similar to what motivated our younger self to devote our life to ecology, conservation and management of natural lands.

In Journal of Applied Ecology, we aim to share science that informs the management of the natural environment, and indigenous knowledge and indigenous people plays a huge global role in this. Not only from their very important perspective, but also because they are the inhabitants of large extensions of land. Indigenous science is clearly a very important topic that has been historically neglected in Ecology, and how we see the world shapes our way of studying it (think “paradigm”). I am still processing these ideas of indigenous science, but what is very clear to me, is that we can learn a lot from it and could make our science better.

You can learn more about the Turtle Island Indigenous Science Conference here.