Beginning with some historical issues associated with knowledge and its relationship to the food system, we engage in a discussion of traditional versus scientific knowledge, exploring how each is envisioned and their interpenetration, and arguing that both, as currently generally used, are legitimate and should be part of a dialog of knowledges (dialogo de saberes).

Indigenous peoples in Canada score far worse on indicators of well-being than the general public due to historical and ongoing processes of colonisation. It is also well recognised that Indigenous peoples are the most impacted and vulnerable populations affected by climate change. Currently proposed climate change ‘solutions’ are derived from the same Western colonial mindset which caused the crisis in the first place, so it is logical that we look for alternative approaches. Indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) have allowed Indigenous peoples to survive centuries of environmental degradation brought about by European colonisation, as well as thrive for millennia. International declarations have specifically recognised the potential of IKS to help alleviate climate and other environmental crises. Indigenous peoples must therefore be enabled to undergo decolonisation processes, so that we may all benefit from the revitalisation of Indigenous ways of relating to the Earth in mutually beneficial ways.

The author describes the transition from villlage life in the remote outer island of Moce to urban life in Suva, the capital city of Fiji. By passing on the traditions of Indigenous navigation and canoe-building, his family and community members ensure the perpetuation of traditional knowledge among Fiji's younger generations.

As an Indigenous herder and President of the Association of Traditional Herders of the Sahel, the author describes the difficulties experienced by herders due to the series of severe droughts that they have endured in recent decades due to climatic change. Having suffered huge losses of animals, some have drastically changed their way of life, becoming increasingly nomadic, migrating far beyond traditional teritories or taking up agriculture to help feed their herds.

Community-based research can produce many outcomes: from the documentation of knowledge to the connection of different types of knowledge to the true co-production of knowledge. In this chapter, we describe our experiences with two projects that lie along this spectrum. The Bering Sea Project documented local and traditional knowledge about the region’s ecosystem, leading to papers that presented that knowledge, connected it to other ways of understanding the human role in the ecosystem and developed a new understanding of the ways in which ecosystem conditions affect hunting success. The Bidarki Project started as an ecological study of a keystone intertidal grazer and developed into a co-production effort exploring history and culture to explain today’s patterns in intertidal abundance. In both cases, the path towards co-production started with personal relationships and continued by taking advantage of opportunities that arose during the course of each project. Not all community-based projects will result in co-production of knowledge nor is that outcome the only measure of success, but all will benefit from the essential foundations of true collaboration which are mutual respect and intellectual equality.

Marketing language revitalization involves developing ideas aimed at increasing the economic value of an endangered language. This can be achieved by promoting the role of traditional knowledge and local languages in shaping sustainable relationships with the natural environment, as traditional Indigenous models of managing natural resources are known to indirectly support biological diversity and balanced economic activities. The linguistic-cultural revitalization programs run by the Sámi people in Norway and Finland are an example. The economic potential of linguistic-cultural heritage can also be oriented toward tourism, emphasizing uniqueness and authenticity, the history, culture and natural environment of less explored places and their inhabitants. This can generate income to support revitalization activities and improve economic wellbeing; the challenge, however, is to link tourist experiences to genuine language revitalization and marketing efforts, without reducing them to symbolic or folkloric dimensions. Revitalization initiatives in Wymysiöeryś are expected to create permanent jobs and lasting forms of social and community engagement.

In Chapter 7 on trade-related aspects of traditional knowledge protection, Oluwatobiloba Moody looks at the proliferation of provisions related to traditional knowledge and genetic resources in trade agreements. He questions whether trade agreements are the correct instrument to protect traditional knowledge particularly from biopiracy and other abuses. Although he argues that trade agreements could play an important role in addressing key aspects of traditional knowledge protection, he suggests that such protection should not occur in a vacuum. These provisions should rather complement and/or reinforce the international commitments and/or domestic frameworks of negotiating parties. The misappropriation and commodification of traditional knowledge through trade agreements must be pursued with caution, by parties to international trade agreements and by Indigenous peoples. Protection of traditional knowledge must involve consultation with Indigenous groups to ensure that these new provisions in trade agreements do not abrogate their established rights.

Education has been characterised as ‘the golden thread that runs through all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)’. SDG4 (Quality Education) broadens the depth and breadth of ‘education’ to people of all ages, and expands its scope to a lifelong process spanning formal, non-formal and informal settings. SDG4 emphasises quality of educational access, particularly for girls and women and marginalised groups. Literature exploring ‘pro-environment’ behaviour informs our consideration of how progress towards SDG4 might impact on forests, forest ecosystem services and forest-related livelihoods. The concept of ‘pro-forest’ behaviour describes those elements of pro-environment behaviour related to forests; encouraging and enabling pro-forest behaviour is the basis of building a positive relationship between SDG4 and forests. Inclusive education that builds and reinforces positive attitudes to forests, relevant knowledge and competencies, and that helps individuals and communities feel or stay connected to forests will foster and sustain pro-forest behaviours. Progress towards SDG4 will benefit forests if education informs, encourages and enables pro-forest behaviour. This requires that education systems respect, nurture and enable Indigenous and traditional knowledge; promote forest-related Environment and Sustainability Education; strengthen forest-related professional, technical and vocational education and capacity development; and capitalise on the power of both established and new media.

This chapter considers the question of patents and genetic resources (GR), as currently being discussed in various international fora, in the light of the function of intellectual property. In particular, the chapter supports the proposal by developing countries, to require, in an international legal instrument, mandatory disclosure of the origin of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge (TK) in patent applications, with a view to realising in an effective way fair and equitable benefits sharing as required by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). This proposal has also been supported by the Vatican (Holy See) on the basis of Catholic social teaching, which this chapter discusses in condensed form. Mandatory disclosure would provide a structural mechanism to ensure that the fruits of exploitation of TK/GR benefit indigenous community, who are often poor and whose living habitats and way of life are often under threat.

In the early 2000s the Holy See submitted papers to the WIPO and the WTO, on the subject of Intellectual Property (IP) rights, genetic resources, traditional knowledge, and access to medicines. This chapter develops some concepts that are mainly implicit in those papers. Catholic Social Teaching does not address directly the subject of IP rights, but contains all the elements for a moral judgment on the present system of IP rights. The chapter develops the discussion in three parts: first, some ideas about private property and the universal destination of goods, and the right to knowledge; second, proposing a vision of IP rights in the light of the aforesaid principles about property in Catholic Social Teaching; third, examining the issue of IP rights in relation to the rights of native peoples. The essay concludes by arguing that, to ensure that patents serve the universal destination of goods and the common good, a new legal theory should be developed in this area. This would reconsider, especially, rules relating to the public availability of the invention, the right price of the licenses, possible exceptions to the patent, means of technological transfer, and the creation of alternative means of industrial knowledge protection.