Indigenous Knowledge for Climate Change Assessment and Adaptation

Douglas Nakashima is Chief of the Small Islands and Indigenous Knowledge section at United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), France. He created the global programme on Local and Indigenous Knowledge Systems (LINKS) in 2002 that addresses the role of indigenous knowledge in environmental management, including climate change, and reinforces its intergenerational transmission. Dr Nakashima has been working within the field of indigenous knowledge for over thirty years, with research focusing on Inuit and Cree First Nations in Arctic and Subarctic Canada. He recently led UNESCO’s work with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to highlight the importance of indigenous knowledge for climate change assessment and adaptation in the Fifth Assessment Report. Igor Krupnik is the Curator for Arctic Ethnology at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. Trained as a cultural anthropologist and ecologist, Dr Krupnik has worked in polar indigenous communities, primarily in Alaska and the Bering Strait region. His area of expertise lies in modern cultures, indigenous ecological knowledge, and the impact of modern climate change on human life in the North. In 2012 he was awarded a medal from the International Arctic Science Committee for his work in building bridges among social and natural scientists and polar indigenous people. Jennifer T. Rubis is the coordinator for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) Climate Frontlines project, focusing on indigenous knowledge in relation to climate change. She is also a native Dayak from Sarawak in Borneo, and is descended from a line of Jagoi shamans and priestesses. She is a strong advocate of community organising and the inclusion of indigenous perspectives in decision making. For over ten years she has worked on forest and environmental issues within United Nations agencies and in civil society organisations at the international, national and community level.