Indigenous & Local Knowledge Systems
Indigenous and local knowledge systems offer valuable insights and practices that can complement and enhance scientific approaches to mitigating climate change and building resilient communities.
Traditional knowledge can significantly contribute to solving climate change. AlexAnna Salmon, president of the Igiugig Village Council and a descendant of the Yup’ik and Aleut, speaks to attendees at Penn State’s Research to Action conference.
Learning from the Past
Rooted in centuries of living in harmony with the land, Indigenous communities possess a deep understanding of local ecosystems, weather patterns, and natural resources. This knowledge provides invaluable insights into climate change’s impacts and potential solutions.
Indigenous people have observed and documented environmental changes over time, offering unique perspectives that can inform effective mitigation and adaptation strategies. Additionally, sustainable Indigenous resource management practices, such as traditional agriculture and fishing methods, can be adapted to address the challenges of climate change, ensuring the long-term viability of ecosystems and communities.
By incorporating indigenous knowledge into climate change research and policy, we can develop more effective and equitable solutions to climate change.
“Scientists and humanists alike must work with Inuit and other Indigenous climate researchers to coproduce climate knowledge. But knowledge is not a commodity; climate research must be in service to people and to ecosystems.”
Indigenous & Local Knowledge Systems Climate Solutions Accelerator Projects
Co-Design Climate Resilient Community Health and Climate Justice in Harrisburg, Pa.
Designing the Future of Recovery: Catalyzing Conversations on Community-Centric Resilient Housing Solutions in Rural Appalachia
Furthering Indigenous-Led, Nature-based solutions through Rights and Onsets in the Global South
Integrated CO2 Mineralization and Critical Mineral Recovery for Sustainable Urban and Transportation Systems
Augmenting Climate Transition across the Atlantic Transect: Extension-driven Solutions to Implementing Socially Responsible, High-Integrity Forest Carbon Offsets
Biomaterials and Nature-Based Solutions: Achieving a Sustainable, Decarbonized, and Climate-Resilient Built Environment
Building Capacity for Subnational Climate Action
Carbon Management: Capture, Transport, and Geological Storage
Scaling One Health Approach through Multistakeholder Engagement in Arthropod Adaptations to Ecosystem Plasticity Associated with Climate Change
Research Program for Assisted Subnational Climate Planning
Climate-Driven Pluvial Flooding: Impacts on Environmental Non-Migrants in Central Pennsylvania
Developing and Evaluating Climate Solutions Educational Strategies through Leave No Trace
Developing Transformative Youth-Centered Research Agendas & Intergenerational Collaborations to Foster Climate Justice Solutions
Implementing State-Level Climate Change Policy and Management for Water Resources
The Penn State – Belizean Foundation for Research and Environmental Education Consortium Workshop
Penn State Mineral Dust and GeoHealth Workshop
Protecting Indigenous Lands and Promoting Ethical Conservation Practices Through Design of a Sustainable Environmental Monitoring Network
Resilience and Equity in Addressing Climate Health
Impact
Professor’s documentary explores environmental effects on Inuit community
A Penn State anthropologist and filmmaker, Kirk French, explores a century of change in Inukjuak, an Inuit village in northern Quebec, in a film revisiting the 1922 classic Nanook of the North and highlighting the community’s challenges and resilience.
New project to support, learn from Indigenous communities facing climate change
Natural disasters due to climate change have impacted over 2 billion people since the year 2000, with those in Arctic and Pacific communities disproportionally affected.