Placing diverse knowledge systems at the core of transformative climate research
Abstract
We argue that solutions-based research must avoid treating climate change as a merely technical problem, recognizing instead that it is symptomatic of the history of European and North American colonialism. It must therefore be addressed by decolonizing the research process and transforming relations between scientific expertise and the knowledge systems of Indigenous Peoples and of local communities. Partnership across diverse knowledge systems can be a path to transformative change only if those systems are respected in their entirety, as indivisible cultural wholes of knowledge, practices, values, and worldviews. This argument grounds our specific recommendations for governance at the local, national, and international scales. As concrete mechanisms to guide collaboration across knowledge systems, we propose a set of instruments based on the principles of consent, intellectual and cultural autonomy, and justice. We recommend these instruments as tools to ensure that collaborations across knowledge systems embody just partnerships in support of a decolonial transformation of relations between human communities and between humanity and the more-than-human world.
Cite this
Ben Orlove, Pasang Yangjee Sherpa, Neil M. Dawson, Ibidun Adelekan, Wilfredo V. Alangui, Rosario Carmona, … Andrew J. Wilson (2023). Placing diverse knowledge systems at the core of transformative climate research. AMBIO. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-023-01857-w
@article{ben2023placing,
title = {Placing diverse knowledge systems at the core of transformative climate research},
author = {Orlove, Ben and Sherpa, Pasang Yangjee and Dawson, Neil M. and Adelekan, Ibidun and Alangui, Wilfredo V. and Carmona, Rosario and Coen, Deborah R. and Nelson, Melissa K and Reyes‐García, Victoria and Rubis, Jennifer T. and Sanago, Gideon and Wilson, Andrew J.},
year = {2023},
journal = {AMBIO},
doi = {10.1007/s13280-023-01857-w}
}Citations in this library
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