How Indigenous knowledge could help tackle climate change

New US research hub wants to use the traditional ways of Native peoples to address environmental problems

Illustration of scientists, researchers and scenes of ocean, forest
CBIKS seeks to blend Indigenous knowledge of the environment with Western scientific methods
(Image credit: Illustrated / Getty Images)

The US National Science Foundation (NSF) is funding a research hub dedicated to integrating Indigenous people's knowledge into scientific research.

The move comes amid ongoing discussions over the effects of "colonialism in science" and "a reckoning that researchers must do more to engage with native peoples when seeking their expertise in everything from flora and fauna to medicines, weather and climate", said Nature.

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 Sorcha Bradley is a writer at The Week and a regular on “The Week Unwrapped” podcast. She worked at The Week magazine for a year and a half before taking up her current role with the digital team, where she mostly covers UK current affairs and politics. Before joining The Week, Sorcha worked at slow-news start-up Tortoise Media. She has also written for Sky News, The Sunday Times, the London Evening Standard and Grazia magazine, among other publications. She has a master’s in newspaper journalism from City, University of London, where she specialised in political journalism.