ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a review of the emergence of traditional ecological knowledge in the international scene since the 1980s, and the evolution of thinking for alternatives. It deals with the complementary relationship of indigenous knowledge with three interdisciplinary fields: environmental ethics, commons, and environmental history. The chapter explores some indigenous meanings of traditional knowledge, the cultural significance of traditional ecological knowledge for indigenous peoples themselves, and how the subject has necessarily become politically significant. Indigenous people have begun to assert control over their knowledge as intellectual property, sometimes related to cultural revitalization movements. The chapter also explores the reasons why it is important for indigenous peoples to control the research conducted on their knowledge, and a number of ways in which their voices have been heard. Indigenous control of indigenous knowledge has been used for humankind in a number of areas: biological and ecological insights, resource management, environmental monitoring, international development, disaster management, bio cultural restoration, and environmental ethics.
