Respecting Indigenous Knowledge

I visited for the first time Australia in spring 2023. When the Qantas plane landed in Sydney, the first announcement acknowledged the First Nations peoples of Australia as the continuing custodians and traditional owners of the land. I was amazed and inspired because we had started to plan the next WGEA Assembly around the topic of indigenous knowledge. We also adopted it later as the main topic of a collaborative course with the University of Helsinki.

Indigenous knowledge is founded on centuries of wisdom, challenging what we consider as knowledge. It is often seen as opposed to scientific knowledge, but this is too simplistic. Empirical, experience-based, and tested in everyday practices, indigenous knowledge is also scientific. Such a deep understanding of the environment is expected to become increasingly important as we must adapt to a rapidly changing climate. However, utilizing indigenous knowledge includes questions of how to approach it respectfully and fairly.

Indigenous knowledge is a tough question for public authorities. For example, a Supreme Audit Institution can listen to the holders of indigenous knowledge while making their assessments. At the same time, from the historical perspective, they are part of the oppressive system. Thus, engaging with indigenous knowledge is most of all about building trust.

The main discussions of the Rovaniemi Assembly and indigenous knowledge are available here: INTOSAI WGEA Seminar Summaries 2024. At the University course, students conducted a comparative analysis between Australia and New Zealand, as well as Canada and Finland. This was pedagogically a good exercise as it helped to see the various contexts and histories of First Nations and how they affect the situation today. Students’ report is available here:  wgea-and-university-collaborative-course-2024_indigenous-knowledge.pdf