Indigenous Knowledges And The Sustainable Development Agenda

This book discusses the vital importance of including indigenous knowledges in the sustainable development agenda. In the wake of colonialism and imperialism, dialogue between indigenous knowledges and Western epistemology has broken down time and again. However, in recent decades the broader indigenous struggle for rights and recognition has led to a better understanding of indigenous knowledges, and in 2015 the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) outlined the importance of indigenous engagement in contributing to the implementation of the agenda. Drawing on experiences and field work from Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe, Indigenous Knowledges and the Sustainable Development Agenda brings together authors who explore social, educational, institutional and ecological sustainability in relation to indigenous knowledges. In doing so, this book provides a comprehensive understanding of the concept of "sustainability", at both national and international levels, from a range of diverse perspectives. As the decolonizing debate gathers pace within mainstream academic discourse, this book offers an important contribution to scholars across development studies, environmental studies, education, and political ecology.

This book states that whilst academic research has long been grounded on the idea of western or scientific epistemologies, this often does not capture the uniqueness of Indigenous contexts, and particularly as it relates to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs were announced in 2015, accompanied by 17 goals and 169 targets. These goals are the means through which Agenda 2030 for sustainable development is to be pursued and realised over the next 15 years, and the contributions of Indigenous peoples are essential to achieving these goals. Indigenous peoples can be found in practically every region of the world, living on ancestral homelands in major cities, rainforests, mountain regions, desert plains, the arctic, and small Pacific Islands. Their languages, knowledges, and values are rooted in the landscapes and natural resources within their territories. However, many Indigenous peoples are now minorities within their homelands and globally, and there is a dearth of research based on Indigenous epistemologies and methodologies. Furthermore, academic research on Indigenous peoples is typically based on western lenses. Thus, the paucity of Indigenous methodologies within mainstream research discourses present challenges for implementing practical research designs and interpretations that can address epistemological distinctiveness within Indigenous communities. There is therefore the need to articulate, as well as bring to the nexus of research aimed at fostering sustainable development, a decolonising perspective in research design and practice. This is what this book wants to achieve. The contributions critically reflect on Indigenous approaches to research design and implementation, towards achieving the sustainable development goals, as well as the associated challenges and opportunities. The contributions also advanced knowledge, theory, and practice of Indigenous methodologies for sustainable development.

Indigenous peoples are responsible for most of the world's cultural and biological diversity. The primary purpose of this document is to alert the conservation and development communities to the value and importance of involving indigenous peoples in national and other strategies for sustainable development

This is the first scholarly book to examine the UN Sustainable Development Goals from an indigenous perspective and, specifically, with reference to the right to self-determination. It refers to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and domestic instruments such as New Zealand’s Tiriti o Waitangi to suggest how the goals could be revised to support self-determination as a more far-reaching and ambitious project than the goals imagine in their current form. The book primarily draws its material from Australia, Canada, and New Zealand to support analysing the goals’ policy relevance to wealthy states and the political claims that indigenous peoples make in established liberal democracies.

This report reviews the interconnected components ensuring Indigenous sustainable development and interpreting how Indigenous people consider issues of sustainable development; addresses the various processes of impoverishment of Indigenous people, which threaten their sustainable development base; focuses on the well- being of current and future generations of Indigenous people, as a major, often overlooked, concern for sustainable development; and pinpoints guiding principles for public policies and corporate behaviour which will foster sustainable society and sustainable development for Indigenous people.

With the adoption of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement, the purpose of development is being redefined in both social and environmental terms. Despite pushback from conservative forces, change is accelerating in many sectors. To drive this transformation in ways that bring about social, environmental and economic justice at a local, national, regional and global levels, new knowledge and strong cross-regional networks capable of foregrounding different realities, needs and agendas will be essential. In fact, the power of knowledge matters today in ways that humanity has probably never experienced before, placing an emphasis on the roles of research, academics and universities. In this collection, an international diverse collection of scholars from the southern African and Nordic regions critically review the SDGs in relation to their own areas of expertise, while placing the process of knowledge production in the spotlight. In Part I, the contributors provide a sober assessment of the obstacles that neo-liberal hegemony presents to substantive transformation. In Part Two, lessons learned from North–South research collaborations and academic exchanges are assessed in terms of their potential to offer real alternatives. In Part III, a set of case studies supply clear and nuanced analyses of the scale of the challenges faced in ensuring that no one is left behind. This accessible and absorbing collection will be of interest to anyone interested in North–South research networks and in the contemporary debates on the role of knowledge production. The Southern African–Nordic Centre (SANORD) is a network of higher education institutions that stretches across Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Botswana, Namibia, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Universities in the southern African and Nordic regions that are not yet members are encouraged to join.

There are fewer grounds today than in the past to deplore a North‑South divide in research and innovation. This is one of the key findings of the UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030. A large number of countries are now incorporating science, technology and innovation in their national development agenda, in order to make their economies less reliant on raw materials and more rooted in knowledge. Most research and development (R&D) is taking place in high-income countries, but innovation of some kind is now occurring across the full spectrum of income levels according to the first survey of manufacturing companies in 65 countries conducted by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and summarized in this report. For many lower-income countries, sustainable development has become an integral part of their national development plans for the next 10–20 years. Among higher-income countries, a firm commitment to sustainable development is often coupled with the desire to maintain competitiveness in global markets that are increasingly leaning towards ‘green’ technologies. The quest for clean energy and greater energy efficiency now figures among the research priorities of numerous countries. Written by more than 50 experts who are each covering the country or region from which they hail, the UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030 provides more country-level information than ever before. The trends and developments in science, technology and innovation policy and governance between 2009 and mid-2015 described here provide essential baseline information on the concerns and priorities of countries that could orient the implementation and drive the assessment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the years to come.