United Knowledge

The United Nations University is working with Charles Darwin University and support from the Christensen Fund to establish the Traditional Knowledge Institute. The effort to “promote and strengthen research on traditional knowledge” started in 2007 with explorations of indigenous people’s views on climate change, water management, biological resources, marine management, forestry and international policy-making. The in-depth summits and symposiums are complemented by practical applications such as the mapping project on Indigenous water management practices and the development of templates to recognize and validate traditional knowledge in higher education. The  program is still in its pilot stage but may become a permanent institution enable Indigenous cultures to “conserve and apply their knowledge in an increasingly globalized economy.”

Image: "General Assembly Hall, United Nations HG (New York City)" by Luke Redmond courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.