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The United Nations' agencies and many scholars have regarded traditional knowledge as an alternative to science for the purposes of managing the environment. Many countries have adopted this line of approach and formulated some policy strategies. A number of scholars also have engaged in traditional knowledge research and published their works. Despite a large number of publications on traditional knowledge, there seems to be little consensus about the definition of what traditional knowledge is and how it can be useful for environmental management. This article first approaches this definition problem within a historical context in order to clarify the core issues surrounding the definition of traditional knowledge. It then discusses how traditional knowledge can be validated among parties with different interests so that traditional knowledge research and policy can be more effectively implemented in policy-making arenas.

In the wake of the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, 'traditional knowledge' became a recurring theme in global environmental governance. The emergence of traditional knowledge in a governance field marked by global science begs the following question: how is it that a particular set of intellectual activities other than science came to be perceived as a form of knowledge whose attributes are valuable for governing the global environment? This paper aims to grapple with this question by tracing the emergence of the category of traditional knowledge in global environmental governance. The main argument is that traditional knowledge came to be conceived of as a cognitive resource with utilitarian and 'glocal' properties through a series of interventions on the part of public scientists and landmark environmental reports that blurred the boundaries between science and nonscience. Building upon the concept of boundary work in Science and Technology Studies, this paper puts forth the concept of boundary blurring to analyze how aspects of science are attributed to traditional knowledge, thus attenuating the demarcation between science and other forms of knowledge. Boundary blurring works as a form of legitimation of traditional knowledge and, through the attribution of knowledge to nonscientific actors, opens up a space for these to make knowledge claims in global governance processes. Ultimately, the analysis throws light on the constitution of unconventional 'knowledge actors' in global governance, in particular indigenous peoples and local communities.

This article analyzes India's Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) as a potential intervention in the administration of patent law. The TKDL is a database including a vast body of traditional medical knowledge from India, aiming to prevent the patenting and misappropriation of that knowledge. This article contextualizes the TKDL in relation to documentation theory as well as to existing research on the uses of databases to protect traditional knowledge. It explores the TKDL's potential consequences for India's traditional medical knowledge and the wider implications that traditional knowledge databases can have for the safeguarding of traditional knowledge in general. The article concludes that on the one hand the TKDL bridges the gap between the main branches of Indian traditional medicine and the formal knowledge system of International Patent Classifications. Furthermore, it has also inspired revisions of the International Patent Classification system, which makes it better adapted to incorporate traditional medical knowledge. On the other hand, critical research on traditional knowledge documentation argues that traditional knowledge databases, like the TKDL, can decontextualize the knowledge they catalogue and dispossess its original owners. The TKDL, however, also fits into a national, Indian agenda of documenting and modernizing traditional medicine that predates the formation of the TKDL by several decades and challenges the dichotomy between traditional and scientific knowledge systems that originally motivated the formation of the TKDL. ; Funding: European Research Council (ERC) under the European UnionEuropean Research Council (ERC) [741095-PASSIMERC-2016-AdG] ; Passim: Patents as Scientific Information 1895-2020

The Lower Mackenzie sits within the jurisdiction of the Government of the Northwest Territories. The watershed is recognized internationally as an important area of ecological biodiversity. It is one of the largest deltas in North America and has been a focus of exploration and development for many decades. The Mackenzie Delta is home to many Inuvialuit and Gwich'in peoples who value the region and its resources according to a rich and diverse number of socio-economic, cultural, and ecological values. In addition to being an important area of subsistence, the channels of the lower Mackenzie Delta have always been important travel corridors for Indigenous peoples as well as explorers, whalers, trappers, missionaries, and those seeking to discover and extract natural gas resources. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans and later the Gwich'in Renewable Resources Parlee, B.P. 2 Board, Inuvialuit Fisheries Joint Management Committee, Gwich'in Social and Cultural Institute as well as anthropologists, such as Milton Freeman, have documented many details about the aquatic ecosystem and its value to Inuvialuit and Gwich'in peoples. There is a greater number of documented and available sources of traditional knowledge associated with Gwich'in communities in comparison to those detailing Inuvialuit knowledge.

The Peace River Watershed is home to many Aboriginal peoples of the Treaty 8 region who have lived in the area since time immemorial. The Peace River and its tributaries have always been an important travel corridor for First Nations, Metis, and other settlers and was a foundation for subsistence fishing for many generations. The watershed has undergone significant change in recent decades as a result of resource development, including hydro-electric (e.g., WAC Bennett Dam), forestry, and petroleum industries. Although there is some documentation of the combined social and ecological changes, much local and traditional knowledge has not been documented. This report was developed for the Tracking Change… project with the aim of synthesizing existing documented local and traditional knowledge about social and ecological change in the Peace River Watershed. The identification, synthesis, and reporting on Traditional Knowledge for this region is complex, owning to the large number of Aboriginal groups who have documented historical and contemporary land and resource use and interest in the region, the absence of documented Traditional Knowledge research conducted, as well as the socio-economic and political inequities and tensions that exist between regional and provincial governments and many Aboriginal communities.

The international debate about traditional knowledge and approaches in the Asia-Pacific region Christoph Antons -- How are the different views of traditional knowledge linked by international law and global governance? Christopher Arup -- Protection of traditional knowledge by geographical indications Michael Blakeney -- An analysis of WIPO's latest proposal and the Model Law 2002 of the Pacific Community for the Protection of Traditional Cultural Expressions Silke von Lewinski -- The role of customary law and practice in the protection of traditional knowledge related to biological diversity Brendan Tobin -- Can modern law safeguard archaic cultural expressions? : observations from a legal sociology perspective Christoph Beat Graber -- Branding identity and copyrighting culture : orientations towards the customary in traditional knowledge discourse Martin Chanock -- Being indigenous' in Indonesia and the Philippines Gerard A. Persoon -- Indigenous heritage and the digital commons Eric Kansa -- Traditional cultural expression and the internet world Brian Fitzgerald and Susan Hedge -- Cultural property and "the public domain" : case studies from New Zealand and Australia Susy Frankel and Megan Richardson -- The recognition of traditional knowledge under Australian biodiscovery regimes : why bother with intellectual property rights? Natalie P. Stoianoff -- Protection of traditional knowledge in the SAARC region and India's efforts S.K. Verma -- The protection of expressions of folklore in Sri Lanka Indunil Abeyesekere -- Traditional medicine and intellectual property rights : a case study of the Indonesian jamu industry Christoph Antons and Rosy Antons-Sutanto

The question of whether or not traditional knowledge (TK) can be effectively covered under a singe umbrella is complex, consequently requiring a comprehensive assessment. In view of the government's commitment to a policy not only of protecting forms of TK but also of encouraging and protecting the commercialisation of certain forms of TK, the above question becomes even more complex.

Traditional Knowledge (TK) systems have always been integral to the survival and adaptation of human societies. Yet, they enjoy a fairly recent recognition and popularization by scientists, the media, politicians, corporates and the wider public. In this paper we present a typology of key driving forces behind the popularization of TK held by marginal communities: an equality preference motive, a value motive, a compliance motive, a scarcity motive and a strategic motive. Secondly, through the use of a simple model, we discuss the hype's impact on marginal communities. Moreover, we critically assess the outcome of a number of policy instruments that intend, in part, to protect traditional knowledge bases of such communities. Our analysis primarily draws upon secondary literature; policy documents and case studies within economics, the social sciences, conservation biology and legal studies. We argue that whilst the public and institutional hype around TK may have resulted in its prioritization within international conventions and frameworks, its institutionalization may have adversely impacted marginalized communities, and in particular contexts, unintentionally led to the creation of 'new' marginals. We purport that the traditional innovation incentive motive does not hold for protecting TK within a private property regime. Instead we identify a conservation incentive motive and a distribution motive that justify deriving policy instruments that focus on TK to protect marginal communities.

An obligation to consider traditional knowledge (TK) in planning, resource, and land management, particularly in Sami areas, has been formalized through the Nature Diversity Act. However, current Norwegian legislation and guidelines contain few clarifications of what TK is, how to approach it, or how to appropriately include such data in assessment and planning processes. The Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research has incorporated TK about land and resource use in several impact assessments (IAs), building on a methodological approach applied for a number of review assignments for the Finnmark Commission. While the experiences from reviews for the Commission and IAs concerning Sami land and resource use may represent a step towards incorporating TK in Norwegian planning processes, the approach to documentation, methodology, and ethics in this field is open for debate. The same can be said of the formal frameworks for IA and the willingness to incorporate TK in planning programs, in general.(Published: 6 November 2015)Citation: E. Eyþo´rsson & A.E. Thuestad. ''Incorporating Traditional Knowledge in Environmental Impact Assessment – How Can It Be Done?.'' Arctic Review on Law and Politics, Vol. 6, No. 2, 2015, pp. 132–150. http://dx.doi.org/10.17585/arctic.v6.101