Traditional ecological knowledge in environmental assessment and management

It is now a policy requirement that "traditional ecological knowledge" (TEK ) be incorporated into environmental assessment and resource management in the North. However, there is little common understanding about what TEK is, and no guidance on how to implement the policy in public arenas where know ledge claims must be tested. The problems are inconsistent and unclear defi nitions of TEK, and insufficient attention to appropriate methods of organi zing and presenting it for assessment and management purposes. TEK can be c lassified as knowledge about the environment, knowledge about the use of th e environment, values about the environment, and the knowledge system itsel f. All categories are required for environmental assessment, but each must be presented and examined differently. TEK and "Western" science provide pa rtially different information, based on different sets of observations and procedures, and sometimes on different knowledge claims. It is important th at TEK be comprehensible and testable as a knowledge claim in public review s, and usable for ongoing public monitoring and co-management processes. To this end, certain procedures are recommended for recording, organizing, an d presenting TEK, with particular emphasis on the need to differentiate bet ween observation and inference or association. Documenting TEK as recommend ed usually requires trained intermediaries, but they in turn require the su pport and cooperation of those who have TEK. One consequence is that it is often both impractical and inappropriate to require development proponents to incorporate TEK into their environmental impact statements. However, the environmental assessment process must facilitate the use of TEK in the pub lic review phase.