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ndigenous peoples have been marred for centuries
by the incredulous theft of knowledge they SHAHRUKH KHAN is a staff writer for the
obtained, and even resources they use. The thieves Harvard International Review.
are superior, more developed powers that jealously
protect the rights to knowledge that is not rightfully
theirs. They then refuse to recognize that the true that have been a result of the environments that they live
ownership of such precious information belongs to Native in. Indigenous knowledge revolves around the environ-
Peoples. Indigenous knowledge is stolen without the ment and is of a largely ecological type. It is also referred
slightest consideration to the powerful implications that to, by the World Bank, as the "traditional knowledge of
it comes equipped with. The moral repercussions behind the uses of plants" and even "ethnobotany."
such an unethical system leads to loss of Native culture These knowledge systems hold great importance to
and sustainability and a shift from using Native knowledge the culture and understandings of the people that they
and resources for social needs to profit generation. These belong to and their interactions with their environment:
problems are exacerbated by the use of Intellectual in medicine and the fight against disease, in spiritual
Property Rights (IPR), and the situation has delved to worldviews and religion, in agricultural productivity, and
the point where nations bypass indigenous consent and even in the struggle to cope with a dynamic environment.
wrongfully patent their knowledge and resources. Indigenous knowledge also plays an essential role in the
sustainable rehabilitation of rangelands, thus strengthen-
Why Indigenous Knowledge Is So Important ing the rangelands' natural capacity for resilience.
Knowledge of the natural world is not limited to sci- In recent years, indigenous knowledge has garnered
ence. Peoples spanning across the world have developed, attention as a valuable contributor to natural resource
over many years, a set of culturally rich knowledge systems conservation as well. It has a dynamic, culture-specific con-