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Traditional knowledge in international forest policy: contested meanings and divergent discourses

Newing, Helen S. (2009) Traditional knowledge in international forest policy: contested meanings and divergent discourses. Journal of Integrative Environmental Sciences, 6 (3). pp. 175-187. ISSN 1943-8168. (doi:10.1080/19438150903090491) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:26014)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19438150903090491

Abstract

‘Traditional knowledge’ gained political space in international environmental policy up until the early 1990s as a result of three areas of growing concern: environmental sustainability, indigenous peoples’ rights and the commercial potential of traditional knowledge. Prominent at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), traditional knowledge

was a key term in the emerging discourse alliance on sustainable development. This article traces the convergence and divergence of discourses on traditional

knowledge in international environment and development policy before and since UNCED, particularly in the UN forest policy process, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It demonstrates how shifting discourses are affected by shifts in power relations and priorities among the actors concerned, and examines how different institutional contexts affect the outcome of this process. Finally, it explores how a new focus in international policy on climate change offers an opportunity for the re-insertion of the interests of indigenous peoples and biodiversity conservationists into mainstream development, based on a storyline in which traditional knowledge is

once again likely to act as a key term.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1080/19438150903090491
Uncontrolled keywords: conservation; Convention on Biological Diversity; indigenous peoples; international forest policy; traditional knowledge; United Nations Forum on Forests
Subjects: G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > G Geography (General)
G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GF Human ecology. Anthropogeography
K Law > K Law (General)
S Agriculture > SD Forestry
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Anthropology and Conservation
Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Anthropology and Conservation > DICE (Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology)
Depositing User: Helen Newing
Date Deposited: 04 Nov 2010 11:19 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:04 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/26014 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Newing, Helen S..

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