Enhancing Traditional Ecological Knowledge in indigenous youth towards the sustainable forest manag. of ancestra domains

In the age of the industrialization of many emerging economies, threats to natural resources are increasing. Indigenous communities are often caught in the middle, with their ancestral domains as the target of such intrusion. PAMULAAN Institute of the University of Southeastern Philippines holds some of the brightest minds of the current generation of indigenous youth in the Philippines. One strategy of restoring and protecting ecology and biological diversity is in reviving knowledge and practices of the indigenous peoples. This is the central purpose of the project: giving importance to traditional ecological knowledge, to learn from it and to teach it. The proposed project is for a more structural follow-up of the very successful “pilot module” on Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) that was held in 2007. The idea behind the module was to inform and influence the formation, academic development of indigenous peoples/forest-based students in the understanding and appreciation of TEK. Indigenous youth could use this new found awareness and knowledge in the defense, management and restoration of ancestral domains through various means. The idea is also to teach it in a formal college setting so that it may also gain the respect and prominence that it deserves within the academic community. The main expected result is that students are able to share and use this information and their improved capacity with their communities to negotiate and promote their interests in the conservation of forest conservation with other stakeholders.