Explicit Planning for Converging Indigenous Knowledge and Western Scientific Knowledge on Water: A Western Science and Engineering Perspective

Climate change will impact nearly every human in the coming decades-from the Athabaskan salmon fisherman in Alaska to the Incan farmer in the Peruvian Andes to the villager in the Indus valley. This rather slow but potentially catastrophic process manifests itself in a complex set of geophysical and biochemical phenomena, which are amplified in the Arctic. The warming associated with it is melting glaciers and thawing permafrost, causing a release of entombed microorganisms, ancient carbon, nutrients, and metals. This human predicament thus strongly influences the quality of water-a central element that touches us all. Western scientific knowledge (WSK) has a lot to offer to aid in the prevention and adaptation to climate change and associated water challenges. However, WSK cannot meet all of the dire needs of the climate crisis. Indigenous knowledge (IK), on the other hand, is deeply rooted in the environment and can serve as a powerful resource through its holistic worldview, embracing the complexity of relationships and great depth in time. Here, primarily for the benefit of non-Indigenous academic researchers unfamiliar with convergence research, we present these ideas as a contribution to the continuing conversation about respectful and equitable partnerships involving IK and WSK to address urgent and complex problems, such as climate change. The framework presented herein shows points of contacts for knowledge convergence, with example questions relevant to water quality research. Such a convergence framework can serve as a catalyst to be further improved through input from the Indigenous Peoples and will facilitate a fast-track path to converging IK and WSK.