In this post Andrea Belgrano discusses his highlights of the Research Article ‘Indigenous food harvesting as social-ecological monitoring: A case study with the Gitga’at First Nation’ by Kim-Ly Thomson, Cameron Hill, Natalie Ban, Chris Picard & Jaime Ojeda, which he handled as Associate Editor.

In Thompson et. al.’s article ‘Indigenous food harvesting as social-ecological monitoring: A case study with the Gitga’at First Nation‘ – out today, readers are transported into the fascinating world of Indigenous peoples and the way their perception of ecological and cultural systems have contributed over millennia to the establishment of an Indigenous Knowledge System to provide sustainability, resilience and spiritual guidance.

Thompson et al. 2020 is a fascinating contribution that provides pathways for a broader dialogue with communities engaged in the understanding and use of local cultural knowledge as a process for understanding the complex relationships between people and nature and their livelihoods, and to discover together ways for promoting sustainability actions. The discussion includes the IPBES Nature’s Contributions to People (NCP) concept of ‘maintenance of options’ and the Gitga’at people’s concept of cultural continuity ‘gugwilx’ya’ansk’. These concepts provide interesting and novel views on how human and non-human entities, and Indigenous Knowledge Systems need to be connected and considered together for a transdisciplinary approach that will inform policies towards sustainability and cultural continuity for future generations.