BEYOND FOREST RIGHTS: RECOGNISING TRADITIONAL ECOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE IN CLIMATE GOVERNANCE

The indigenous communities across the globe, including in India, have safeguarded their forests, water systems and biodiversity for generations. Yet the new-age environmental laws only recognise these communities by their forest rights and some general regulations applicable to them. It measurably fails to acknowledge their traditional ecological knowledge as an independent legal interest. This article traces how such knowledge about sustainable practices in agroforestry, biodiversity conservation and disaster preparedness has continued to grow through decades in different regions. It also examines how the statutory consent requirements from the indigenous community on large development projects has diminished from genuine participation to a performing formality only. Further, it reveals the unbalanced approach of courts in environmental dispute matters, rarely engaging with traditional knowledge on its own terms. As a result of which valuable ecological knowledge continues to remain vulnerable despite existing legal safeguards. The article suggests that climate governance should be backed by the knowledge of those indigenous communities who have preserved the ecosystem over time. Such an approach would definitely strengthen environmental justice and promote a more sustainable legal framework.