The two-day international seminar on Indigenous Science Development: Intersecting Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Scientific Inquiry, and Socio-cultural Practices organized by St Edmund’s College Shillong in Meghalaya, in northeast India from 24 to 25 October 2025 gathered scholars, activists, community leaders, and youth from across Asia to move the understanding “beyond simplistic dichotomies and foster mutual respect, understanding, and explore the synergy between diverse knowledge systems.”
As stated in the seminar flyer, “Indigenous Peoples possess rich, dynamic, and holistic knowledge systems, often referred to as Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) or Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS). These systems, deeply interwoven with specific cultural contexts, languages, spiritual beliefs, and relationships with the environment, and representing millennia of observation, experimentation, adaptation, and innovation.”
Brother Sunil Britto, Principal of St. Edmund’s, described traditional ecological knowledge not as nostalgia but as “tomorrow’s resilience” and a rigorous, inter-generational body of wisdom binding ecology to ethics and guardianship to survival. “When a forest becomes a temple, conservation becomes worship,” he said, calling the Khasi sacred groves “cathedrals of orchids and memories.”
Social activist Medha Patkar expanded the conversation to justice and survival, warning against development that commodifies land, water, and forest. She urged universities to ground science in the lived experience of indigenous communities and to honor “natural intelligence” over mechanised progress.
Youth climate activist Ridhima Pandey shared her message with urgency and hope. “We’re handed a ticking time bomb disguised as development,” she said. “Standing up for our forests is standing up for ourselves.”
Day 2 brought a global echo as Dr Jacqui Rémond and Theressa Adler from the Australian Catholic University shared First Nations insights on country, language, and cultural knowing. Sister Elizabeth Carranza from the Philippines spoke on agro-forestry among the Igorot peoples and local voices including Tambor Lyngdoh and Mayfereen Ryntathiang deepened the dialogue. From India to Germany, 40 research papers explored indigenous epistemologies, environmental ethics, and sustainable agriculture.