Vol 2 No 1, 2026 Research Article
Assistant Professor, Department of English, P S D College, Deogaon, Balangir, Odisha.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21659/iw/v2n1/v2n117
[Article History: Received: 17 June 2026. Accepted: 20 October 2026. Published: 28 October 2026]
Abstract
Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) are millennia-old collections of wisdom, practices, and beliefs, created by local and indigenous communities as a response to the surrounding environments. With the world community working towards meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the year 2030, the importance of indigenous knowledge as a source of invaluable information about environmental management, food security, health, and community resilience is increasing. This essay explores the overlap between Indigenous Knowledge Systems and the 17 SDGs and posits that the key to real success in sustainable development may lie in the effective incorporation of indigenous epistemologies into development discourse. The study, which is based on a structured integrative review of peer-reviewed literature, international policy documents, and case studies in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Pacific, examines the role of IKS in conserving biodiversity (SDG 15), as well as climate action (SDG 13), zero hunger (SDG 2), good health and well-being (SDG 3), clean water and sanitation (SDG 6), and the overall goal of reduced inequalities (SDG 10). The article also interrogates the institutional constraints that privilege indigenous knowledge, such as colonial pasts, intellectual property systems, and epistemic hierarchies embedded in scientific institutions. It suggests a comprehensive framework, the Indigenous-SDG Nexus Model, grounded on four pillars of Recognition, Reciprocity, Representation and Regeneration, that makes indigenous communities’ co-architects of sustainable development, instead of passive receivers of externally imposed interventions. These results highlight the importance of decolonising development discourse, the implementation of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) procedures, and the development of transdisciplinary research relationships that view indigenous and scientific knowledge as complementary and not rival systems.
Keywords: Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Sustainable Development Goals, traditional ecological knowledge, decolonizing development, FPIC
