Fifteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

Indigenous peoples have survived millennia by having an intimate connection with their local ecosystems, commonly based on epistemologies grounded in reciprocity and interconnection between humans, non-humans and other-than-human beings. Mycorrhizal Networks (MNs) research – the intricate interaction between trees and plants in the forest, via symbiotic relationships with fungi - has allowed for new understandings of forest ecosystems, showing that plants and trees communicate and behave in ways that engender forest diversity, community, health, productivity, adaptability, and resilience. Mycorrhizal fungi have the capacity to connect the roots of individual plants of the same or different species, therefore enabling the formation MNs, otherwise known as the Wood Wide Web. This phenomenon notably challenges and revolutionizes the current theories of competition as the main driver for evolution, suggesting cooperation as the main factor in plant and fungi survival. This scientific understanding, which is becoming ever more suggestive of sentience in forests, resonates with Indigenous wisdom and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK). Founded on different philosophical teachings and employing differing methods, TEK and Western Scientific Knowledge can represent parallel complementary knowledge systems. These cultural traditions have equal authority and validity informing our understanding of ecosystems and how to behave within them. My research explores if forest ecosystems provide a place of convergence between TEK and Western Science. My approach is to take this exploration as an invitation to ponder and reach out to Indigenous communities to engage in conversations about this new ecological paradigm.