Interior Department officials are working to finalize a new “implementation manual” to guide agency decision-makers on how to “apply indigenous knowledge” in their daily work.

The notion of “indigenous knowledge” highlights the fact that indigenous groups have an understanding of the natural world that others do not have, due to their ethnic origin.

The new Ministry of the Interior manual completes a chapter of the Departmental Manual added last year, entitled “Ministerial responsibilities regarding the consideration and inclusion of indigenous knowledge in ministerial actions and scientific research, 301 DM 7”.

The goal of the new agency-wide manual chapter is to “equitablely promote the inclusion of indigenous knowledge,” but this new supplemental manual presents methods for “applying” indigenous knowledge in departmental practices, such as as scientific research, environmental compliance work. , community resilience and more.

“This manual is not a step-by-step guide” a draft version of the manual states. “Instead, it includes context, approaches and ways to engage, as well as references to many existing resources where employees can learn more about a specific topic. The goal is for employees to have a knowledge base to build on to create individualized processes as each employee has a knowledge base to build on to create individualized processes. situation presents itself in a respectful, equitable and sustainable manner.

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The Department of the Interior in Washington, March 29, 2017. (AP Photo/Molly Riley)

One approach outlined in the handbook asks employees to seek out Indigenous “knowledge holders” to complement their scientific research, including ensuring sufficient project time is allocated to adequately consider Indigenous knowledge and remunerating any “knowledge holder” for their participation. The guide also implores hiring managers to consider employing these indigenous knowledge experts.

In terms of scientific research, certain laws require the consideration of scientific information, methods and practices. However, the manual highlights that in some cases these laws allow for the inclusion of indigenous knowledge.

“In these cases,” the manual asserts, “offices and boards should include (indigenous knowledge) as an aspect of the best available science when it is generally considered authoritative by the indigenous peoples who possess it.” »

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The nearly 150-page manual includes a litany of other “approaches” to applying Indigenous knowledge in agency practices, including how to create “ethical space to receive Indigenous knowledge” and information on how to protect “sensitive” indigenous knowledge of public disclosure. laws.

“President Biden came to power by loudly emphasizing scientific integrity and creating new rules meant to ensure that the government’s scientific conclusions are never “distorted or influenced by political considerations.” However well-intentioned, elevating indigenous knowledge to the same level as the results achieved through the rigorous application of the scientific method opens a Pandora’s box in which the desired results, even if at odds with reality, can be imposed for political purposes,” Michael Chamberlain, director of the conservative nonprofit Protect The Public’s Trust, told Fox News Digital.

Chamberlain and his nonprofit have studied how the Biden administration has implemented indigenous knowledge in the federal government, including through the use of public disclosure laws.

“We have already seen (indigenous knowledge) in action as the Home Office strengthened indigenous knowledge that supported its position on indigenous knowledge, which was not the case by canceling oil and gas leases in Alaska,” Chamberlain noted. “The fact that the administration has explored ways to exempt indigenous knowledge from FOIA adds to the risk of misuse.”

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Interior Ministry officials declined to comment for this story.

In 2022, the Biden administration’s Office of Science and Technology Policy unveiled federal guidance on the use of indigenous knowledge in various sectors of government. The guidance was also accompanied by an “implementation memorandum”, which the White House saidstrive to “value and, where appropriate, respectfully include Indigenous knowledge” in government practices in order to “make the best possible scientific and policy decisions.”

President Biden delivers remarks during the 2022 White House Tribal Nations Summit at the Department of the Interior on November 30. (Pete Marovitch/Getty Images)

On the sidelines of the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29) in Baku, Acting Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of the Interior Laura Daniel-Davis highlighted the agency’s commitment to integrating indigenous knowledge and stressed that the agency would conduct consultations with tribal leaders and other indigenous knowledge holders in December to help finalize the details of the manual before its official release.

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President-elect Trump North Dakota Republican nominee Governor Doug Burgum will be the next head of the US Department of the Interior, which manages public lands and minerals, national parks, wildlife refuges, and all federal responsibilities to recognized Native American tribes across the country.