Indigenous Knowledge and One Health
Honoring the Indigenous roots of One Health during Native American Heritage Month
Understanding One Health Through Indigenous Knowledge
One Health is an approach to public health that focuses on improving the well-being of people, animals, plants, and the environment with the understanding that we are all connected. One Health highlights the importance of working together to address the challenges that affect us all.
While One Health is often viewed through the lens of Western science, the approach is actually rooted in Indigenous worldviews, values, and teachings. Indigenous knowledge has always recognized the relationship between humans and the environment and emphasized the connection between all living things. Indigenous knowledge includes Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), a knowledge system built on observations and interactions with the natural world and passed down through generations.
TEK views health as a holistic concept. From a TEK lens, health includes physical, emotional, environmental, spiritual, and mental well-being. Indigenous communities don’t consider land a resource to use. They consider it a relative, a source of life, and an integral part of identity and community. TEK also emphasizes the importance of land stewardship and guides communities to care for the environment as it cares for them. This perspective has become even more important in recent years as changes in human behavior, land use, and weather patterns have shifted our interactions with nature.
Centering Indigenous knowledge in One Health practices combines traditional wisdom with modern science to heal and protect our world.
For instance, frameworks like Two-Eyed Seeing, developed by Mi’kmaq Elders Albert and Murdena Marshall, advocate viewing the world through both Indigenous and Western lenses. This approach works to combine the strengths of both knowledge systems.
Similarly, the Four Rs — respect, relevance, reciprocity, and responsibility — serve as guiding principles for equitable partnerships between Indigenous knowledge keepers and Western scientists.
These partnerships and collaborations require mutual respect and a commitment to addressing historical injustices to create equitable futures.
Washington Tribes, environmental stewardship, and health promotion
Washington State Tribes live the principles of One Health through longstanding practices of environmental stewardship and community health promotion. Tribes maintain the delicate balance between human needs and ecological health through sustainable practices like habitat restoration, seasonal harvesting, and water conservation. These efforts support Indigenous communities. They also provide models for widespread sustainable practices that benefit all people living in Washington.
Tribal nations in Washington have also advocated for the health of ecosystems through legal and political action. During the 1960s and 1970s, many Tribal members were jailed while advocating for their rights to access their traditional fishing grounds. The Boldt Decision of 1974 reaffirmed those fishing rights, allowing for up to half of the fishing harvest to go to Tribal fishermen. Northwest Tribes continue to push for further environmental protections that safeguard the health of rivers and fish.
Today, these communities continue to lead habitat restoration projects, address climate change with renewable energy initiatives, and promote community health through culturally informed practices.
Nooksack River Restoration: Addressing Climate Change and Salmon Recovery
A powerful example of environmental stewardship is the restoration of salmon habitats along Washington’s South Fork Nooksack River. The Lummi Nation and Nooksack Indian Tribe have partnered with NOAA’s Office of Habitat Conservation to install more than 80 log jams in the river over the next 3 years.
The log jams will mimic the natural log jams of old-growth forest rivers. These structures are important because they provide shelter and resting areas for salmon throughout their lifespan. What’s more, these log jams help reduce flooding, an increasing concern as climate change drives more extreme weather events.
Over the past 2 decades, the Lummi Nation and Nooksack Indian Tribe have completed more than 30 similar projects. This showcases their leadership in combining TEK with new restoration practices to support environmental stewardship and food sovereignty. Food sovereignty refers to your right to choose the foods you eat, where those foods come from, and how those foods are grown.
Yakama Nation Climate Adaptation Planning
Another example of environmental stewardship is the Yakama Nation’s Climate Adaption Plan. The Yakama Nation developed this plan with the University of Washington Climate Impacts Group to begin addressing the effects of climate change.
The plan helps support the Tribe’s resilience through shifting environmental conditions by:
- Building on existing programs that promote a sustainable relationship with the land.
- Identifying key risks, including increased wildfires, flooding, drought, and climate-related health concerns.
- Providing actionable steps for immediate decisions and long-term planning.
- Outlining strategies to protect natural and cultural resources and safeguard community health.
This initiative underscores the Yakama Nation’s commitment to preserving their traditions, cultural wellbeing, and environment for future generations.
Looking to the horizon
Washington Tribes teach us many important lessons in public health. They remind us that:
- All things are connected.
- Emotional well-being relates to physical health, and both are essential
- The health of a community cannot be measured in metrics alone.
We must unlearn approaches that view health as only a lack of disease and fail to value our connectedness to one another and our ecosystems. We can expand our understanding by listening to the traditional knowledge keepers who lead ecological and public health approaches.
By combining the strengths of Indigenous and Western approaches, we can foster a healthier, more sustainable world for all. Together, we have the chance to create new and effective solutions for complex public health challenges, from emerging diseases to climate change. The interconnectedness of all things emphasized by One Health is not a new idea. Washington Tribes have lived this interconnectedness throughout their history.
Learn more:
- Two-Eyed Seeing: This concept incorporates Indigenous and Western perspectives to better understand nature.
- Tribal Public Health and Relations: The governmental public health system includes Tribal Nations and Indian health programs as primary partners with the Washington State Department of Health (DOH), the State Board of Health, and local health jurisdictions.
- One Health, many perspectives: Exploring Indigenous and Western epistemologies
- One Health, One Future (video)
- U.S. Department of the Interior — Traditional Ecological Knowledge
- Yakama Nation Climate Adaptation Planning
