• TEK refers to the vast wealth of knowledge that Indigenous communities across the globe have acquired about their environments, honed over centuries of close interactions with nature. This includes insights into plant and animal properties, ecosystem function, and utilization techniques.
• TEK encompasses knowledge about local species used for various needs such as food, medicines, fuel, building materials, and more.
• Importantly, people's understanding of and relationship with their environment often form crucial parts of their cultural identity.
• TEK also refers to traditional, local, and folk knowledge spanning ecology to environmental metaphysics.

Example: For instance, the Indigenous tribes of the Amazon rainforest have long used the bark of the cinchona tree to treat fever, a practice that eventually led to the discovery of quinine – a potent antimalarial drug.

• Despite other facets of Indigenous knowledge being overlooked, TEK has been integrated into modern scientific domains like land management, conservation, medicine, and botany.
• The growing interest in TEK is due to the increasing awareness of the extensive and urgent ecological crises facing us, such as the sixth mass extinction and climate change.

Example: A modern conservation project may engage Indigenous communities to leverage their TEK, understanding that they've maintained the delicate balance of their local ecosystems for centuries.

•   TEK has been considered effective for generations of people who have relied on it for survival. It has passed the test of usefulness and repeatability

Example: The Inuit people have relied on their knowledge of sea ice and weather patterns to navigate and survive in the Arctic region for generations.