One of the major challenges facing IKS development in the lack of critical mass of human capital conversant with IKS worldviews (ontology), ways of knowing (epistemology), research methodologies and value systems (axiology).
Indigenous peoples and communities throughout the world have for millennia sustained their unique worldviews and associated knowledge systems in relation to the environment, even while undergoing major social upheavals because of transformative forces beyond their control. The depth of these knowledge systems rooted in the long inhabitation of a particular ecosystem offers lessons that can benefit everyone, from educator to scientist, as we search for a more satisfying and sustainable way to live on this planet.