Our Thanks To You!
We at College of Menominee Nation, Sustainable Development Institute wish to express our most sincere thank you to all the people who made the second Sharing Indigenous Wisdom: An International Dialogue on Sustainable Development Conference such a warm, enjoyable and fulfilling success. To everyone who had traveled so far and who had prepared so thoroughly, thank you. To those who had provided information when we requested, thank you, you helped make our work just that much easier. To everyone who had taken the time out to attend, present, volunteer, or speak, we thank you. To our gracious sponsors, we say a hearty thank you. Your generosity supplied the foundation for everyone to build a forum to meet and to speak together. Our thanks go out each and every person, to numerous to mention individually, who have contributed their time and their efforts to help ensure that Sharing Indigenous Wisdom: An International Dialogue on Sustainable Development come to fruition and made a difference. Lastly, we thank all our ancestors who had laid the groundwork of knowledge and have passed that wisdom along for us to use in our daily existence.
Maec Waewaenen Mawaneh Weyak ( A big thank you to everyone).
Conference Purpose
Indigenous peoples all over the world are steadily confronted with outside pressures of having both their land and cultures assimilated into the dominant cultural context. There is currently an acute need to explore successful models of sustainable development that allow for the preservation of indigenous lands, sovereignty and culture, while also allowing for the integration of economic development, institutional capacity-building and technological advancement.
The Menominee believe their model of sustainable development provides clues to the kind of values, economic system, and social order that might be necessary in a sustainable world. As the state of the world's environment becomes more critical, it is believed that this model as well as other principles derived from indigenous wisdom might offer clues from which the modern world can learn as it desperately seeks development alternatives.
Who Attended?
The 2007 Sharing Indigenous Wisdom: An International Dialogue on Sustainable Development Conference at the Oneida Radisson, June 11-15, 2007 had over 120 persons in attendance. We had representatives from throughout the world including Central and South America, New Zealand, Finland, the Philippines, India, Nigeria, Nepal , Australia, Canada, Mexico and the United States. Indigenous Nations represented include: Anishnabe, Awajun, Dineí, Karuk, Mauri, Metis, Oneida, Okanagan, Pikangikum, Pueblo of Pojoaque, Potawatomi, Pueblo Miskitu, Sac and Fox, Salish-Kootenai, Seminole, Tingguian, Yakama, and the hosts, the Menominee. The attendance had scholars, academics, foresters and forest managers, institutional and governmental policy makers, planners and implementers, undergrad and graduate students from colleges and universities near and far. We had excellent representation of the US Forest Service and IUFRO. Particular to our concern are the indigenous practitioners who come to share their wisdom so generously and unselfishly with all who attended Sharing Indigenous Wisdom: An International Dialogue on Sustainable Development.
LAND
& SOVEREIGNTY
NATURAL
ENVIRONMENT
INSTITUTIONS
TECHNOLOGY
ECONOMY
HUMAN
PERCEPTION, ACTIVITY & BEHAVIOR