Indigenous knowledge and sustainable development: investigating the link?

Sustainable Development (SD) is perceived as a complex concept because of the south-north, north-north and south-south divide. The various perspectives on this subject are either embedded in people's own beliefs or interests regarding what SD means to them. No wonder politicians view SD as - community projects; business as - goods and profits; environmentalist as - means of enabling efficient use of natural resources and the masses as - means of meeting their basic needs and a strategy for poverty alleviation. Although indigenous knowledge - whether called scientific or non-scientific knowledge - enables people to address their diverse challenges in society, sometimes it is marginalised in education because it is seen as non-scientific and non-engaging in formal education. Using the Capability Approach (CA) to human development, this paper investigates the link between indigenous knowledge and SD and proposes a better framework for understanding these concepts in development processes.