Douglas Nakashima

Douglas Nakashima is Chief of the Small Islands and Indigenous Knowledge section at United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), France. He created the global programme on Local and Indigenous Knowledge Systems (LINKS) in 2002 that addresses the role of indigenous knowledge in environmental management, including climate change, and reinforces its intergenerational transmission. Dr Nakashima has been working within the field of indigenous knowledge for over thirty years, with research focusing on Inuit and Cree First Nations in Arctic and Subarctic Canada. He recently led UNESCO's work with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to highlight the importance of indigenous knowledge for climate change assessment and adaptation in the Fifth Assessment Report.