New funding from the Indigenous Strategic Initiatives Fund will enable relationship building with the Syilx Okanagan People to establish an Indigenous-inspired natural space for teaching and learning.
The Indigenous Micro-Forest project will endeavour to establish a self-sustainable, green, biodiverse ecosystem on UBC Okanagan campus, guided by Indigenous traditional ecological knowledge to reintroduce and foster native species that create green spaces and offer ways to mitigate and adapt to climate change. The permacultural initiative will provide students, faculty, staff and the community a beautiful space for learning and reflection.
The proposal was co-submitted by Associate Professor Jeanette Armstrong and Assistant Professor of Teaching Alon Eisenstein along with faculty from UBCO School of Engineering, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, and the Faculty of Science. The ISI Fund seeks to advance the rights of Indigenous peoples as well as the crucial journey towards meaningful reconciliation.
“Indigenous Peoples have a special relationship with the land, and this initiative is a way of acknowledging and elevating that through the application of Indigenous traditional knowledge,” explains Dr. Eisenstein.
At the root of the proposal’s success is a strong and diverse team with existing relationship and collaboration with the Syilx Peoples, UBC faculty, staff and students. Indigenous voices and perspectives will lead the project with members of the Syilx community co-creating the design and the project throughout its stages. The Forest also recognizes the integral connection of UBC with Indigenous partners, and the land with which it resides.
Please read the full story at the Faculty of Applied Science website.
Under Strategy 17: Indigenous Engagement, the university is committed to supporting the objectives and actions of the Indigenous Strategic Plan.