The TEK Pulse
Understanding Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Plain English
The TEK Pulse is Beating Fast
Traditional Ecological Knowledge is the accumulated, place-based understanding that Indigenous peoples and local communities have built up and passed down over generations: how ecosystems behave, when species move, how to manage land, water and fire, and which plants heal. It is tested by long observation and real consequence, and bodies from IPBES and the FAO to the IPCC now recognise it as serious scientific evidence. When tackling the 169 SDG targets, TEK can potentially move the needle of understanding and action.
Wouldn't it be great to see all 169 SDG targets in one place, tell where the evidence is genuinely strong from where it is thin, and separate what is recognised from what is actually running? Well, now you can, with the TEK Traditional Ecological Knowledge Pulse.
Where traditional ecological knowledge moves the needle.
All 169 targets, read for how strongly Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Indigenous and local knowledge bear on each one, and how much that knowledge is drawn on today. Click any target for its source-anchored snapshot. Where relevance is strong but integration is overlooked, there is an opening.
How the marks are assigned. Relevance grades the evidence in the named source: Strong where the source directly establishes that traditional knowledge is material to the target, Moderate where it bears indirectly or as a secondary theme, Limited where no source applies. Integration grades the instrument, not opinion: Established where a standing mechanism processes traditional knowledge for that domain (a listing or inventory, an access-and-benefit permit, a recognised management or governance category, or a binding consultation duty), Emerging where a policy instrument recognises it but no mechanism embeds it, Overlooked where neither exists. Eight targets are Established, and each names its mechanism in the snapshot.
About this tool. The SDG Traditional Knowledge Lens reads all 169 UN Sustainable Development Goal targets for how strongly Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Indigenous and local knowledge bear on each one, and how far that knowledge is drawn on today. Every rating carries a named source. The relevance and integration marks are 169to1's editorial reading of the cited sources, not an official UN or framework mapping, and are offered as a provisional, source-anchored basis for discussion.
GreenComp alignment. The Lens supports the GreenComp sustainability competences of valuing sustainability, supporting fairness and promoting nature (embodying sustainability values); systems thinking and critical thinking (embracing complexity); and political agency and collective action (acting for sustainability). GreenComp: The European Sustainability Competence Framework (Bianchi, Pisiotis and Cabrera Giraldez; JRC, Publications Office of the European Union, 2022) is reused under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence.
© 2026 169to1®, Hudson Consultancy Online. Free to view and share for non-commercial educational use with attribution; please do not modify or resell.
This is about understanding how traditional knowledge can transform your impact.
If you’re working inside the 169to1® eco-system, transparency and relevance is key to sustainable action.
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