Yes, it's important. No one group is homogeneous. There was a comment made in the first part of the meeting today about not generalizing. It's important to consult each of the groups and communities, as well as various scientists. You have to drink from a variety of sources.
Some research groups have messages to pass on. Someone mentioned earlier that researchers aren't purely objective and that they're driven by their vision of things.
It's true that indigenous knowledge has a spiritual aspect that can be difficult to address and understand when you have a western scientific background. However, that doesn't mean that the knowledge isn't valid or accurate. Often, through research, we manage to find a scientific explanation of what indigenous peoples tell us from their more spiritual or philosophical point of view.
It's just a different way of looking at things. If we approach this from the perspective that we don't trust it because it's spiritual, it's not scientific, and we don't want to know anything about it, we're not going to go anywhere. We have to go there with confidence and tell ourselves that this is what is before us.
Generally, what indigenous people tell us, we see it. We don't always understand the explanation we're given, but we see the phenomenon. So it's working. The question is, how do you translate that into scientific language if that's what you need to develop a policy?
The fact that we don't understand the path doesn't mean that the destination doesn't exist.