This activity is based on a short essay about the benefits of respecting indigenous knowledge.

The essay was written by Maurice Strong who was a key organiser of the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, and later a special advisor to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. He wrote the essay as a foreword to the book, The Gaia Atlas of First Peoples (Burger 1990).

In this activity, the essay is presented in an unedited form with the paragraphs out of sequence. Edit the essay so that the paragraphs appear in the correct order.

Maurice Strong's essay shows that indigenous knowledge is not only important in its own right, but is also important for the benefits it brings to:

	The indigenous people who own and live it;
	All the other people around the world who can learn lessons for living sustainably from it; and
	The Earth which would be treated more carefully if indigenous knowledge and values were followed more widely.