About Us
birds • people • place
The Ethno-ornithology World Alliance
EWA is a network, or alliance, to encourage all people to get involved in bird conservation and to promote respect for diverse nature-knowledge lineages in many languages. Founded on the recognition that people everywhere are inspired culturally, practically, and spiritually by birds, EWA is a home base to support mutually beneficial relationships between Indigenous and local communities, conservationists, academics, and their institutions. We promote bird conservation by engaging with and celebrating diverse traditions of ornithological knowledge.
The original EWA atlas uses a Mukurtu platform. Mukurtu (MOOK-oo-too) is a grassroots project aiming to empower communities to manage, share and exchange their digital heritage in culturally relevant and ethically-minded ways. We are committed to maintaining an open, community-driven approach and to help build a platform that fosters relationships of respect and trust.
Our name, EWA, is inspired by the Hawai’ian 'ewa'ewa for Onychoprion fuscatus (the Sooty Tern or Wideawake), a pan-tropical species whose range and migrations link diverse peoples and cultures. Our logo depicting this bird was designed by Colin Wilkinson of the RSPB to recall a Polynesian or Celtic tattoo.
Meet The Secretariat
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EWA supports FAIR and CARE practices and ethics in ethnobiology
Following the International Society of Ethnobiology‘s Code of Ethics, EWA acknowledges that “biological and cultural harms have resulted from research undertaken without the consent of [local and] Indigenous peoples” (ISE 2006). Our network supports work that is participatory, collaborative “in ways that [...] acknowledge [local and] Indigenous cultural and intellectual property rights, [and] protect the inextricable linkages between cultural, linguistic and biological diversity” (ISE 2006). Members of the network are invited to become familiar with the ISE Code of Ethics (http://www.ethnobiology.net/) as well as other Ethics Codes for their particular discipline or region.
Our Partners
