She has a master’s degree in social development studies and is currently pursuing a doctorate in history at the University of the Philippines. She is the author of publications on indigenous knowledge and medicinal plants conservation, and is researching ethno-medicine, biodiversity conservation, and indigenous peoples’ history. This article is an expanded version of a paper Enkiwe-Abayao presented at the UNESCO Conference on Intercultural Education in June 2003 in Jyvaskyla, Finland.