Conservation management systems which include indigenous traditional knowledge have increasingly been recognized by international conservation authorities as complementary or even superior to the more conventional conservation approach. Many indigenous peoples, including the Maori in New Zealand and the Saami in Sweden, have actively promoted their traditional knowledge as pivotal for sustainable development, and are now gaining more control over the management of their traditional areas. However, perceptions of traditional knowledge and its relation to sustainable development often differ between indigenous peoples and conservation authorities, and posit a challenge to the formulation of conservation policies.