This brief highlights initial results from a broader research study asking the question: How can engagement processes enhance access to, and learning from, science and stakeholder experience to improve decision-making processes and quality at multiple scales within complex settings?
Tag: indigenous knowledge
From “participation” to “rights and responsibilities” in forest management: workable methods and unworkable assumptions in West Kalimantan, Indonesia
This chapter reports the results of research in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, originally designed to assess quickly and easily the level and nature of participation by local people in forest management. The authors briefly describe pertinent results from their assessment methods. Although the functions initially anticipated for participation are not wrong, they reflect a way of looking at forest management that were concluded needs rethinking. In the discussion of the change needed, Jordan’s concept of “authoritative knowledge” and “social” or “cultural capital” was used. The authors also suggest substituting “rights and responsibilities to manage the forest cooperatively” for “participation” in places like Danau Sentarum Wildlife Reserve (DSWR). Important remaining policy-related issues include the variations in quality of local management systems, values held by the different stakeholders, and potential productivity of individual systems. Finally it concludes that, given the dynamism and complexity that characterise natural forests and their inhabitants, cooperation among all stakeholders in an ongoing dialogue is most likely the only way that sustainable forest management can in fact occur.
Farmers’ indigenous knowledge of tree conservation and acidic soil amendments: The role of “baabbo” and “Mona” systems: Lessons from Gedeo community, Southern Ethiopia
The purpose of the study was mainly to document the farmer’s indigenous knowledge (IK) systems on tree conservation and farming practices. The research further assesses the traditional way of soil acidity amendment in highland (dega) agroecological zone. This study combines broadly qualitative methods of anthropological approach to document farmers’ IK in tree conservation, and acidic soil amendments. Data were collected by using the semi-structured interviews, key informant interviews, participatory observation, and focused group discussion. The semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of 60 respondents in different agroecological zones to assess the traditional farming practices and tree conservation. The study revealed that, farmers had entrenched and sound local knowledge of tree conservation and acidic soil amendment practices. The “baabbo” and “Mona” are traditional ways of tree conservation and soil acidity amendment practices in mid-land and highland agroecological zones, respectively. The “baabbo” is native and multipurpose tree conservation and retaining traditions on farms. The farmers are deliberately retained indigenous “baabbo” trees in and around the farms for various benefits (such as shading, soil fertility, flooding control, fuelwood, constructions, and fodder). The main and first benefit of “baabbo” conservation is ”shading for crop productivity’’ ranked followed by uses for “soil fertility’’, “fuelwood’’, and ”construction materials’’ and ”cultural values’’. In addition, “mona” is an indigenous way of soil acidity amendment with indigenous fertilizer (organic) in highland agroclimate area (Dega). It is bedding places for animals (cattle and horses) which built near to farmer’s houses or farm-fields for collection of indigenous fertilizer (animal manure). This traditional approach of acidic soil amendment is enabling the farmers to sustain their livelihoods under unfavorable condition without adversely affecting the environment. Therefore, ‘mona’ as well as ‘baabbo’ is an indigenous farming practice that had used by local people to improve their livelihoods and novel approaches to maintain environmental sustainability.
Domestic forests: a new paradigm for integrating local communities’ forestry into tropical forest science
Despite a long history of confrontation between forest agencies and forest people, “indigenous” or “local” practices are increasingly considered as a viable alternative of forest management. This paper is a synthesis derived from various long-term research programs carried out by the authors in Southeast Asia and Africa on forests managed by farmers. These researches looked at local practices and underlying science, including their social, political, and symbolic dimensions. They also addressed evolutionary trends and driving forces, as well as potential and limits for forest conservation and development, mitigation of deforestation, biodiversity conservation, and poverty alleviation in a context of global environmental, political, and social change. We discuss how forest management by local communities, contrary to the unified models of professional forest management, exhibits a high historical and geographical diversity. The analysis we draw from the various examples we studied reveals several invariants, which allows proposing the unifying paradigm of “domestic forest.” The first universal feature concerns the local managers themselves, who are, in their vast majority, farmers. Management practices range from local interventions in the forest ecosystem, to more intensive types of forest culture, and ultimately to permanent forest plantation. But in all cases, forest management is closely integrated with agriculture. The second universal feature concerns the conceptual continuity of planted forests with the natural forest, in matters of vegetation’s structure and composition as well as economic traits and ecosystem services. The resulting forest is uneven-aged, composed of several strata, harboring a large diversity of species, and producing a wide range of products, with timber seldom being the dominant one. The term “domestic forest” aims at highlighting the close relationship the domestication process establishes between a specific human group, including its elementary units, the “domestic units,” and the forest, transformed and managed to fulfill the needs of that group. The domestic forest paradigm calls for the integration into forest science of a new concept of land management in which production and conservation are compatible, and in which there is no choice to be made between people and nature. It does not aim at contesting the value of conventional forest science, but it proposes domestic forests as a new scientific domain, for the combined benefit of forest science and of forest people. It does not contest the value of conventional forest management models, but pushes towards more equitable relations between forest agencies and farmers managing forest resources on their own lands.
Successful farming on precipitous slopes: A 170-year-old indigenous improved-fallow system at Naalad in the Philippines
Agroforestry has been a longstanding practice among smallholder farmers in the Philippines, particularly indigenous communities in upland regions who engage in traditional shifting cultivation systems. As population pressure increases and the ratio of people to available land rises, some farmers have developed innovative improved fallow systems to accelerate soil rejuvenation and enhance productivity. One notable example is the Naalad system on Cebu Island, which eliminates the need for burning and significantly reduces the land area required for fallowing, allowing quicker recovery from cropping. Developed over 150 years ago in response to the region’s steep and rugged terrain, the Naalad system has continually evolved through farmer-driven innovations. While this system remains in use today, current challenges may lead to its decline and eventual abandonment—not due to any inherent flaws but rather external pressures. Despite this, the technology behind the Naalad system still holds significant potential for replication across various landscapes in the Asia-Pacific region, offering a sustainable approach to land restoration.
IPBES Transformative Change Assessment: Chapter 2. Visions of a sustainable world – for nature and people
Chapter 2 explores visions and vision development processes for transformative changes in society. Visions are desirable future states of nature and people shaped by values and worldviews. They include defined purposes, goals and intentional efforts to attain such future states. Actors and groups of actors, shaped by contexts that determine their thinking and practices, develop visions and pathways through multiple processes. Diverse visions illuminate the interdependence of humans-in-nature for a just and sustainable world and help guide policy and decision makers in transformations to address biodiversity loss and nature’s decline. Visions assessed in Chapter 2 come from multiple sources: peer-reviewed and grey literature, civil society initiatives and social movements, alternative economic perspectives, spiritual and religious traditions, fiction, arts, urban and rural coalitions and Indigenous Peoples and local communities. These visions address themes such as oceans, land, economy, ecosystems, technologies and rights for nature.
Forest management and terraced agriculture: case study of Hani of Ailao mountains, Yunnan
This case study of the Hani in the Ailao mountains of Yunnan, China, highlights the importance of forests in providing local ecological services that are essential for the system of terraced agriculture. The paper investigates local people’s knowledge of these ecological services, including water regulation and nutrient recycling, as well as the gender differences in the local knowledge of these services. The paper notes that the Hani have maintained the forest condition quite irrespective of its tenurial status. Contemporary forest policies and reforestation in the area are also discussed.
Farmers knowledge of indigenous fodder tree species in the Kigezi Highlands, Uganda
Indigenous communities’ knowledge of local ecological services
This paper investigates in detail the extensive indigenous knowledge of forest ecological services in 3 villages (Katwa, Karudih, and Hesadih) situated in the eastern plateau region of India. One aspect discussed is the indigenous knowledge on the influence of forests on water regimes and water quality. Differences in perceptions about the local ecological services and attendant practices within communities that are dependent on forests are then analysed under 2 contrasting land-tenure regimes, namely, community forests and state forests. It is argued that local ecological services are the missing link in designing plans for successful decentralization and sustainable management of forests.
Appropriation of women’s indigenous knowledge: the case of matrilineal Lua in northern Thailand
The Lua, according to their mythology, are the original inhabitants of Thailand. Today, however, hey are regarded as ethnic minorities who inhabit this region. A study of their myths and legends reveals the importance of spirit cults, matriclans, and women’s role in the discovery, production, and trade of salt. The matriclan system is also established in the longhouses and their ocial structure. However, with the entry of the Thai state, power has shifed from the Lua women to Thai men who represent the state. This has also resulted in the appropriation of women’s traditional knowledge about the technology and rituals surrounding forest conservation and sustainable use of resources. Further, there has been a shift in gender relations in favor of men among the Lua people.