Anpernirrentye: a Framework for Enhanced Application of Indigenous Ecological Knowledge in Natural Resource Management

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Robust approaches to natural resource management (NRM) in indigenous cross-cultural contexts require coherent understandings of Indigenous Ecological Knowledge (IEK) systems. We synthesize a framework to represent the traditionally derived worldview of Arrernte Aboriginal people within which IEK is embedded. This is an ecology-focused worldview with three interrelated domains of knowledge that are intricately linked, comprising many complex dynamic elements that interact with each other. This worldview is from desert Australia but is relevant to those working in complex cross-cultural environments across Australia and internationally. The visual framework presented fills an important conceptual gap in IEK documentation being positioned at a mesoconceptual scale. Comparisons between this knowledge framework and social-ecological systems theory indicate similarities in systems thinking, in explicit links between people and ecology, and in the emphasis on processes and relationships through causal loops and feedbacks. Important differences lie in the inextricable integration of economic and spiritual domains in the Arrernte worldview. In Arrernte eyes, interrelationships between people, resource species, land, and spiritual domains are central to NRM. Scientific approaches commonly overlook or segregate elements of indigenous knowledge.The multiple values indigenous people attribute to species are often ignored or overridden, which contributes to decoupling within their knowledge system. Western scientists and natural resource managers are looking for better understandings of indigenous knowledge systems. The framework offers a tool that can be applied to both cross-cultural and intergenerational learning to improve NRM and people's well-being and sense of self.

A representation of a Tuawhenua worldview guides environmental conservation

“…Increased political capacity and recent advances in legislative mechanisms that support indigenous rights and return of lands offer potential for leadership by, and participation of, indigenous peoples in environmental conservation (Pitty and Smith 2011, Lyver et al 2014, Ens et al 2015) (e.g., the Te Urewera forest mountain ranges were accorded with "all the rights, powers, duties, and liabilities of a legal person" [Te Urewera Act 2014, section 11, New Zealand Government 2014). Giving effect to conceptual constructs and management approaches defined by indigenous worldviews and knowledge systems, however, continues to contrast with and challenge the prevailing management frameworks of western and industrialized nations (Smith 2012, Walsh et al 2013). …”

“…They also served to reinforce social-ecological strategies for managing the environment. Explicit consideration of metaphors in management systems offers a useful mechanism to assist indigenous, and also nonindigenous, communities with their connection to, interpretation of, and response to, issues confronted in the environment (Raymond et al 2013, Walsh et al 2013.…”

“…Exposure to, and insights into, these worldviews would also provide actors who are responsible for institutions and technologies with a better understanding of "alternative ways of knowing" (Dods 2014), which would aid cross-cultural learning (Walsh et al 2013). The objective of this study, therefore, was to represent a worldview of a Māori tribal group, Tuawhenua, in New Zealand in a way that could guide environmental conservation and land management.…”

“…Furthermore, problems related to the identification and use of effective methods for bridging a diversity of worldviews and indigenous knowledge systems have emerged from these processes (Agrawal 2002, Raffles 2002, Stevenson 2006, although conceptual and institutional approaches to mitigate these issues are well described internationally (Davies et al 2013, Tengö et al 2014, Rathwell et al 2015. Indigenous peoples and local community worldviews also typically guide https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol22/iss4/art20/ action at local levels, so are seldom applied at national or international scales (Walsh et al 2013). Therefore, the capacity of government frameworks to engage indigenous peoples' worldviews, including their values, knowledge, approaches, and cultural expressions, remains challenged (Houde 2007, Ens et al 2015.…”

Law for Country: the Structure of Warlpiri Ecological Knowledge and Its Application to Natural Resource Management and Ecosystem Stewardship

“…The framework is at a level of analysis that Walsh et al (2013) refer to as meso-level, meaning that it is located above the micro-level detail of species information but below the macro-level of IEK definitions. Ngurra-kurlu has relevance as a heuristic tool beyond the local context because it represents fundamental elements of human-environment relations, which are, to a large degree, common to all Australian indigenous groups (see Radcliffe-Brown 1926, Horton 1994.…”