Bridging conservation science and traditional knowledge of wild animals: The need for expert guidance and inclusion of local knowledge holders

Ulicsni, Viktor; Babai, Dániel; Vadász, Csaba; Vadász-Besnyői, Vera; Báldi, András; Molnár, Zsolt

doi:10.1007/s13280-018-1106-z

Cited by 32 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…While the detrimental exploitation of indigenous values for the advancement of conservation should be avoided, so should the overly cynical generalizations about the ecological awareness of these societies. Although there is a rich history of natural preservation with religion and spirituality globally (Lowman & Sinu, ), wildlife awareness by local inhabitants is often underestimated by researchers (Ulicsni et al, ). Their perceptions on conservation as it pertains to their daily lives, and especially their relationships with local fauna, form a key component for the improvement of implemented strategies (Bennett, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sacred groves and serpent‐gods moderate human–snake relations

et al. 2019

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Serpent‐god worship is an ancient tradition still practiced in many sacred groves across the Western Ghats of India. Although sacred groves there hold ecological conservation value, few studies have focused on arguably the most iconic taxon in the region, snakes. We thus investigated the impact of sacred groves and snake deity worshipping on attitudes towards snakes by conducting surveys with people who had entered sacred groves in the past. We found that very few participants who had encountered snakes inside sacred groves in the past harmed them during these encounters. However, nearly a quarter of all participants do harm snakes if encountered outside sacred groves. We also found that a larger proportion of participants who do not harm snakes outside sacred groves worship snake deities, relative to those that do harm them. Our work thus highlights the influence of sacred groves and snake deity worshipping on pacifistic human–snake relations in Southwestern India. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sacred groves and serpent‐gods moderate human–snake relations

et al. 2019

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“…Local indigenous knowledge has been identified to be a valuable source of information. Accuracy of local species knowledge is reported to be more by farmers than academic zoologists (Ulicsni et al 2018) which occur through years of observing the environment. According to our knowledge this is the first report on assessing herpetofaunal status in an agricultural landscape from eastern India based on local ecological community knowledge.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Collation of indigenous and local knowledge as evidence base for herpetofauna conservation outside protected areas: Case study from an agricultural landscape in Eastern India

Ghosh¹,

Basu²

2021

Preprint

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Systematic appraisal of community knowledge as evidence for biodiversity conservation has been widely recognized. For conserving the rich biodiversity in the rural landscape outside the protected areas, it is important to document the knowledge and perception of the farming community. Although such appraisal is available for different taxa, no such systematic study is available for herpetofauna- one of the most vulnerable faunal groups. Our study attempts to document the impact of agricultural intensification on herpetofauna in an agricultural landscape through knowledge and perception appraisal of the farming community. A semi-structured questionnaire survey and validation was conducted in areas of low, medium, and high agricultural intensification. In all areas, farmers indicated an overall decrease in herpetofauna abundance. Farmers at the mid and high agricultural intensification zones reported a more significant decrease in herpetofauna sightings specifically for amphibians and snakes compared to those under low intensification regions. Farmers at low intensification areas recognized significantly more herpetofauna. Farmers attributed five major threats to herpetofauna and ranked pesticide as the most significant reason, especially those in higher intensification. The majority were aware of the importance of herpetofauna as a biological pest control agent. The level of education or farming experience did not seem to have any influence on the farmers knowledge. Our findings integrated with other quantitative studies will facilitate future community-driven conservation in the studied agricultural landscapes.

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“…It is most essential to incorporate TEK systems into scientific forest management systems particularly in the hill regions of NE India predominantly inhabited by tribal people. To move towards sustainable ecosystem governance at multiple scales, building synergies between TEK and scientific knowledge systems has been recognized as a key opportunity (Takeuchi 2010;Emery et al 2014;Ulicsni et al 2019).…”

Section: Discussion and Concluding Remarkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review artitle Review: Traditional ecological knowledge of tribal communities of North East India

Tynsong

Dkhar²,

Tiwari³

2020

Biodiversitas

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Abstract. Tynsong H, Dkhar M, Tiwari BK. 2020. Review: Traditional ecological knowledge of tribal communities of North East India. Biodiversitas 21: 3209-3224. Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) refers to the knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and tribal people relating to the understanding of structure and functioning of neighboring natural ecosystems and their use for human welfare. In this paper, we have reviewed the literature relating to TEK held by the tribal and other traditional societies of North East India. The region is very rich in TEK pertaining to species, ecosystems, and their interactions including their sustainable management and utilization in forestry, fisheries, agriculture, food, crafts, dye, and health care. Some of these TEK based knowledge systems are at par or even superior to the resource management practices evolved under the ambit of modern knowledge. Though a substantial chunk of TEK of tribal communities of North East India has been documented, huge treasures of such knowledge remain unreported and hence are on the verge of being lost.

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Bridging conservation science and traditional knowledge of wild animals: The need for expert guidance and inclusion of local knowledge holders

Cited by 32 publications

References 38 publications

Sacred groves and serpent‐gods moderate human–snake relations

Sacred groves and serpent‐gods moderate human–snake relations

Collation of indigenous and local knowledge as evidence base for herpetofauna conservation outside protected areas: Case study from an agricultural landscape in Eastern India

Review artitle Review: Traditional ecological knowledge of tribal communities of North East India

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