Bridging indigenous and scientific knowledge

Abstract

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A representation of a Tuawhenua worldview guides environmental conservation

“…In addition, IPLCs in some countries are increasingly under pressure to adjust their worldviews to fit market-based ideals and attitudes toward natural values (Adamowicz et al 1998, Venn and Quiggan 2007, O'Faircheallaigh 2013. How to engage a range of IPLC worldview representations in national-and international-scale environmental conservation processes and structures without their institutionalization is problematic for governments (Mistry and Berardi 2016). The worldviews of indigenous cultures offer different priorities and approaches to environmental stewardship, and in some instances, will challenge the prevailing conservation management systems (e.g., prioritization of species and habitats in assigning conservation effort and funding).…”

Sámi reindeer governance in Norway as competing knowledge systems: a participatory study

“…When the use and application of indigenous knowledge are determined by Western science, the danger is that the "indigenous knowledge will change in its use and application, and, most critically, in its ability to deal with complexity," Berardi (2016:1275) argue. Therefore, rather than facilitating participation and selfgovernance, the approach to knowledge integration risks further marginalization of indigenous people (Mistry and Berardi 2016). Recognizing the asymmetrical power relations between the knowledge systems, Díaz et al (2015:10) suggest an approach to environmental understanding that embraces the "complementarity, synergy and cross-fertilization of knowledge systems, rather than the integration of one system into another.…”

“…Most work in the field of traditional knowledge concerns collecting and documenting information, and there is little focus on finding meaningful ways to apply this information (Blaser et al 2004). Because of the asymmetrical power relations between the knowledge systems, attempts to integrate traditional and scientific knowledge have translated into assimilation of the traditional into the dominant system (Nadasdy 1999, 2005, Blaser et al 2004, Mistry and Berardi 2016. Nadasdy (1999:5) argues https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol22/iss4/art33/ that the consequence of this integration is that traditional knowledge "must be expressed in forms that are compatible with the already existing institutions and processes of scientific resource management.…”

“…According to Mistry and Berardi (2016), knowledge integration is a way to institutionalize indigenous knowledge into existing environmental governance structures dominated by incentiveand market-based approaches to management. Thus, the integration serves to sustain existing power relations between scientists and resource managers on the one hand, and indigenous peoples on the other hand (Nadasdy 1999).…”

“…Sámi reindeer herders, as do many other indigenous peoples, have a broader understanding of the relationship between humans and nature than do Western scientists (Huntington et al 2006, Berkes 2008, Díaz et al 2015. While both national and international conventions (e.g., the Norwegian Nature Diversity Act and the Convention on Biological Diversity) recognize the role of traditional knowledge in achieving biodiversity conservation and sustainable development, there is a tendency among scientists and resource managers to assume that indigenous knowledge systems can be fully translated and integrated into the Western science knowledge system (Nadasdy 1999, Mistry andBerardi 2016). Blaser (2009b:15) argues that there is a dominant trend within environmental governance that indigenous "knowledges and practices are translated into discrete packages" suitable for being incorporated in the existing toolkit of practitioners and decision makers.…”