Ethnosciences––A step towards the integration of scientific and indigenous forms of knowledge in the management of natural resources for the future

Abstract

Integration of indigenous knowledge and ethnoscientific approaches into contemporary frameworks for conservation and sustainable management of natural resources will become increasingly important in policies on an international and national level, both in countries that are industrialised and those that have a developing status. We set the scene on how this can be done by exploring the key conditions and dimensions of a dialogue between 'ontologies' and the roles, which ethnosciences could play in this process. First, the roles of ethnosciences in the context of sustainable development were analysed, placing emphasis on the implications arising when western sciences aspire to relate to indigenous forms of knowledge. Secondly, the contributions of ethnosciences to such an 'interontological dialogue' were explored, based on an ethnoecological study of the encounter of sciences and indigenous knowledge in the Andes of Bolivia, and reviewed experiences from mangrove systems in Kenya, India and Sri Lanka, and from case-studies in other ecosystems world-wide, incl.

Linking local knowledge, conservation practices and ecosystem diversity: comparing two communities in the Tunari National Park (Bolivia)

“…Its characteristics are consistent with the ones found in many other Andean traditional communities (e.g. Estermann 1998;Platt 1992;Rist and Dahdouh-Guebas 2006;Van den Berg 1990) and include 1) beliefs related to places and spiritual beings with an ideal of integral land occupation and use (see also , 2) a relational rather than instrumental perspective on the landscape, as observed in other indigenous social-ecological contexts, such as the Rarámuri landscape in Northern Mexico (Wyndham 2009), 3) a cyclical perception of time and space, which expresses the cultural bonds to cropfallow rotation and grazing cycle practices , and 4) a view that does not postulate a fundamental separation between nature and culture, as highlighted for many indigenous societies (Descola 2005).…”

Perception and Interpretation of Climate Change among Quechua Farmers of Bolivia: Indigenous Knowledge as a Resource for Adaptive Capacity

“…Associating phenomena with the agency of natural or spiritual entities can be interpreted as knowledge that addresses multiple and complex causes of phenomena. In this sense, Quechua indigenous knowledge interprets complex causality, focusing on the meaning rather than on the detailed explanation of a phenomenon (Rist and Dadouh-Guebas 2006). Similar concepts of causality are also found among other indigenous groups (Berkes 2012a).…”

Ecosystem-Wide Impacts of Deforestation in Mangroves: The Urabá Gulf (Colombian Caribbean) Case Study

“…Mangroves offer provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural services [4][5][6]. Provisioning services are the most commonly appreciated and include sources of timber, fibers and nonwoody products, fuels (firewood and charcoal), food (fisheries), biochemical products, and freshwater; however, the role of mangroves in climatic and hydrologic modulation, erosion control, protection against natural hazards, soil formation, and nutrient cycling has been recently recognized.…”