Indigenous Knowledge and Long-term Ecological Change: Detection, Interpretation, and Responses to Changing Ecological Conditions in Pacific Island Communities

Lauer, Matthew; Aswani, Shankar

doi:10.1007/s00267-010-9471-9

Cited by 88 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…However, coastal communities in the Pacific Islands region are demonstrably capable of identifying and attributing long-term temperature and sea-level rise. Examples come from Kiribati (Kuruppu 2009) and from Solomon Islands, where increases in nearshore seagrass extent and increased difficulty of crossing nearshore reefs on foot were both cited by local communities as evidence for recent sea-level rise (Lauer and Aswani 2010). Similar observations have been documented for indigenous communities elsewhere (Krupnick and Jolly 2002).…”

Section: Views About Climate Changementioning

confidence: 77%

Value of traditional oral narratives in building climate-change resilience: insights from rural communities in Fiji

Janif¹,

Nunn²,

Geraghty³

et al. 2016

E&S

113

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ABSTRACT. In the interests of improving engagement with Pacific Island communities to enable development of effective and sustainable adaptation strategies to climate change, we looked at how traditional oral narratives in rural/peripheral Fiji communities might be used to inform such strategies. Interviews were undertaken and observations made in 27 communities; because the custodians of traditional knowledge were targeted, most interviewees were 70-79 years old.The view that oral traditions, particularly those referring to environmental history and the observations/precursors of environmental change, were endangered was widespread and regretted. Interviewees' personal experiences of extreme events (natural disasters) were commonplace but no narratives of historical (unwitnessed by interviewees) events were found. In contrast, experiences of previous village relocations attributable (mainly) to environmental change were recorded in five communities while awareness of environmentally driven migration was more common. Questions about climate change elicited views dominated by religious/fatalist beliefs but included some more pragmatic ones; the confusion of climate change with climate variability, which is part of traditional knowledge, was widespread.The erosion of traditional environmental knowledge in the survey communities over recent decades has been severe and is likely to continue apace, which will reduce community self-sufficiency and resilience. Ways of conserving such knowledge and incorporating it into adaptation planning for Pacific Island communities in rural/peripheral locations should be explored.

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Section: Views About Climate Changementioning

confidence: 77%

Value of traditional oral narratives in building climate-change resilience: insights from rural communities in Fiji

Janif¹,

Nunn²,

Geraghty³

et al. 2016

E&S

113

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…2). At one end of the continuum, experts emphasize direct experience in immediate surroundings ), tend to be abductive (Bentley 1989) and stress continuity while acknowledging local variation (Lauer and Aswani 2010). Their knowledge can be useful for informing local observations ), providing explanations for events and processes in their immediate context (e.g., Kovacs 2000) and generating ideas for testable, causal relationships (Bart 2006).…”

Section: A Continuum Of Experts and Expertisementioning

confidence: 99%

Toward rigorous use of expert knowledge in ecological research

et al. 2013

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Abstract. Practicing ecologists who excel at their work (''experts'') hold a wealth of knowledge. This knowledge offers a wide range of opportunities for application in ecological research and natural resource decision-making. While experts are often consulted ad-hoc, their contributions are not widely acknowledged. These informal applications of expert knowledge lead to concerns about a lack of transparency and repeatability, causing distrust of this knowledge source in the scientific community. Here, we address these concerns with an exploration of the diversity of expert knowledge and of rigorous methods in its use. The effective use of expert knowledge hinges on an awareness of the spectrum of experts and their expertise, which varies by breadth of perspective and critical assessment. Also, experts express their knowledge in different forms depending on the degree of contextualization with other information. Careful matching of experts to application is therefore essential and has to go beyond a simple fitting of the expert to the knowledge domain. The standards for the collection and use of expert knowledge should be as rigorous as for empirical data. This involves knowing when it is appropriate to use expert knowledge and how to identify and select suitable experts. Further, it requires a careful plan for the collection, analysis and validation of the knowledge. The knowledge held by expert practitioners is too valuable to be ignored. But only when thorough methods are applied, can the application of expert knowledge be as valid as the use of empirical data. The responsibility for the effective and rigorous use of expert knowledge lies with the researchers.

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“…Our criteria for the selection of research participants were that they: (1) Had a minimum of 20 years'experience as fishermen; (2) fished more than 70% of their time around the seagrass beds; (3) had a knowledge of seagrass; (4) were aware of the changing conditions of the biota groups they targeted in the seagrass bed sites; and (5) had some knowledge regarding the dependence of the target group of organisms on seagrass bed habitats. From these criteria we selected 50 fishermen as respondents (Aswani, 2010).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Threats to Seagrass Ecology and Indicators of the Importance of Seagrass Ecological Services in the Coastal Waters of East Lombok, Indonesia

Syukur

Wardiatno

Muchsin

et al. 2017

American Journal of Environmental Sciences

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Seagrass ecology contributes to the preservation of fish and other biota diversity and is also an important livelihood source for fishermen and local communities. The purpose of our research was (1) to determine the source of the threats toseagrass ecology and to the ecological services it provides for the sustainability of fish resources and (2) to determine the main indicators defining the conservation needs of seagrass in the study area. Data were collected through direct observation, questionnaires, interviews and discussions. Data for fish in the seagrass bed research sites were obtained using mini-trawlers belonging to local fishermen. All data were analyzed using descriptive statistical analyses. The results showed that seagrass beds play an important role in fish ecology and that local livelihoods were highly dependent on small-scale fishing. However, fishermen and local communities also constituted the two main threats to the preservation and sustainability of fish and other biota in the area. Our results found, too, that there is a scarcity of some types of biota: some fish species, mollusks, crabs, see-urchin and some types of sea cucumber were very difficult to find in the seagrass beds that were the focus of our study. Our conclusion is that, given the scarcity of fifteen species of fish, as well as of other biota and the lack of diversity in fish food in our study area, it is imperative that seagrass conservation becomes an important priority for conservation interventions.

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Indigenous Knowledge and Long-term Ecological Change: Detection, Interpretation, and Responses to Changing Ecological Conditions in Pacific Island Communities

Cited by 88 publications

References 50 publications

Value of traditional oral narratives in building climate-change resilience: insights from rural communities in Fiji

Value of traditional oral narratives in building climate-change resilience: insights from rural communities in Fiji

Toward rigorous use of expert knowledge in ecological research

Threats to Seagrass Ecology and Indicators of the Importance of Seagrass Ecological Services in the Coastal Waters of East Lombok, Indonesia

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