Transformation of Ecological Traditions in the Context of the Evolution of the Traditional Economy System

Abstract

Ecological traditions are the most important elements of the traditional economic system. They are features distinguishing the traditional economy from the innovation-based one and characterizing intra-system relations of the traditional economy. Therefore, transformation of ecological traditions to a model of environmental management aimed at extracting the maximum short-term benefit (a priority of individual interest above public ones) becomes one of the destructive processes that is destroying the traditional economic system. On the contrary, preservation of ecological traditions contributes to the sustainability of the traditional economic system and protects the environment. The validity of these provisions is confirmed by the study of the traditional economy of the indigenous population of the Baikal regionthe Buryats and Evenks. The concept "traditional economic system" is a "live" model that changes and reflects the evolution of both social relations and ideas about them.

Hyper‐peripheral regional evolution: The “long histories” of the Pilbara and Buryatia

“…The territory that comprises contemporary Buryatia belongs to the northernmost Mongolian ethnos (Khamag Mongol, a predecessor to the Mongol Empire) that resided around Lake Baikal, Siberia, and the Far East (Bold, 2001; Boronoyeva, 2006; Krader, 1954). Indigenous Buryat worldviews are based in ecological traditions , where humans are part of nature and nature is deified (Kuryshova & Kuryshov, 2019). Buryat people historically follow shamanist beliefs that are nature‐centred and uphold the divinity and spiritualism of the four elements—air, fire, water, and earth (Boldonova, 2016).…”

“…For example, tree cutting was uncommon and only done with great care and necessity—Buryats used fallen trees and branches as firewood. Hunting and fishing remain subject to traditional practices (Kuryshova & Kuryshov, 2019).…”