Experts' Perspectives on the Integration of Indigenous Knowledge and Science in Wet Tropics Natural Resource Management

Abstract

Aboriginal inhabitants of the Wet Tropics of Queensland advocate for greater inclusion of their Indigenous knowledge (IK) in natural resource management (NRM) to fulfil their customary obligations to country and to exert their Native Title rights. Despite a legal and institutional framework for inclusion of IK in NRM, IK has so far been applied only sporadically. We conducted an ethnographic case study to investigate perceptions on IK, science and how they affect integration of the two knowledge systems in the Wet Tropics. Our results show that IK and science are perceived as different concepts; that integration is limited by weak Indigenous internal and external governance; and that stronger Aboriginal governance and more focused engagement strategies are required to further the application of IK in local NRM. We conclude by arguing that NRM in the Wet Tropics needs to be reconceptualised to accommodate IK holistically, by considering its epistemology and the values and ethic that underpin it.

The hookworm Ancylostoma ceylanicum : An emerging public health risk in Australian tropical rainforests and Indigenous communities

“…The WTWHA is a major tourist attraction and many locations within or on its periphery are both culturally important for Indigenous communities and also visited by tourists [14], [15], [16]. Free-ranging domestic dogs and dingoes (or ‘wild dogs’) are widespread, and interact in close proximity to people in the region [17].…”

Bridging knowledge systems to enhance governance of environmental commons: A typology of settings

“…Knowledge system bridging activities that are open to proposals and initiatives emerging from within indigenous knowledge communities are critical. Gratani et al (2014) provide some insights as to why indigenous participants do not initiate knowledge-bridging practices, and why natural resource management practitioners find it difficult to integrate indigenous and scientific knowledge for environmental management in the Australian context. They point out to three factors: weak indigenous internal and external governance related to colonial disempowerment, the tendency of practitioners to validate indigenous knowledge using scientific knowledge, and a struggle with understanding how to engage.…”

Can Indigenous Knowledge Contribute to the Sustainability Management of the Aspiring Rio Coco Geopark, Nicaragua?

“…The important, nearly paradigmatic, modality of research that is focused on indigenous knowledge is represented by the application of the participatory approach [33], which has been implemented in research located in biologically (e.g., [34,35]), or geologically significant areas (e.g., [8][9][10][11]36]). Taking into account the sensitivity of this research subject, the application of the participatory method is necessary.…”

“…In this context, the search for the optimal synergic combination of scientific and indigenous knowledge systems ( Figure 1) represents an important challenge for sustainability management (e.g., [13,14,18,32]), especially in protected areas (e.g., [39][40][41][42]) and other areas with a high capacity for providing ecosystem services (e.g., [4,8,27,28,34,35]). The UNESCO Global Geoparks focus their mission on research-based conservation and participative development of the geological heritage, as well as its holistic interpretation interlinking the local geological characteristics to the local intangible heritage and other aspects of the local life [7,12,43].…”