Global trends of local ecological knowledge and future implications

Abstract

Local and indigenous knowledge is being transformed globally, particularly being eroded when pertaining to ecology. In many parts of the world, rural and indigenous communities are facing tremendous cultural, economic and environmental changes, which contribute to weaken their local knowledge base. In the face of profound and ongoing environmental changes, both cultural and biological diversity are likely to be severely impacted as well as local resilience capacities from this loss. In this global literature review, we analyse the drivers of various types of local and indigenous ecological knowledge transformation and assess the directionality of the reported change. Results of this analysis show a global impoverishment of local and indigenous knowledge with 77% of papers reporting the loss of knowledge driven by globalization, modernization, and market integration. The recording of this loss, however, is not symmetrical, with losses being recorded more strongly in medicinal and ethnobotanical knowledge. Persistence of knowledge (15% of the studies) occurred in studies where traditional practices were being maintained consiously and where hybrid knowledge was being produced as a resut of certain types of incentives created by economic development. This review provides some insights into local and indigenous ecological knowledge change, its causes and implications, and recommends venues for the development of replicable and comparative research. The larger implication of these results is that because of the interconnection between cultural and biological diversity, the loss of local and indigenous knowledge is likely to critically threaten effective conservation of biodiversity, particularly in community-based conservation local efforts.

Effects of climatically shifting species distributions on biocultural relationships

“…However, with the addition of tribal boundary data, we show that decreasing suitability for Kuta in Northland is likely to inhibit local Kuta availability and continued use of harvest sites that have been treasured for generations, particularly Lake Ngātu. Reduced local access to species is typically accompanied by a loss of biocultural knowledge (Aswani, Lemahieu, & Sauer, ; Hanazaki, Herbst, Marques, & Vandebroek, ; Soga & Gaston, ). Using traditional Kuta harvest sites remains important for cultural identity and direct ancestral connections to the environment (Harmsworth & Awatere, ; Kapa, ; Kawharu, ; Roberts et al., ), especially in the northern and central regions of New Zealand's North Island (Kapa, ; Wehi, ).…”

Community-Engaged Research Builds a Nature-Culture of Hope on North American Great Plains Rangelands

“…Place-based knowledge, as practiced by pastoralists and ranchers, shapes their identities, families, communities, and their ecological environments (Knapp and Fernández-Giménez 2009;Fernández-Giménez 2015;and Dong et al 2016). Research interpreting rancher local knowledge is limited (Knapp and Fernández-Giménez 2009), yet research on local ecological knowledge in natural resources management generally suggests such place-based knowledge shapes and is shaped by emotional, religious, spiritual, social connections to and management of specific places (Masterson et al 2017;Plumwood 2006;Fernández-Giménez 2015;and Fernández-Giménez and Estaque 2012;Robinson et al 2000;Aswani et al 2018). Ranchers' local knowledge may also exist at scales that are different from those of research-derived knowledge and practice (Cote and Nightingale 2012).…”

Identifying potential causes of fish declines through local ecological knowledge of fishers in the Ganga River, eastern Bihar, India

“…Thus, there is regular exchange of information between locally situated knowledge and the larger domain of science, as both complement each other. Even so, the scope to enhance linkages between LEK and formal science might be lost or be rendered irrelevant in changing fisheries and fisher communities experiencing rapid hydrological and climate change (Drew & Henne, ; Gómez‐Baggethun & Reyes‐Garcia, ; Aswani, Lemahieu, & Sauer, ). Degradation and transformation of LEK are also likely to negatively affect biodiversity conservation and sustainable fisheries efforts involving local communities (Aswani et al, ).…”

“…Degradation and transformation of LEK are also likely to negatively affect biodiversity conservation and sustainable fisheries efforts involving local communities (Aswani et al, 2018). Berkes et al (2000) showed that LEK comes about through long-sustained iterations of trial-and-error and learning practices that converge upon principles of adaptive resource management.…”