Interdisciplinary progress in approaches to address social-ecological and ecocultural systems

Abstract

SUMMARYThe emergent human cultures have shaped, and in turn been shaped by, local ecosystems. Yet humanity's intense modification of the environment has resulted in dramatic worldwide declines in natural and cultural capital. Social-ecological systems are becoming more vulnerable through the disruption of livelihoods, governance, institutions, resources and cultural traditions. This paper reviews the environmental sub-disciplines that have emerged to seek solutions for conservation and maintenance of the resilience of social-ecological systems. It shows that a central component is engagement with the knowledges of people within their contexts. Local knowledges of nature (traditional, indigenous, local ecological knowledge and ecoliteracy) are used by place-based cultures to guide actions towards nature. The importance of new engagements between different knowledges is now becoming more widely recognized by scientific institutions. Yet there still exist many false dualisms (for example local knowledge versus science) which tend to emphasize a superiority of one over the other. Ecocultures retain or strive to regain their connections with the environment, and thus improve their own resilience. Revitalization projects offer ways to connect knowledge with action to produce optimal outcomes for both nature and culture, suggesting that systems can be redesigned by emphasis on incorporation of local and traditional knowledge systems.

Creative convergence: exploring biocultural diversity through art

“…Art can also be used to emphasize self-governance, indigenous stewardship, and local authority over biodiversity management while at the same time asserting cultural distinctiveness (Pretty 2011). For example, a local Dene artist was recently asked to attend a Délınę Caribou Working group meeting focused on developing a community-driven caribou management plan.…”

“…In the early 1990s, social and natural scientists began to recognize the importance of identifying linkages between human cultural diversity (which may manifest, for example, in language and dialects, specific knowledge of the environment, and unique cultural practices) and the biological diversity of genes, species, and ecosystems (Loh andHarmon 2005, Maffi andWoodley 2010). The variety of cultural and biological diversities, known as biocultural diversity, has the potential to reveal emergent patterns of variation, expose connections between forms of diversity, and provide insight into sustainable management and governance of complex unpredictable social-ecological systems (Kassam 2009, Pretty 2011, Gavin et al 2015.…”

“…Engaging multiple knowledge systems through cross-cultural research with indigenous people is essential to sustainable biocultural research approaches that support equitable ecological decision making and connect knowledge to effective actions (Pretty 2011). Language and practice ground indigenous people's association with biodiversity and encode place-based traditional knowledge of plants and animals (Hunn 2006).…”

Communal visual histories to detect environmental change in northern areas: Examples of emerging North American and Eurasian practices

“…Coinciding with this realization are the various efforts across multiple academic disciplines, cultures, languages, and sectoral approaches in the North to address and understand the new conditions of the Arctic-much of the region is still underexplored, and simultaneously the current change underway affects and produces new contexts and conditions. Therefore, crossdisciplinary, innovative efforts are needed (Pretty 2011).…”

“…The socioecological change (Pretty 2011) underway requires new thinking, new methods, and an interdisciplinary application across scales, ecosystems, and paradigms (Pretty 2011). Kumpula et al (2006Kumpula et al ( , 2010 outline methodologies where natural sciences, including remote sensing methods, have been combined with Indigenous and local knowledge.…”