Rapid ecosystem change challenges the adaptive capacity of Local Environmental Knowledge

Abstract

The use of Local Environmental Knowledge has been considered as an important strategy for adaptive management in the face of Global Environmental Change. However, the unprecedented rates at which global change occurs may pose a challenge to the adaptive capacity of local knowledge systems. In this paper, we use the concept of the shifting baseline syndrome to examine the limits in the adaptive capacity of the local knowledge of an indigenous society facing rapid ecosystem change. We conducted semi-structured interviews regarding perceptions of change in wildlife populations and in intergenerational transmission of knowledge amongst the Tsimane', a group of hunter-gatherers of Bolivian Amazonia (n = 300 adults in 13 villages). We found that the natural baseline against which the Tsimane' measure ecosystem changes might be shifting with every generation as a result of (a) age-related differences in the perception of change and (b) a decrease in the intergenerational sharing of environmental knowledge. Such findings suggest that local knowledge systems might not change at a rate quick enough to adapt to conditions of rapid ecosystem change, hence potentially compromising the adaptive success of the entire social-ecological system. With the current pace of Global Environmental Change, widening the gap between the temporal rates of on-going ecosystem change and the timescale needed for local knowledge systems to adjust to change, efforts to tackle the shifting baseline syndrome are urgent and critical for those who aim to use Local Environmental Knowledge as a tool for adaptive management.

Local knowledge production, transmission, and the importance of village leaders in a network of Tibetan pastoralists coping with environmental change

“…This is also corroborated by our finding that members of the youngest knowledge group (B), who would have had the least time to accrue observations of change, gave the most "don't know" responses (Fernández-Llamazares et al 2015). Moreover, the oldest groups (D and F) contain men who are no longer herding as often and are therefore not updating their knowledge of subtle changes as frequently as those who continue to herd more actively (OterosRozas et al 2013).…”

“…Implications for the future of local ecological knowledge (LEK) and adaptive capacity Local ecological knowledge of past conditions provides a reservoir of practical knowledge that could prove useful in response to current and future challenges (Berkes 2009, Fernández-Giménez andEstaque 2012), but it must also be updated with new LEK relevant to changing environmental conditions (Fernández-Llamazares et al 2015). New education requirements that remove children from the rangeland to attend boarding schools threaten their ability to continue acquiring LEK through personal observations and from elders.…”

“…Among the people most vulnerable to these changes will be those who depend directly on local ecosystems for their livelihoods (O'Brien and Leichenko 2000). Traditionally these same communities have had an intimate understanding of their environment that has allowed their long-term persistence (Berkes 2008), but when the rate of environmental change is rapid, these local knowledge systems may be unable to keep pace (Fernández-Llamazares et al 2015). These knowledge systems are also subject to degradation by rapidly changing social institutions, such as altered land-management regulations and practices (Fernández-Giménez andEstaque 2012, Oteros-Rozas et al 2013), participation in formal schooling (Zent 1999, Sternberg et al 2001, and integration into the market economy (Reyes-García et al 2007).…”

Local perceptions as a guide for the sustainable management of natural resources: empirical evidence from a small-scale society in Bolivian Amazonia

“…Perceptions of environmental change can therefore be considered a form of tacit and situated knowledge, reflecting a depth of embodied experience unlikely to be derived through structured and formalized processes (Fazey et al 2005). On the one hand, perceptions of environmental change are based on factual and direct knowledge or continued observation of biophysical phenomena (Gearheard et al 2010, Orlove et al 2010.…”

Healing Brazil's Blue Amazon: The Role of Knowledge Networks in Nurturing Cross-Scale Transformations at the Frontlines of Ocean Sustainability

“…With a growing human population and changing life styles, the services provided by coastal and marine ecosystems are increasingly important for economic and human well-being (Martínez et al, 2007), as well as heavily impacted by accelerating global change (Hughes et al, 2013;Zondervan et al, 2013;Fernández-Llamazares et al, 2015). These changes act directly and indirectly on societies as they result in increasing degradation of coastal and marine ecosystems strongly affecting human livelihoods and overall well-being through the modification of ecosystem services (Cinner and Bodin, 2010;Cinner, 2011).…”