Possibilities for using traditional and local knowledge in assessments

1
Possibilities for using traditional and local
knowledge in assessments

• Marie Kvarnström, NAPTEK, Swedish Biodiversity
  Centre, Uppsala
• Stockholm Resilience Centre/CBM-NAPTEK project
  group on Multiple knowledge systems

2
7. In carrying out its work an IPBES should

• d) Recognize and respect the contribution of
  indigenous and local knowledge to the
  conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity
  and ecosystems.
• (Busan outcome UNEP/IPBES/3/L.2/Rev.1)

3
Multilateral environmental agreements need to be
taken into account, e gthe Convention on
Biological DiversityEach Contracting Party
shall, as far as possible and as appropriate

• Article 8 (j) respect, preserve and maintain
  knowledge, innovations and practices of
  indigenous and local communities embodying
  traditional lifestyles relevant for the
  conservation and sustainable use of biological
  diversity
• Article 10(c) Protect and encourage customary
  use of biological resources in accordance with
  traditional cultural practices that are
  compatible with conservation or sustainable use
  requirements

4
CBD Programme of Work on Protected Areas

• Goal 2.2 To enhance and secure involvement of
• indigenous and local communities and relevant
• stakeholders
• Target Full and effective participation by 2008,
  of indigenous and local communities, in full
  respect of
• their rights and recognition of their
  responsibilities, consistent with national law
  and applicable
• international obligations, and the participation
  of relevant stakeholders, in the management of
  existing,
• and the establishment and management of new,
  protected areas

5
There are NGO and indigenous initiatives to learn
from, such as Peoples Biocultural Climate Change
Assessment Initiative, IPCCA
6
What kind of knowledge are we talking about?

• Traditional knowledge
• Indigenous knowledge
• Indigenous science
• Aboriginal knowledge
• Local Knowledge
• Traditional Ecological Knowledge

7

• With respect to traditional knowledge and data
  that is shared with IPBES for its assessments,
  IPBES should respect the rights of indigenous
  peoples and not share, without permission, such
  knowledge and data without prior informed consent
  unless the knowledge and/or data is already
  publicly available
• in ways that respect the
• rights of the knowledge
• holders.
• (IUCN comments on IPBES work
• programme under construction).
• Note also local communities,
• Not only indigenous peoples

8
Evaluation of Local Ecological Knowledge as a
Method for Collecting Extensive Data on Animal
Abundance. (Anadón et al, 2009, Conservation
Biology)

• Estimation of abundance of the terrestrial
  tortoise Testudo graeca by local shepherds in SE
  Spain
• high-quality and low-cost information about both
  distribution and abundance
• Analysis of confidence intervals indicated local
  knowledge could be used to estimate mean local
  abundances and to detect mean population trends
• abundance estimates in a much wider
• range than linear transects
• information derived from LEK
• was 100 times cheaper

9
Inuit Knowledge of Long-term Changes in a
Population of Arctic Tundra Caribou (Ferguson et
al., Arctic 1998)

• Inuit knowledge proved to be temporally and
  spatially more complete than the written record
• abundances described by Inuit were generally
  consistent with densities estimated from aerial
  surveys
• using aerial survey, a numerical scale for Inuit
  descriptions of caribou abundance was developed
• stunning accuracy and precision of the
  informants recollections
• Inuit informants were able to accurately predict
  population changes
• The threat of climate change makes
• collaboration between caribou biologists,
• other scientists, and the Inuit especially
• urgent.

10
Learning from Traditional Knowledge of Non-timber
Forest Products Penan Benalui and the Autecology
of Aquilaria in Indonesian Borneo (Donovan and
Puri, 2004)

• study of distribution of resin-containing trees
  of genus Aquilaria, a tropical forest tree of
  South and Southeast Asia
• the Penan Benalui have detailed knowledge of
  distribution, abundance, complexity of resin
  formation, involving 1-2 species of fungi and 1
  insect species
• www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol9/iss3/art3

11
(No Transcript)
12

• Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) offers
  ecological information and insight relevant to
  ecological management and research that cannot be
  obtained from other sources
• While this makes sense, the statement is also
  problematic, for reasons explained in the
  following slides

13

• The idea of integration contains the implicit
  assumption that the cultural beliefs and
  practices referred to as "traditional knowledge"
  conform to western conceptions about "knowledge."
  It takes for granted existing power relations
  between aboriginal people and the state by
  assuming that traditional knowledge is simply a
  new form of "data" to be incorporated into
  existing management bureaucracies and acted upon
  by scientists and resource managers.

14

• As a result, aboriginal people have been forced
  to express themselves in ways that conform to the
  institutions and practices of state management
  rather than to their own beliefs, values, and
  practices. And, since it is scientists and
  resource managers, rather than aboriginal hunters
  and trappers, who will be using this new
  "integrated" knowledge, the project of
  integration actually serves to concentrate power
  in administrative centers, rather than in the
  hands of aboriginal people.
• The Politics Of TEK Power And The Integration Of
  Knowledge
• (Paul Nadasdy, 1999, Arctic Anthropology)

15

• Scientists and resource managers usually do not
  even acknowledge, much less attempt to make use
  of, the stories, beliefs, and values which inform
  the hunters' view of the world and specify the
  proper relationship between themselves and the
  animals in question.
• The case of management of Dall sheep in Southwest
  Yukon, Canada. Biologists wanted to cull full
  curl rams (7-8yrs). Kluane First Nation hunters
  said this would remove the individuals who had
  the most important knowledge for the social
  structure in their herds. They were the memory
  and the teachers of the herd, and removing them
  would seriously disrupt social structure.
• According to members of Kluane First Nation,
  disruption of social structure of sheep can do at
  least as much damage to their population as the
• deaths of hordes of
• potential offspring.

16
(No Transcript)
17
Dialogue Workshop on Knowledge for the 21st
CenturyIndigenous knowledge, Traditional
knowledge, Science andconnecting diverse
knowledge systems

• To contribute to strengthened exchange and
  cross-fertilization between knowledge systems in
  an equal, legitimate, and transparent way.
• To outline the context of connecting diverse
  knowledge systems, including indigenous and local
  knowledge and experiential knowledge as well as
  Western scientific knowledge, for the benefit of
  knowledge generation, capacity building and
  ecosystem assessments as carried out by
  researchers, including NGOs, governing
  authorities, and others, , with the final aim of
  contributing to sustainable development
• Stockholm Resilience Centre/CBM-NAPTEK project
  group on Multiple knowledge systems together with
  representatives of International Indigenous Forum
  on Biodiveristy and other partners

18
Some issues for IPBES

• Dual-evidence base?
• different criteria of validation?
• Design of a process for indigenous and local
  knowledge in IPBES
• Selection of actors in this process
• Accountability to all constituencies
• Protection of ownership of knowledge,
  disclosure/non-disclosure