Local ecological knowledge in natural resource management

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Local ecological knowledge in natural resource
management

• Laxman Joshi, Luis Arévalo, Nelly Luque, Julio
  Alegre and Fergus Sinclair

Bridging Scales and Epistemologies
Conference, 17-20 March 2004, Alexandria, Egypt
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Rationale

• Rural people depend on natural resources for
  their livelihood
• long term use depends on their ability to manage
• farmers are heterogeneous in terms of their
  management ability, objectives, dependence, local
  context, experience and observations
• In natural science, the emphasis is on practical
  explanatory and predictive knowledge

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Knowledge
an output of learning, reasoning and perception
and a basis for predictions of future events it
is peoples understanding and interpretation
based on some explainable logic of supposedly
general validity.
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Local Ecological Knowledge

• local peoples knowledge about elements and about
  processes and inter-relationship between these
  elements of their agro-ecosystem.

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Knowledge sphere
natural
supernatural
process
rules, norms and values
descriptive
perceptions
Local knowledge
learning
action
Predicting consequences
decisions
External source
Resource endowments
external
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Methodology
Knowledge-based systems approach

• Articulation and representation of local
  ecological knowledge to effectively incorporate
  local ecological knowledge and local perspective
  in RD programs.

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Reported study Indonesia

• Sumberjaya, South Sumatra
• coffee based sun, shade and multistrata system
  on slopes
• disputed land
• mostly local people
• long farming experience

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Reported study Peru

• Pucallpa Shipibo Conibo community
• fishing, hunting and gathering fruits and
  medicinal plants
• farming relatively new
• annual flooding (2-3 months)

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Results Indonesia

• Farmer innovations (terraces, vegetation strips,
  furrows and compost pits, multi-storey system)
• turbidity in paddy fields nutrient source for
  plants but water flow must be regulated
• landscape scale riverside vegetation (roots)
  for watershed functions
• Knowledge of other factors exist but not always
  practised
• Key reasons
• resource (especially time and labour)
  constraints
• individual efforts not very effective
• insecure land tenure uncertainty

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Explanatory knowledge
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Results Peru

• Soil fertility related to post-flooding condition
  of soils - dark non-clayey property and organic
  content (indicated by crop performance)
• Knowledge about poor fertility indicator plants
  e.g. shuashui (?), arrocillo (Rottboellia
  exaltata), gramalote (Brachiaria mutica)
• Flood tolerant and flood susceptible fruits but
  much contradiction among the people
• Local ecological knowledge about soil resources
  less sophisticated
• Knowledge about fishing and hunting richer?

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Research indicate that LEK

• has explanatory aspects, with a logical structure
  comparable to scientific understanding
• comes largely from experience
• holistic and un-disciplined
• notions of description, classification and
  fertility of soils lacalized
• explanatory knowledge and underlying principles
  can be generalized (regularity across similar
  agroecosystems)
• knowledge may not always translate into action
  other constraints
• LEK is not opaque - can be articulated and
  recorded through structured discussions with
  local people

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LEK research in NRM

• focused development imperatives
• useful for three aspects
• Building on local practice
• Recognizing sophistication of local knowledge
  (and terminology) for effective communication
• Realising its limitations windows for
  improvement

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Ecological knowledge about NRM
Scientific K
Local K
Policy makers K