Traditional knowledge

About: Traditional knowledge is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 10825 publications have been published within this topic receiving 202790 citations. The topic is also known as: indigenous knowledge & indigenous knowledge system.

The major importance of 'minor' resources: Women and plant biodiversity

Abstract: Understanding women’s influence on plant biodiversity is essential to our ability to conserve plant genetic resources, especially those plants that are useful to humans. Contrary to previous thinking, it is becoming clear that women know most about these plants because, throughout history, women’s daily work has required more of this knowledge. This paper describes how women predominate in plant biodiversity management in their roles as housewives, plant gatherers, homegardeners, herbalists, seed custodians and informal plant breeders. But they are largely invisible to outsiders and are easily undervalued. Gender bias has prevailed in scientific research about people-plant relationships, and conservation policies and programmes are still largely blind to the importance of the domestic sphere, of women and of gender relations for biodiversity conservation, and to the importance of plants for women’s status and welfare. Traditional knowledge and indigenous rights to plants are everywhere sex-differentiated, and gender inequalities are also implicated in processes leading to biological erosion. Achieving the goals of the Convention on Biological Diversity, particularly those related to sustainable use and to benefit sharing, will require much greater attention to women’s knowledge, management and rights, and to the domestic sphere. Steps needed include: prioritising the conservation of plants that are important to women curators and reversing dynamics that lead to their erosion; recognising, and promoting the inter-generational transmission of women’s traditional knowledge; recognising indigenous rights systems and women’s rights to plants and land resources within these; and ensuring women’s full participation in decisions and policies that affect their plant rights.

Indigenous Entrepreneurship Research: Themes and Variations

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to offer an overview of the current study of indigenous entrepreneurship. First, while there is broad agreement on the application of the term "indigenous," there are differences of emphasis and outright controversies about empirical description of indigenous people, especially concerning the role of ownership and private property in their culture and traditions. Second, the concept of entrepreneurship is as controversial in this field as elsewhere in management studies. There are fundamental disagreements as to how flexible the requirements of entrepreneurship are, and whether true indigenous entrepreneurship can transform entrepreneurship into an authentic and distinctive form. Third, the concept of indigenous entrepreneurship as a total concept is open to debate and discussion. Not only does it inherit the question of whether the notion of entrepreneurship can be culturally transformed, there is also a difference of approach concerning the location and ultimate goals of indigenous entrepreneurship. Fourth, there are a number of critical discussion points related to indigenous populations, and in turn, their relationship to entrepreneurial activities and enterprises. These include, but are not limited to, the pursuit of multiple goals, including social objectives; the notion of collective organization, ownership and outcomes; and a population's association with the land, characteristically leading to a high degree of environmental sensitivity, drawing on traditional knowledge and fostered by a sense of spiritual connection with the land and its resources. The theme of partnerships involving indigenous enterprises with other indigenous enterprises and non-indigenous bodies, is recognized as a vital topic demanding further attention.

Research, part of a Special Feature on Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Global Environmental Change Biocultural Refugia: Combating the Erosion of Diversity in Landscapes of Food Production

Abstract: There is urgent need to both reduce the rate of biodiversity loss caused by industrialized agriculture and feed more people. The aim of this paper is to highlight the role of places that harbor traditional ecological knowledge, artifacts, and methods when preserving biodiversity and ecosystem services in landscapes of food production. We use three examples in Europe of biocultural refugia, defined as the physical places that not only shelter farm biodiversity, but also carry knowledge and experiences about practical management of how to produce food while stewarding biodiversity and ecosystem services. Memory carriers include genotypes, landscape features, oral, and artistic traditions and self-organized systems of rules, and as such reflect a diverse portfolio of practices on how to deal with unpredictable change. We find that the rich biodiversity of many regionally distinct cultural landscapes has been maintained through different smallholder practices developed in relation to local environmental fluctuations and carried within biocultural refugia for as long as millennia. Places that transmit traditional ecological knowledge and practices hold important lessons for policy makers since they may provide genetic and cultural reservoirs — refugia — for the wide array of species that have co-evolved with humans in Europe for more than 6000 thousand yrs. Biodiversity restoration projects in domesticated landscapes can employ the biophysical elements and cultural practices embedded in biocultural refugia to create locally adapted small-scale mosaics of habitats that allow species to flourish and adapt to change. We conclude that such insights must be included in discussions of land-sparing vs. land-sharing when producing more food while combating loss of biodiversity. We found the latter strategy rational in domesticated landscapes with a long history of agriculture.

The Role of Local Ecological Knowledge in Sustainable Urban Planning: Perspectives From Finland

Abstract: This article reports on a study of the role of local ecological knowledge (LEK) as lay-expert knowledge in the urban land use planning process in Finland The authors consider the importance of LEK, and the ways LEK is obtained and used To obtain data, the authors interviewed planning officials, biologists, and representatives of resident and nature associations in the Helsinki metropolitan area The results indicate that LEK exists among nature enthusiast, as well as local residents Planners can access this knowledge in several ways, most notably through networks of knowledgeable key informants and local nature associations The authors note that including LEK in urban planning is important because it complements scientific ecological data and indicates places important to locals Some of the challenges of using LEK include collecting it through participatory planning processes, distinguishing it from other information, valuing subjective knowledge, and empowering planning officials to use LEK In addition, technical improvements, such as registers of key informants and more efficient use of nature associations’ knowledge, would be useful in applying LEK The authors conclude that even if LEK is available, decisionmakers need the will to enhance sustainability by using the information and by maintaining a certain amount of urban green space with a certain ”ecological quality level," even under the pressure of planning for the growing urban population

Interactions between agroecosystems and rural communities

Abstract: Introduction, C.B. Flora Shifting Agroecosystems and Communities, C.B. Flora Altered Landscapes and Transformed Livelihoods: Banana Companies, Panama Disease, and Rural Communities on the North Coast of Honduras, J. Soluri Community Culture and the Evolution of Hog Production: Eastern and Western Oklahoma, C. Mayda Forest Conservation and Degradation in a Subsubsistence Agricultural System: Community and Forestry in Mexico, D. Klooster Community, Fruits, and Vegetables for Export: The Impact on Two Mexican Ecosystems and Rural Communities, M.B. Nock Communities of Interest and Agroecosystem Restoration: Streuobst in Europe, F. Herzog and A. Oetmann Transhumant Communities and Agroecosystems in Patagonia, M. Bendini Farm-Community Entrepreneurial Partnerships in the Midwest, C.B. Flora, G. McIsaac, S. Gasteyer, and M. Kroma A Learning Approach to Community Agroecosystem Management, C. Lightfoot, M. Fernandez, R. Noble, R. Ramirez, A. Groot, E. Fernandez-Baca, F. Shao, G. Muro, S. Okelabo, A. Mugenyi, I. Bekalo, A. Rianga, and L. Obare Bridges to Sustainability: Links Between Agriculture, Community, and the Ecosystem, L.M. Butler and R. Carkner Rural Community Leadership in the Lake Benton Watershed, W. Monson The Winnebago Tribe's Agroforestry Project: Linking Indigenous Knowledge, Resource Management Planning, and Community Development, L.C. Rule, M.B. Szymanski, and J.P. Colletti Innovation in Indigenous Production Systems to Maintain Tradition, M. de Lourdes Baron and D. Barkin Ethnicity, Multiple Communities, and the Promotion of Conservation: Strawberries in California, D.C. Mountjoy Ecobelts: Reconnecting Agriculture and Communities, M.M. Schoenberger, G. Bentrup, and C. A. Francis Afterward: An Optimistic Future Scenario, C.A. Francis Index