TradiTional Knowledge and BiodiversiTy - UNU-IAS - United ...

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Monitoring, documentation, protection, and education
Fisher came to the same conclusion as Kaasinen and
Ahlberg (2010) and IUCN CEC (2009), which were focused
on all organism groups.
Compared to many other countries, Finland is sparsely
populated. In Finland, there are so-called everyman’s
rights: all citizens are allowed to walk on woods, and pick
berries, leaves of wild herbs and mushrooms, regardless of
who is the owner of the forest. There are hundreds of years
of traditions of picking and using berries and mushrooms
from nature. In the 19th century, the first thorough Finnish
Flora (Lönnrot 1860) contained information on how to
use wild plants for food. At that time Finland was a poor
agricultural country, in which famine was common.
Some wild herbs have been used commonly, others have
been used more rarely. In Finland, knowledge and interest
on the use of native wild herbs has been increasing
since the Second World War, originally because of lack of
healthy food during war time (Rautavaara 1942 and 1977).
Nowadays, in USA, the UK and in many other developed
countries, use of wild herbs is a healthy fashion that
promotes sustainable development, sustainable use
of biodiversity.
In Finland local species and ecosystems have been
researched from the 17th century and intensively over 200
years. The region of RCE Espoo is no exception. Traditional
knowledge and use of species like wild plants, trees etc.
has been collected long before this field of research was
called ethnobiology. According to modern science, some
folk knowledge around this issue are sound, while some
are dangerous. From the viewpoint of modern science,
traditional knowledge ought to be taken as hypotheses.
Some of the claims, at least part of them, may be correct
according to modern science, but some may be damaging
for human health. For example, in Japan traditional
knowledge supports the consumption of young stems
of Pteridium aquilinum (bracken or common bracken).
Pteridium is a species of fern occurring throughout the
northern hemisphere. The plant contains the carcinogenic
compound ptaquiloside and Japan, where the young
stems are used as a vegetable, now has one of the highest
stomach cancer rates in the world (Evans & al. 1971 and
Gomes & al. 2011)
In the Finnish National Core Curricula (2004), for grades
1 to 6, implemented also in Espoo, one of the main
educational objectives in biology is to investigate local
species and local ecosystems and to learn about them.
NatureGate online is widely used in Finland for species
identification. NatureGate is in Finnish and is translated at
least partly in seven other languages, English included. In
Figures 1 and 2, there are two photos of how NatureGate is
used at schools.
Figure 1 Pupils of Mahnala Environmental School using NatureGate to
identify a wild flower. (Photo, Courtesy of Ms. Annukka Alppi)
Figure 2 A screen shot showing an example of type of self-instructional
views and icons that NatureGate uses to promote easy, rapid, and
interactive use of its patented system and method for species identification.
Project Activities
Local species identification, conservation and sustainable
use of biodiversity and ecosystem services is part of the
lifelong learning and teaching vision of RCE Espoo. There
are plenty of immigrants in Espoo and it is important to
explicate the traditional knowledge of both natives and
immigrants. There have been lethal misunderstandings
around which mushrooms are edible in Finland and which
are not because some inedible mushrooms look similar
to those which are edible in South Asia. In the future,
NatureGate will publish an interactive, online identification
tool for Northern European mushrooms, both edible and
toxic. In June 2012 a mobile Apps versions for iPhone and
Android phones were launched officially. NatureGate will
also be integrated in school curricula and teaching packets
will be tested, customised and localised to promote the
integration of ecologically, economically and socially
sustainable development. All interventions are planned as
a series of design experiments, which will be documented
and analysed for continual quality improvement.
Outcomes and Achievements
The initial collaboration between NatureGate and
RCE Espoo is already an important outcome. Before
NatureGate, people learned to identify species from field
guides or from older people. NatureGate is an innovation
based on more than two decades of accurate nature
photography by Eija and Jouko Lehmuskallio, and their
patented system and method for interactive species
identification. NatureGate R&D Group of University of
Helsinki, Department of Teacher Education, provides
university level expertise and university level links
to teachers and schools. All pre-service classroom
teachers and biology subject teachers, as well as RCE
Espoo affiliated teachers, have been taught how to use
NatureGate online services for the identification of local
species and to get knowledge about their sustainable use.
to the teachers spread the message and encourage testing
of the service. NatureGate has been presented to the most
important persons of municipal and school administration.
Not all of them are deeply interested in biodiversity, its
sustainable use, species identification and the central role
of them in promoting sustainable development. However,
there is enough interest on the national and international
level to spread this useful innovation.
A part of this collaboration is the implementation of
design experiments and testing of digital herbaria
created at schools, linking the photographed species to
NatureGate as much as possible to certify and to make
checking of identification of photographed species easier.
Collaborative learning is applied as often as possible.
Traditionally people think that they are outside of nature.
NatureGate teaches from viewpoint of biological sciences
that humans are a part of nature, in particular a part of
biosphere covering the Earth. It is aimed at social change
in which people of all ages, from children to elderly people
are united by their interest in local biodiversity, enjoying it
and its sustainable use. Curricula will be reoriented in many
ways including through the integration of NatureGate.
Sustainability principles have from the beginning
been integrated into both RCE Espoo and NatureGate.
This means the continual integration of ecologically,
economically and socially sustainable development. Both
promote sustainable living, lifelong learning, systemic
thinking and systems thinking, learning to understand
the world as the biggest system and countless other
systems as parts of it. On the Earth, most if not all
systems are interacting. There is a special R&D Group
for research on RCE Espoo and, as part of this research,
critical reflections and evaluations are implemented. For
all active participants of RCE Espoo and NatureGate, the
basic principles of high quality learning and thinking are
taught and continually implemented (Åhlberg 1997; 2005;
Åhlberg, Äänismaa, and Dillon 2005).
Successes and Challenges
NatureGate is a highly successful and unique site for
interactive, easy and rapid identification of species.
A user does not need to know any organism names.
The user just makes accurate observations of the
organisms and clicks accordingly. Icons are mostly selfinstructive.
More information is linked to the key icons.
Any selection can be reversed, the user may start from
anywhere in the identification tool. NatureGate uses the
patented system and method for interactive object (e.g.
species) identification invented and patented by Eija
and Jouko Lehmuskallio (Lehmuskallio & Lehmuskallio
2008a and 2008b). The core of NatureGate’s photos
and descriptions are from more than two decades of
professional nature photographs by Jouko Lehmuskallio.
The photos of NatureGate have been taken in nature, in
the natural habitats of each organism. The photos are both
scientifically accurate and aesthetically enjoyed by nature
lovers. It is often said that looking at NatureGate photos
creates a calming and relaxing nature experience. The
text is designed to promote lifelong learning. Experts of
each field have checked the descriptive texts as well as the
identification tool. There are plenty of photographs and
expertise on different species in each area.
The challenge is to get enough political will and funding
to create local NatureGate servers all around the world.
For Finland, the patented and unique NatureGate online
service is crucially important, as evidenced by the
support of different ministries and organisations, such
as the UNESCO Committee of Finland. Too few people
know about NatureGate due to a lack of advertisement
and publicity. Through teacher education, however, the
message is spreading.
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