The cultural context of biodiversity conservation - Oapen

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The cultural context of biodiversity conservation
As the present study concentrates on those aspects that apply explicitly to indigenous
peoples' knowledge about natural resource management, the preferential term indigenous
knowledge is used in the following and understood in accordance with an operational
definition provided by Berkes, who established the term traditional ecological
knowledge (TEK), described as »a cumulative body of knowledge, practice, and belief,
evolving by adaptive processes and handed down through generations by cultural
transmission, about the relationship of living beings (including humans) with one another
and with their environment« (1999: 8). 45 Berkes, who is engaged in the interface
of natural and social sciences, has undertaken to conceptualise a knowledge-practice-belief
complex. This approach of contextualisation implies a primary level of ecological
knowledge regarding animals, plants, soils and landscapes being framed by a second
level of knowledge on land and resource management systems. A third level refers to
social institutions and relations, whereas the fourth level is given by the worldview,
which includes belief systems and cultural ethics and values that shape environmental
perceptions. The following figure illustrates these distinguished levels of analysis.
local knowledge of
land, animals
land and resource
management systems
social
institutions
Fig. 3.3 Levels of analysis in traditional knowledge and management systems 46
world view
45 The term traditional knowledge is often used synonymously in contemporary writing. In the present
context, it is avoided as it is often conceived as a counterpoint to ›modern‹ knowledge and implies a
form of cultural stasis. In other contexts, ›traditional‹ is used in the sense of a »cultural continuity
transmitted in the form of social attitudes, beliefs, principles, and conventions of behaviour and
practice derived from historical experience« (Berkes 1999: 5).
46 The scheme is adapted from Berkes (1999: 13) and illustrated with pictures taken by the author.