The cultural context of biodiversity conservation - Oapen

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5.3 The context of change – the transformational dimension
The cultural context of biodiversity conservation
Cultural and environmental change are interrelated. (Sponsel 2001: 193)
So far, the foregoing sections have shown that the landscape inhabited by the local
communities is formed and characterised by particular land use systems and cultural
beliefs that have mutually informed each other. In the following, the attempt to merge
practical representations and symbolic configurations will be realised by the endeavour
to exemplify the constantly evolving character of indigenous knowledge repertoires.
Change of social, economic and physical environments is a critical issue that determines
the ways peasants use and perceive natural resources. The chapter is intended
to document that the production of knowledge does not reside in category systems or
classificatory schemata per se but in the processes of human interaction with each other
and with their world, leading to the reinforcement or transformation of existing types
of knowledge or to the emergence of new forms. Knowledge repertoires embedded in
social arrangements are not static, no more than the cultures and communities who
have generated them. Farmers are constantly creating and experimenting in response
to a changing set of circumstances. Their experiences are a result of knowledge encounters
in which local, national and global elements are intricately interwoven. This
chapter is about such knowledge complexes. It further looks at ways of imparting
knowledge and explores origins of knowledge fragmentation. Finally, it returns to the
subject of protected area management and deals with the particularities of knowledge
encounters arising in the frame of participatory conservation efforts.