A Rosetta Stone for Nature’s Benefits to People

After a long incubation period, the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is now underway. Underpinning all its activities is the IPBES Conceptual Framework (CF), a simplified model of the interactions between nature and people. Drawing on the legacy of previous large-scale environmental assessments, the CF goes further in explicitly embracing different disciplines and knowledge systems (including indigenous and local knowledge) in the co-construction of assessments of the state of the world’s biodiversity and the benefits it provides to humans. The CF can be thought of as a kind of “Rosetta Stone” that highlights commonalities between diverse value sets and seeks to facilitate crossdisciplinary and crosscultural understanding. We argue that the CF will contribute to the increasing trend towards interdisciplinarity in understanding and managing the environment. Rather than displacing disciplinary science, however, we believe that the CF will provide new contexts of discovery and policy applications for it.     

Ensuring the success of IPBES: between interface,market place and parliament

After years of protracted negotiations, the Intergovernmental science–policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) was finally established in 2012. One year on and we have already witnessed two plenary sessions which have, so far, defined procedures for nominating members for observatory and decision-making panels as well as experts and knowledge holders for the compilation of reports. The sessions also determined the work programme for the next 4 years (2014–2018). According to its internally formulated criteria, the success of IPBES will be determined by how credible, relevant and legitimate its institution and operations are. More specifically, these criteria suggest that success is contingent on the transparency of the processes within IPBES, the autonomy and quality of scientific knowledge, and the early integration of different stakeholders and diverse knowledge and value systems. Currently, we see IPBES encompassing open and integrative approaches as well as providing a convenient trading floor for particulate and opaque agendas formulated elsewhere. In any case, without the backing of large and effective publics the policy–support function of IPBES will be limited. Local capacity building and supporting communities to actively participate in research projects dealing with biodiversity are essential for furthering a practical and emancipatory understanding of the relationship between political and economic decisions, the state and functioning of biodiversity and ecosystems, and current and future human well-being.     

IPBES工作进展及我国对策建议

作为生物多样性保护领域的首个政府间机制, 生物多样性和生态系统服务政府间科学政策平台(IPBES)正在对全球生物多样性和生态系统保护政策的制定和实施产生重要影响, 其评估成果大大提升了全球决策者对生物多样性的关注。2019年4月, IPBES在法国巴黎召开第七次全体会议, 会议总结了第一轮工作方案(2014-2019)各目标的实现情况, 通过了第二轮工作方案(2019-2030), 为未来10年重点工作和评估方向提供指导。本文结合两轮工作方案的具体目标, 分析研判了IPBES工作及评估进展, 对各成员国主要观点进行了梳理, 提出了中国的应对策略。IPBES评估发现, 人类面临的生物多样性问题越来越多元化、复杂化, IPBES正通过发布一系列的评估报告, 将生物多样性保护问题进一步主流化、政治化。我们建议, 作为全球生物多样性最为丰富的国家之一, 中国应该充分认识到IPBES的作用, 积极参与有关进程, 加强跨部门跨学科协助, 促进国际合作与交流, 提升我国在生物多样性领域相关谈判中的主动权和话语权。     

IPBES:生物多样性科学评估将成为政策决策的驱动因素

生物多样性和生态系统服务政府间科学-政策平台(IPBES)的目的,是为了缓解生物多样性持续减退的趋势,推动政策和科学之间的互动。2012年成立至今构建了概念模型,确定了2014—2018年的工作方案。分析IPBES工作方案的4个目的和相应交付成果可以看出,通过推出不同专题评估报告,将为全球提出生物多样性相关的新问题,给生物多样性相关的谈判和履约提出新挑战。一系列区域和全球评估报告的推出,可能通过持续积累效益,引起公众和媒体的关注,使生物多样性问题迅速政治化,形成科学驱动政策决策的趋势。应对IPBES及其生物多样性相关公约的谈判,我国需要制定深入和持续参与其国际过程的策略,需要通过培养和推荐专业水平高且政治敏感的专家,参与IPBES评估报告的具体工作,从科学层面影响评估结果,把握生物多样性领域国际政策决策动向,在保护生物多样性的基础上,维护国家利益。     

IPBES框架下生物多样性和生态系统服务情景和模型方法评估及对我国的影响

随着国际社会对生物多样性保护关注度的提升, 生物多样性和生态系统服务情景和模型方法逐渐成为国际进程和条约关注的焦点问题。生物多样性和生态系统服务政府间科学-政策平台(Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, IPBES)将“生物多样性和生态系统服务情景和模型方法评估”列入2014-2018年工作方案, 作为IPBES首批评估活动之一, 其评估报告及决策者摘要已在IPBES第四次全体会议上获得通过。本文概述了该评估报告的主要内容和结论, 探讨了报告与其他国际进程的关系及其可能对中国的影响。该报告梳理了国际上现有的生物多样性和生态系统服务相关情景和模型方法, 综合分析了它们的优缺点、适用范围和限制条件, 提出了使用过程中应对数据和知识空缺的方法, 为制定、使用及优化情景和模型提供了指导。IPBES的一系列评估报告将引领生物多样性和生态系统服务相关科学领域的发展, 为各国在生物多样性领域进行对话、权衡与博弈, 实现本国利益最大化提供一个高效的平台。中国作为一个发展中的生物多样性大国, 积极参与、发声必然是应对IPBES未来发展的最优方式。     

“自然对人类的贡献”的实现、发展趋势和启示

生物多样性和生态系统服务政府间科学政策平台(IPBES)的目标是加强科学政策对生物多样性和生态系统服务的影响。为了更好地理解和展示IPBES目标的基本要素及其相互关系, 在千年生态系统评估(MA)的基础上, IPBES融合多种知识体系, 不断完善、创新, 逐步形成了以“自然对人类的贡献” (NCP)为核心的概念框架。本文首先梳理了NCP的发展历程, 论述了NCP与生态系统服务的关系, 指出两者均关注人类福祉, 但与生态系统服务不同的是, NCP涵盖了自然对人类生活的消极影响, 强调社会文化因素、传统知识和土著居民的地位以及人与自然共同作用的重要性。其次, 本文阐述了人与自然共同实现NCP进而影响人类良好生活质量的机制, 并分析了NCP大幅下降的全球趋势, 提出世界各国应不断推动生物多样性保护主流化, 增加国际交流与合作, 致力实现“人与自然和谐共生”的2050年愿景。最后, 本文讨论了NCP在IPBES评估和《生物多样性公约》磋商谈判中的应用前景, 为今后NCP理论研究和实践提供科学支持。     

IPBES工作效率和科学职能的有效性分析

IPBES第一轮工作方案受到国际社会的广泛关注, 奠定了其作为第一个生物多样性领域政府间机制的重要地位。IPBES自成立以来相继发布了系列评估报告和决策者摘要, 引起了国际社会广泛关注, 因此, 其公平性、公正性、科学性和透明性始终为各界关注的焦点, 直接决定着IPBES评估报告的可信度和未来的发展。为有效提升工作效率, 提高其成果的科学性, IPBES通过定期开展内部和外部审查, 发现问题, 优化机构设置, 从而指导未来工作计划。本文以IPBES定期开展的审查以及现有工作机制为基础, 针对IPBES的工作效率和科学职能进行分析, 从根本上认识其地位和性质, 分析其机构设置的优势和存在的问题, 以及工作职能的发挥潜力, 针对存在的问题提出建议。并根据我国情况, 提出相关工作建议。总体来讲, IPBES在完善组织机构和规则程序, 推动产生新知识、财务资源有效管理等方面均取得了显著进展, 但在透明度、科学与政策衔接、学科和地域平衡, 以及政策支持方面存在一定不足, 在发挥成员国积极性和能力方面存在欠缺。为此, 建议IPBES未来能够更进一步发挥其特殊的政府间地位和作用, 促进科学职能的发挥, 特别是加强科学和政策的互动, 推动多利益攸关方参与, 形成稳定的财务制度并提升工作机制的透明度。同时, 建议加强对IPBES评估报告在国内的解读, 加大国内宣传力度, 并加强多学科的专家遴选, 弥补研究领域的国内空缺。     

Pangnirtung Inuit and the Greenland Shark: Co-producing Knowledge of a Little Discussed Species

When faced with a species that is seldom encountered or discussed, can local or indigenous people piece together their accumulated experience to make inferences about the ecology of that species? In this paper the Greenland shark acts as a model to study how the Inuit of southern Baffin Island are able to produce ecological knowledge. We examine experiential information, reflections, variations in knowledge, and sense-making related to the Greenland Shark, and present a knowledge co-production process based on heuristic reasoning. The process of knowledge co-production has similarities to fuzzy logic, and highlights the adaptability and versatility of indigenous knowledge systems to generate new understandings about the species and its role in the Arctic marine environment. Interactions between the Inuit and researchers can provide a forum to facilitate knowledge co-production, and can be used as a strategy to engage the Indigenous and traditional peoples in resource management and conservation.     

A Systems Perspective on the Conservation and Erosion of Indigenous Agricultural Knowledge in Central India

Many scholars are concerned that globalization and scientization of local management systems threatens the survival of valuable indigenous knowledge of agriculture and agroforestry. This paper addresses such concerns by drawing on a field study of knowledge about tree and crop cultivation in central India to examine dynamics of knowledge system change. It uses concepts from systems studies, including hierarchy, adaptability, connectedness, and scale, to show how parts of indigenous knowledge systems might be more likely to be lost or preserved under various socio-economic circumstances. It then suggests some concrete lessons for those interested in conserving indigenous knowledge: that knowledge is best conserved in situ; that concepts can be more important to communicate and preserve than mere facts or practices; that researchers might identify those parts of a knowledge system most in need of conservation attention; and that technical innovation might allow local-scale indigenous knowledge to interface more effectively with large-scale global technologies.     

Ethnobiology and applied anthropology: rapprochement of the academic with the practical

Ethnobiology has long featured both academic and practical aspects, with its component disciplines tending to favour one or the other, such that anthropology focuses on classificatory and cognitive issues whereas botany concentrates on issues of resource use. Current trends within development, notably interest in indigenous knowledge that has emerged with participatory approaches, to which ethnobiology has contributed significantly, promise a new synthesis of the academic and practical. This paper describes five ways in which we can think of applied ethnobiology in this context, and illustrates each with examples drawn from natural resources management. The first application is assistance in the introduction of exogenous technology, facilitating technical interventions that are central to many development programmes, enabling a better match to cultural tradition, and promoting meaningful participation. The second application is the facilitating of local solutions to development, advocating the use of local knowledge to further development, asking what insider knowledge may have to recommend in advancing development in the face of outside influences. The third application is the furthering of cultural diffusion, seeking to establish if knowledge and practices in one place have relevance elsewhere, offering an innovative approach to development by drawing upon anthropology's cross-cultural comparative tradition in new ways. The fourth application is the advancing of the commercial use of knowledge, conducting research to find intelligence that may be marketable, even new to science, such bio-prospecting relating to the contentious issue of protecting intellectual property rights. Finally, ethnobiology may be used to support alternative development, promote the formulation of alternative views, and critique development as a capitalist imposition; indigenous activism with respect to international conventions indicates the shape of alternative agendas.     

Parallel and divergent landscapes: cultural encounters in the ethnographic space of Tuareg medicine

This essay explores the dialogue between the local quest for healing and the anthropological quest for healing knowledge, and local assessments of knowledge-power relationships in these processes. The context is medical discourse among the Tuareg of Niger Republic, West Africa, and my research experiences among these people. I examine local medical specialists and their traditional and changing practice in terms of how they perceive and respond to wider knowledge and power systems that impinge on local health care. Paramount in these systems are central state policies and medical anthropological research on healing, as these intersect in a postcolonial and post-separatist/rebellion setting. The essay analyzes parallels between the exchange of medicine and the exchange of knowledge and reflects upon how anthropological knowledge of African healing systems is constructed in an environment highly charged with power and danger--of political violence and economic crisis. The broader issue addressed here is how to give greater empowerment to local residents' voices in their "indigenous critique" of the medical anthropological project.     

Who Detects Ecological Change After Catastrophic Events? Indigenous Knowledge,Social Networks,and Situated Practices

Detecting ecological change is a critical first step in the process of local-level adaptation, yet few studies have explored the factors that predict knowledge acquisition following catastrophic events. This article empirically assesses individual variation in the ability of Solomon Islanders to detect ecological change following the alteration of local, shallow-water, marine environments by a major tsunami. We compare the results of marine science surveys with local ecological knowledge of the benthos. We also examine multiple socioeconomic variables, and employ social network analysis to measure the influence of social and expert networks. Results show that villagers with salaried work who are at the intersection of local and global knowledge were the most adept at detecting tsunami-induced changes to benthic surfaces. Social networks had no statistically significant influence on villagers’ abilities to detect change. We argue that these results counter common conceptualizations of indigenous knowledge that emphasize its normative, shared, inter-generationally transmitted characteristics rather than its heterogeneity, emergence, and practical application. Our findings have implications for theory about the foundations of indigenous knowledge research and the design of disaster mitigation efforts or resource management programs that incorporate indigenous ecological knowledge.     

The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES): progress and next steps

Biodiversity and the services ecosystems provide have built the foundation of human civilization and provide for the welfare of people. With the increase of the human population it has become clearer than ever that the human exploitation of our natural resources leads to detrimental interactions between ecological and sociological systems. Only concerted and global actions will be able to reverse ongoing biodiversity loss. In response to these needs, the United Nations agreed the establishment of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) in 2010. Here, we report on the progress IPBES has made since its inception, and suggest how the scientific community can engage with this important science-policy interface.     

Ecosystem Approach to Rapid Health Assessments among Indigenous Cultures in Degraded Tropical Rainforest Environments: Case Study of Unexplained Deaths among the Secoya of Ecuador

Large-scale economically-driven encroachments into tropical rainforest environments are major factors for disease emergence. A better understanding of the process of disease emergence can be best derived from a multilevel, transdisciplinary ecosystem approach that analyzes health data in its biological, ecological, social, and cultural context. Multiple methods, including ethnographic techniques, are recommended for such an approach. The value of this approach and methodology is presented in this article through a rapid health assessment case study of an unexplained fatal syndrome that occurred among the Secoya peoples of the Ecuadorian Amazon in 1999. This type of study is significant given the lack of health data for indigenous populations at risk of disease emergence. Moreover, indigenous cultures share a long-term, close relationship to the land and each other, which makes information about changes in their environment and health patterns highly salient to them. This local knowledge is of strategic value to researchers working on issues of environmental change and disease emergence.     

Bird naming systems by Akan people in Ghana follow scientific nomenclature with potentials for conservation monitoring

Background

Studies on indigenous knowledge of fauna particular birds and its potential use in biodiversity conservation and management are rare globally. Characteristics used in creating indigenous bird names in many Ghanaian languages are undocumented. The main aim of this study is to answer the question “whether indigenous bird naming systems by the Akan tribes in Ghana follow scientific nomenclature and whether indigenous Akan bird knowledge can potentially help improve bird conservation efforts in Ghana.

Methods

Purposive sampling technique was employed in selecting 10 respondents from 25 communities in the five administrative districts in the Central Region. The study was conducted between November 2014 and March 2015. A mixed method approach was adopted in the data collection including key person interviews, focus group discussion, and structured interview supported by a participatory field observation.

Results

Indigenous people in the study area have reported 143 species of birds belonging to 44 families representing 57 % of total number of species with known local names in Ghana. The study revealed that just as Latin and common English naming systems, indigenous Akan bird names originated from features of the bird, including plumage, vocalizations or behavioural characteristics and belief systems of the indigenous people. The study also discovered that indigenous people in the study area have distinct names for different species within a particular family for most of the birds they could identify. However, they occasionally assign a single general name for either the entire family or all species therein.

Conclusions

The study found evidence to support the prediction that indigenous bird naming systems in the Akan language follow scientific nomenclature. Indigenous knowledge and understanding of birds in the study area can be tapped and used in conservation planning and monitoring of birds. This research thus provides sufficient evidence to prove that indigenous knowledge by the Akan tribes in the study area can be useful in bird conservation and monitoring programs in Ghana. Further research in other Ghanaian languages is recommended.

     

Anthropology and the Politics of Indigeneity

This article is essentially a critical reflection on the transnational concept of Indigeneity, drawing from my long-standing involvement as a scholar-activist with indigenous peoples in Malaysia. With its multiple interpretations, configurations, and local inflections, the concept of Indigeneity has attracted much debate and contestation. It has become a significant political strategy in the counter-hegemonic indigenous social movements against exploitative, oppressive and repressive regimes throughout the world. In some contexts, Indigeneity is complicated by its conflation with racialised identities. While there is an implicit understanding that Indigeneity and marginality are closely linked, this is not always the case for certain claimants of indigenous status. In this article, I address these issues in the context of Malaysia and India, focusing on some of the conundrums and contradictions associated with the transnational concept of Indigeneity. I also reflect on some of my experiences with indigenous peoples in Hawaii and Australia and at international conferences. The article concludes with the viewpoint that anthropology requires continued engagement in a politics of critical solidarity with indigenous peoples, one that focuses on enablement rather than endless deconstruction.     

Can Andean medicine coexist with biomedical healthcare? A comparison of two rural communities in Peru and Bolivia

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: It is commonly assumed that indigenous medical systems are strong in developing countries because biomedicine is physically inaccessible or financially not affordable. This paper compares the health-seeking behavior of households from rural Andean communities at a Peruvian and a Bolivian study site. The main research question was whether the increased presence of biomedicine led to a displacement of Andean indigenous medical practices or to coexistence of the two healing traditions. Methodology: Interviews were conducted between June 2006 and December 2008 with 18 households at each study site. Qualitative identification and analysis of households' therapeutic strategies and use of remedies was complemented by quantitative assessment of the incidence of culture-bound illnesses in local ethnobiological inventories. RESULTS: Our findings indicate that the health-seeking behavior of Andean households is independent of the degree of availability of biomedical facilities in terms of quality of services provided, physical accessibility, and financial affordability, except for specific practices such as childbirth. Preference for natural remedies over pharmaceuticals coexisted with biomedical healthcare that was both accessible and affordable. Furthermore, our results show that greater access to biomedicine does not lead to less prevalence of Andean indigenous medical knowledge, as represented by the levels of knowledge about culture-bound illnesses. CONCLUSIONS: The take-home lesson for health policy-makers from this study is that the main obstacle to improved use of biomedicine in resource-poor rural areas might not be infrastructural or economic alone. Rather, it may lie in lack of sufficient recognition by biomedical practitioners of the value and importance of indigenous medical systems. We propose that the implementation of health care in indigenous communities be designed as a process of joint development of complementary knowledge and practices from indigenous and biomedical health traditions.     

Conservation of Southern Ocean Islands: invertebrates as exemplars

The Southern Ocean Islands (SOI) have an exceptionally high conservation status, and human activity on the islands is low by comparison with more tropical islands. In consequence, overexploitation, pollution and habitat destruction have had little influence on the invertebrate biotas of the islands, although overexploitation of pelagic species has the potential for an indirect influence via reduction of nutrient inputs to the terrestrial systems. By contrast, invasive alien species, the local effects of global climate change, and interactions between them are having large impacts on invertebrate populations and, as a consequence, on ecosystem functioning. Climate change is not only having direct impacts on indigenous invertebrates, but also seems to be promoting the ease of establishment of new alien invertebrate species. It is also contributing to population increases of invertebrate alien species already on the islands, sometimes with pronounced negative consequences for indigenous species and ecosystem functioning. Moreover, alien plants and mammals are also affecting indigenous invertebrate populations, often with climate change expected to exacerbate the impacts. Although the conservation requirements are reasonably well-understood for terrestrial systems, knowledge of freshwater and marine near-shore systems is inadequate. Nonetheless, what is known for terrestrial, freshwater and marine systems suggests that ongoing conservation of SOI invertebrates requires intervention from the highest political levels internationally, to slow climate change, to local improvements of quarantine measures to reduce the rates and impacts of biological invasions.     

Coppice Harvesting of Fuelwood Species on a South African Common: Utilizing Scientific and Indigenous Knowledge in Community Based Natural Resource Management

The limitations of Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) with respect to the difficulties of comparing local versus scientific knowledge categories within a bounded definition of ‘community’ were investigated by means of a study exploring local indigenous knowledge pertaining to harvesting technique, and the impact of soil and species type on the post-harvest coppice response of popular savanna fuelwood species, among rural inhabitants of the Bushbuckridge region of the Limpopo Province, South Africa. Soils and plants were evaluated chiefly in terms of their perceived ability to retain precipitation, making rainfall a driving force in local understanding of environmental productivity. Some indigenous knowledge showed an agreement with biological data, but overall the variability in responses, as well as the diverse scales at which indigenous and scientific knowledge is directed, were too great to allow for simplistic parallels between local ecological indices to be made. Indigenous environmental knowledge was underscored by the perceived symbolic link between environmental and social degradation. It is recommended that environmental managers incorporate indigenous knowledge as a component of a systems-level approach to natural resource management, where biological, cultural, economic, and symbolic aspects of natural resource use are nested within a broader ecosocial system. This approach to indigenous knowledge is offered as an alternative to the simple scientific evaluation that so often characterizes environmental management.     

Traditional forest-related knowledge and agrobiodiversity preservation: the case of the chagras in the Indigenous Reserve of Monochoa (Colombia)

Chagras are complex agroforestry systems developed by indigenous populations of the Amazon region based on shifting agriculture, as part of a system that includes harvesting of wild fruits and plants, hunting and fishing. During the centuries, thanks to their traditional knowledge, indigenous populations have developed a deep relationship with the surrounding environment, as, living in remote places, they must be self-sufficient. The result is the chagra, a system whose cycle is based on seven basic steps to establish a successful and sustainable system, starting from place selection and ending with the abandonment of the plot after harvesting of the products. After the abandonment, the forest starts to grow again to allow the agroecosystem to recover and to take advantage of the residual vegetal material to avoid erosion. The paper takes into consideration the Indigenous Reserve of Monochoa in Colombia as an example of how traditional knowledge can support a rich biodiversity conservation. Moreover, differently from other parts of the world where there is a growing contrast between indigenous communities and protected areas, in the Indigenous Reserve of Monochoa local communities have been recognized as the owners of the land. Results highlighted the crucial role of the indigenous communities for biodiversity conservation. The preservation and adaptation of traditional knowledge and practices, a decentralized autonomous governance system demonstrates that local communities not only can be part of ecosystems with unique biodiversity, but that they can represent the main actors for an active conservation of biodiversity. Agroforestry systems based on traditional forest-related knowledge can therefore be an effective alternative to biodiversity and ecosystem services conservation based on strict nature protection where humans are perceived as a negative factor.