Linking changes in knowledge and attitudes with successful land restoration in indigenous communities

Successful land restoration in impoverished rural environments may require adoption of new resource management strategies; however, feedbacks between local knowledge and introduced restoration technologies have rarely been articulated. We used interview scenarios to analyze the role of local knowledge in land restoration at a large‐scale, long‐term watershed rehabilitation and wet meadow restoration program in the highland Andes. Indigenous communities built over 30,000 check dams, terraces and infiltration ditches, and the density of erosion control structures and visible restoration varied greatly across participant communities. We developed a survey reaching across the highest restoration management intensity, lowest restoration management intensity, and non‐project (control) communities. We interviewed 49 respondents using 14 scenarios based on photos depicting biophysical phenomena related to land degradation and restoration. The scenarios generated 5,828 statements that were coded into 964 distinct concepts. As expected, respondents that built more erosion control structures had more detailed knowledge of check dam construction and ecosystem development following physical interventions. More significantly, there was a shift in the conceptualization of and attitudes toward land degradation and restoration. Respondents who built more erosion control structures were more likely to: attribute wetland hydrology to groundwater recharge rather than myth constructs about seeps and springs; attribute land degradation to human rather than mythological causes; and have more proactive attitudes regarding land restoration. Evidence suggests that when addressing severe land degradation or restoring ecosystem processes not readily observable by indigenous people, such as groundwater flow and wetland recharge, restoration success will depend on combining local and scientific knowledge.