How traditional knowledge can contribute to environmental research and resource management
Dates
Year
2004
Citation
Simeone, B., 2004, How traditional knowledge can contribute to environmental research and resource management: Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia: Vancouver, Canada, v. Fisheries Centre Research Reports 12(1), p. 74-77.
Summary
Over the last three years the author, along with his colleague Dr. James Kari, worked with First Nations in Alaska documenting their traditional knowledge of salmon. The objectives of this research are to provide fisheries biologists with information that could be useful in resource management and improve communications between First Nations and biologists. One of the problems is that within the scientific and management communities there is considerable uncertainty as to how traditional knowledge can contribute to scientific research. In this paper four ways that traditional knowledge can contribute to environmental research and resource management are outlined. These are: 1) Traditional knowledge has a chronological depth which far [...]
Summary
Over the last three years the author, along with his colleague Dr. James Kari, worked with First Nations in Alaska documenting their traditional knowledge of salmon. The objectives of this research are to provide fisheries biologists with information that could be useful in resource management and improve communications between First Nations and biologists. One of the problems is that within the scientific and management communities there is considerable uncertainty as to how traditional knowledge can contribute to scientific research. In this paper four ways that traditional knowledge can contribute to environmental research and resource management are outlined. These are: 1) Traditional knowledge has a chronological depth which far surpasses written historical sources; 2) Traditional knowledge includes observations of the environment that are usually far more detailed than those collected by scientists; 3) Traditional management systems are community based; and 4) Traditional knowledge stems from a belief system that is ecological in nature.