The knowledge systems and practices of Indigenous Peoples and local communities play critical roles in safeguarding the biological and cultural diversity of our planet. Globalization, government policies, capitalism, colonialism, and other rapid social-ecological changes threaten the relationships between Indigenous Peoples and local communities and their environments, thereby challenging the continuity and dynamism of Indigenous and Local Knowledge (ILK). In this article, we contribute to the “World Scientists' Warning to Humanity,” issued by the Alliance of World Scientists, by exploring opportunities for sustaining ILK systems on behalf of the future stewardship of our planet. Our warning raises the alarm about the pervasive and ubiquitous erosion of knowledge and practice and the social and ecological consequences of this erosion. While ILK systems can be adaptable and resilient, the foundations of these knowledge systems are compromised by ongoing suppression, misrepresentation, appropriation, assimilation, disconnection, and destruction of biocultural heritage. Three case studies illustrate these processes and how protecting ILK is central to biocultural conservation. We conclude with 15 recommendations that call for the recognition and support of Indigenous Peoples and local communities and their knowledge systems. Enacting these recommendations will entail a transformative and sustained shift in how ILK systems, their knowledge holders, and their multiple expressions in lands and waters are recognized, affirmed, and valued. We appeal for urgent action to support the efforts of Indigenous Peoples and local communities around the world to maintain their knowledge systems, languages, stewardship rights, ties to lands and waters, and the biocultural integrity of their territories—on which we all depend.

/pdf/scientists-warning-to-humanity-on-threats-to-indigenous-and-1agez267s5.pdf

Scientists' Warning to Humanity on Threats to Indigenous and Local Knowledge Systems

https://arpi.unipi.it/bitstream/11568/924580/1/1-s2.0-S0264837717305227-main.pdf

Typology and distribution of small farms in Europe: Towards a better picture

With the convention on biological diversity (CBD) office in UNEP acting as global focal point for biodiversity, and UNESCO acting as global focal point for cultural diversity, the two institutions launched in 2010 the Joint Programme on the Links between Biological and Cultural Diversity (JP-BiCuD) to strengthen the linkages between biological and cultural diversity initiatives, and to enhance the synergies between interlinked provisions of conventions and programmes dealing with biological and cultural diversity at relevant scales. The first meeting for the implementation of the Joint Programme was held in Florence (Italy) in April 2014 and produced a declaration to promote the Joint Program in the European Continent. The scientific committee received 165 paper proposals. The selection operated by the Steering Committee accepted 63 papers considered highly relevant for the topic of the conference and also 11 posters, from 25 countries. The expert meeting for the drafting of the final declaration was attended by 42 experts from 14 countries and about 33 organizations, including FAO, ICOMOS, IUCN, and IUFRO among others. The Florence Declaration (UNESCO and SCBD 2014) was drafted taking into account the results of the conference works, and has not only produced political indications for the implementation on the Joint Programme, but also indicated some of the most important issues concerning research activities for the promotion of the concept of biocultural diversity:

/pdf/landscape-and-biocultural-diversity-zn4has28o6.pdf

Landscape and biocultural diversity

1. Current sustainability challenges demand approaches that acknowledge a plurality of human–nature interactions and worldviews, for which biocultural approaches are considered appropriate and tim ...

Biocultural approaches to sustainability : a systematic review of the scientific literature

Constraints and opportunities for mainstreaming biodiversity and ecosystem services in the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy: Insights from the IPBES assessment for Europe and Central Asia

High biocultural diversity is often found in landscapes where farming practices have preserved diverse habitats and many ‘traditional’ cultural features. We assessed what impacts conservation and agri-environmental regulations had and have on the maintenance of some elements in traditional hay meadow management in two such cultural landscapes (Gyimes—Romania; Őrseg—Hungary). Data were gathered by interviews with local farmers and conservation scientists, discussed with farmers. We found that extensive farming was not given adequate weight and explicit function in the regulatory frameworks either in the landscape where traditional farming is still actively practiced, or where it has mostly vanished and/or was transformed. Of the 25 traditional management elements documented in Gyimes, regulations affected seven components directly, and one more indirectly. Four of these impacts were negative and four were positive. Of the 20 traditional management elements in Őrseg, 11 elements were regulated, and five more were affected indirectly. Only two elements were affected positively. Our data show that for a more efficient support of traditional farming, more traditional elements must be encouraged, e.g. hayseed scattering, mowing with small machinery, manual cleaning of weeds and shrubs, manual hay gathering and extensive manuring. The role of increasing the spatial scale of regulations, considering the whole socio-ecological system and the need for region-specific regulations are discussed. We argue that in those landscapes where traditional small-scale farming is still actively practiced, decision-makers should understand local management practices and concepts first, instead of imposing requirements on farmers that are alien to the local landscape and society.

Do conservation and agri-environmental regulations effectively support traditional small-scale farming in East-Central European cultural landscapes?

Traditional ecological knowledge of plants is an important aspect of scholarship in relation to land use and contributes to the sustainable use and management of natural resources as well as to the monitoring of changes in the natural environment. The aim of the present paper was to examine traditional ecological knowledge in Hungarian communities in Slovenia in connection with knowledge of the plants growing in the region, their local names, and their uses. We quantified the earlier role of the utilized plant species in order to determine the former significance of certain species. We carried out structured interviews with a total of 20 individuals in three studied settlements. In the Hungarian communities in Slovenia, we uncovered knowledge of a total of 130 folk taxa. Of these, 123 taxa have local names. The majority of the folk taxa can be correlated with a single biological species. A significant proportion of the known species were utilized in some way, most of them as medicinal plants, wild edible plants, or ornamental plants. As in other farming communities, the most important species are mainly woody plants, which include the common hornbeam, the common juniper, and the silver birch. Among the herbaceous plants, utilization of the dandelion, nettle, and bulrush was significant. Members of the older generations living in the Hungarian communities in Slovenia still retain knowledge of plants that were once used on a daily basis, along with their local names and the traditional ecological knowledge connected with their earlier use.

/pdf/traditional-ecological-knowledge-and-the-cultural-50b27zxskw.pdf

Traditional Ecological Knowledge and the Cultural Significance of Plants in Hungarian Communities in Slovenia

The authors investigate forms of grassland management in the westernmost part of Hungary, in the cultural landscape of the Őrseg region. On the basis of semi-structured interviews with knowledgeable elderly people in the region, they were able to reconstruct former land use from an ecological perspective and its role in developing and maintaining high biodiversity in grasslands, which are also valuable from the cultural and conservationist perspectives. *** Avtorji so raziskovali ekstenzivno upravljanje travisc na skrajnem zahodnem delu Madžarske, na obrobnem, vendar priljubljenem obmocju, v kulturni krajini regije Őrseg. S pomocjo ankete in polstrukturiranih intervjujev s starejsimi sogovorniki, lokalnimi eksperti so želeli z ekoloskega vidika podrobno rekonstruirati nekdanjo rabo zemljisc in njeno vlogo pri razvoju in ohranjanju visoke biotske raznovrstnosti na traviscih, ki so dragocene tudi s kulturno-konzervatorskega vidika.

/pdf/the-cleaner-the-meadow-the-healthier-the-grass-that-grows-10nh1bgxmx.pdf

“the cleaner the meadow, the healthier the grass that grows there, and the healthier the land, too”: extensive grassland management in őrség “čistejši je travnik, bolj zdrava je trava, ki raste tam, in bolj zdrava je tudi zemlja”: ekstenzivno upravljanje travišč v őrségu

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Do conservation and agri-environmental regulations effectively support traditional small-scale farming in East-Central European cultural landscapes?

Traditional Ecological Knowledge and the Cultural Significance of Plants in Hungarian Communities in Slovenia

“the cleaner the meadow, the healthier the grass that grows there, and the healthier the land, too”: extensive grassland management in őrség “čistejši je travnik, bolj zdrava je trava, ki raste tam, in bolj zdrava je tudi zemlja”: ekstenzivno upravljanje travišč v őrségu