Knowledge integration in transdisciplinary research: a case study of the socio-ecological complexity project

Includes bibliographical references.2015 Fall.Knowledge integration has been crucial for gaining a holistic picture of the inner workings of socio-ecological systems. Integrating local and scientific knowledge sustains biological and global cultural diversity, and may fill gaps in understanding that cannot be elucidated by individual scientific disciplines. Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research teams face the challenge of collaborating and integrating their varying disciplinary paradigms and epistemologies along with stakeholders' local knowledge for understanding and adapting to global and local environmental issues. Communication and knowledge integration across funders, researchers, and research end-users in transdisciplinary research are critical for meeting diverse stakeholder needs and genuinely engaging multiple knowledge systems. These knowledge systems may include a combination of researcher and local ecological knowledge embedded in institutions, disciplines, and cultures. The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate and apply knowledge integration tools for examining socio-ecological systems and transdisciplinary research communication. Specifically, I examine the Socio-ecological Complexity (SEC) project as a case study. The SEC is a pseudonym for an actual project examining the role of Community-Based Rangeland Management (CBRM) institutions in influencing the resilience of Mongolian socio-ecological rangeland systems to climate change. I apply two tools for the integration of knowledge within SEC: participatory reflection and participatory mapping. I apply participatory reflection among the SEC research team and provide stakeholder engagement indicators for reflecting, communicating, and incorporating the needs of funders, researchers, and research end users as major stakeholder groups in transdisciplinary research. These specific indicators allow transdisciplinary research teams to assess the current level of knowledge integration, communicate and target stakeholder needs that may influence project outcomes in communicating their research. To integrate the local ecological knowledge (LEK) of research end users, I apply participatory mapping to explore herders' knowledge of their rangelands and their perceptions of socio-ecological boundaries imbedded in their pastures. The process of participatory mapping revealed emic narratives on physical and human demarcated boundaries influencing landscapes, adaptive practices, and local governance arrangements for accessing pasture resources. Participatory mapping and participatory reflection serve as tools for integrating and communicating diverse knowledge systems in transdisciplinary research. To examine how knowledge and world views may be communicated among diverse actors in transdisciplinary research, I provide a reflexive account of the role of voice in transdisciplinary fieldwork. My reflexive account reveals the complex network of actors and how identity, language, financial structures and hierarchy within a multi-cultural and transdisciplinary project shape actors' voices and opinions. The application of knowledge integration tools (participatory reflection and participatory mapping) and the open dialogue about the role of voice in transdisciplinary research provide diverse views for evaluating transdisciplinary research outcomes and analyzing coupled human-environment relationships in socio-ecological systems

Report from the project: Indigenous and local knowledge in a scoping study for a Nordic IPBES assessment

The recently established international body, IPBES (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biological Diversity and Ecosystem Services) is in the next few years planning on doing regional assessments regarding the status and trends of biological diversity and ecosystem services. The purpose is to create the best possible conditions for future decision-making and in that context to involve different kinds of knowledge, also traditional knowledge. Traditional knowledge (indigenous and local knowledge), i.e. people’s practical, experience-based knowledge transferred from generation to generation, is considered to be an important prerequisite in conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity as well as in the development of a sustainable society. This report is the result of a study in order to develop a methodology regarding how a full and effective participation of traditional knowledge holders in a Nordic IPBES assessment ought to be achieved

Bridging Cultural Concepts of Nature

National parks and other preserved spaces of nature have become iconic symbols of nature protection around the world. However, the worldviews of Indigenous peoples have been marginalized in discourses of nature preservation and conservation. As a result, for generations of Indigenous peoples, these protected spaces of nature have meant dispossession, treaty violations of hunting and fishing rights, and the loss of sacred places.;Bridging Cultural Concepts of Nature brings together anthropologists and archaeologists, historians, linguists, policy experts, and communications scholars to discuss differing views and presents a compelling case for the possibility of more productive discussions on the environment, sustainability, and nature protection. Drawing on case studies from Scandinavia to Latin America and from North America to New Zealand, the volume challenges the old paradigm where Indigenous peoples are not included in the conservation and protection of natural areas and instead calls for the incorporation of Indigenous voices into this debate.;This original and timely edited collection offers a global perspective on the social, cultural, economic, and environmental challenges facing Indigenous peoples and their governmental and NGO counterparts in the co-management of the planet’s vital and precious preserved spaces of nature