International Environmental Conventions and the civil society: a social network analysis in Spain

Las Convenciones Internacionales de Cambio Climático, Diversidad Biológica y Desertificación constituyen uno de los pilares para la gestión ambiental global. Se han analizado las redes sociales entre 47 ONGs españolas implicadas en la sensibilización sobre estas tres grandes convenciones. Se han identificado asimismo las ONGs con mayor actividad de comunicación y de intermediación en la red. Los resultados muestran que la Convención sobre Cambio Climático es la que cuenta con un mayor nivel de participación entre el conjunto de ONGs de la muestra, sin embargo, las organizaciones conservacionistas participan con mayor frecuencia en la Convención de Biodiversidad. La red social analizada sigue un patrón de "centro-periferia" con una baja densidad de vínculos sociales. Este estudio muestra la importancia de promover la cooperación entre las ONGs, especialmente entre las de conservación y las de desarrollo, para la creación de nuevos vínculos y así potenciar la capacidad de incidir en las convenciones y de influir en la sociedad civil española.The International Conventions on Climate Change, Biological Diversity and Desertification are one of the pillars for global environmental management. We analyzed the social networks of 47 Spanish NGOs involved in the promotion and awareness of these conventions. Furthermore we identified the NGOs with the highest levels of communication and interaction activity within the network. The results reveal that the highest levels of participation are in relation to the Climate Change Convention. However, conservation organizations have higher degree of participation in the Biodiversity Convention. The social networks analyzed follow a pattern of "core-periphery" with a low density of social ties. This study highlights the importance of promoting cooperation between the NGOs, especially among those involved in conservation and development, in order to establish new ties and thereby enhance the ability to affect the conventions and influence Spanish civil society

A road to conflict : stakeholder's and social network analysis of the media portrayals of a social-environmental conflict in Bolivia

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552Society's understanding of a conflict is mediated by information provided in mass media, for which researchers stress the importance of analyzing media portrays of stakeholders in a conflict. We analyze information from the Bolivian press regarding the construction of a road crossing the Isiboro-Sécure Indigenous Territory and National Park (TIPNIS). Using stakeholder's and social network analyses, we explore stakeholder's positions and alliances as represented in the media and contrast it with previous scholarly work. We found that some actors cited as central in scholar analyses of the conflict are largely absent in the media (e.g., private investors, conservationist sector) and that the media tend to present stakeholders as having more homogeneous positions than the academic literature does while also neglecting some important alliances in their account. The media also suggests that Indigenous communities are forging stronger alliances with urban sectors and civil society, alliances not stressed by researchers

Gendered medicinal plant knowledge contributions to adaptive capacity and health sovereignty in Amazonia

Local medical systems are key elements of social-ecological systems as they provide culturally appropriate and locally accessible health care options, especially for populations with scarce access to biomedicine. The adaptive capacity of local medical systems generally rests on two pillars: species diversity and a robust local knowledge system, both threatened by local and global environmental change. We first present a conceptual framework to guide the assessment of knowledge diversity and redundancy in local medicinal knowledge systems through a gender lens. Then, we apply this conceptual framework to our research on the local medicinal plant knowledge of the Tsimane’ Amerindians. Our results suggest that Tsimane’ medicinal plant knowledge is gendered and that the frequency of reported ailments and the redundancy of knowledge used to treat them are positively associated. We discuss the implications of knowledge diversity and redundancy for local knowledge systems’ adaptive capacity, resilience, and health sovereignty.Peer reviewe

Local perceptions as a guide for the sustainable management of natural resources : empirical evidence from a small-scale society in Bolivian Amazonia

Research on natural resource management suggests that local perceptions form the basis upon which many small-scale societies monitor availability and change in the stock of common-pool natural resources. In contrast, this literature debates whether local perceptions can be effective in guiding the sustainable management of natural resources. With empirical evidence on this matter still highly limited, we explored the role of local perceptions as drivers of harvesting and management behavior in a small-scale society in Bolivian Amazonia. We conducted structured interviews to capture local perceptions of availability and change in the stock of thatch palm (Geonoma deversa) among the Tsimane', an indigenous society of foragers-horticulturalists (n = 296 adults in 13 villages). We analyzed whether perceptions of availability match estimates of abundance obtained from ecological data and whether differences in perception help to explain harvesting behavior and local management of thatch palm. Perceptions of availability of G. deversa are highly contingent upon the social, economic, and cultural conditions within which the Tsimane' have experienced changes in the availability of the resource, thus giving a better reflection of the historical, rather than of the ecological, dimensions of the changes undergone. Although local perceptions might fall short in precision when scrutinized from an ecological standpoint, their importance in informing sustainable management should not be underestimated. Our findings show that most of the harvesting and management actions that the Tsimane' undertake are, at least partially, shaped by their local perceptions. This paper contributes to the broader literature on natural resource management by providing empirical evidence of the critical role of local perceptions in promoting collective responses for the sustainable management of natural resources.Peer reviewe

Relació entre la composició dels horts familiars i l'ús de les plantes medicinals : estudi de cas a la comunitat Tsimane' de Santa Maria

Els horts familiars són el focus de cada cop més estudis científics per la seva importància socioecològica, sobretot en les comunitats rurals o indígenes. Aquest estudi, desenvolupat a la comunitat indígena Tsimane' de Santa Maria, té l'objectiu de determinar si existeix una relació entre la composició dels horts familiars i l'ús de les plantes medicinals. A més, també descriu i analitza les característiques bàsiques dels horts: les espècies presents, el tipus de maneig, les diferències en la implicació d'homes i dones, etc. A partir dels resultats obtinguts es pot concloure que la diversitat d'espècies trobada és de 102 (30 d'elles medicinals), i les diferències de gènere en la implicació en els horts familiars són significatives: les dones tenen mes plantes medicinals que els homes. Tanmateix, no trobem una relació entre el cultiu de plantes medicinals i la seva utilització.Los huertos familiares son el foco de cada vez más estudios científicos por su importancia socioecológica, sobretodo en la comunidades rurales o indígenas. Este estudio, desarrollado en la comunidad indígena Tsimane' de Santa Maria, tiene el objetivo de determinar si existe una relación entre la composición de los huertos familiares i el uso de las plantas medicinales. Además, también describe y analiza las características básicas de los huertos: las especies presentes, el tipo de manejo, las diferencias en la implicación de hombres i mujeres, etc. A partir de los resultados obtenidos se puede concluir que la diversidad de especies encontrada es de 102 (30 de ellas medicinales), y las diferencias de género en la implicación en los huertos familiares son significativas: las mujeres tienen más plantas medicinales que los hombres. Sin embargo, no encontramos una relación entre el cultivo de plantas medicinales y su uso.Because of their socioecologic importance, homegardens and especially those found in rural or indigenous communities are increasingly becoming the target of scientific studies. The aim of this study, conducted in the indigenous community of Santa Maria's (Tsimane') is to determine the existence of a link between the composition of homegardens and the use of medicinal plants. This study also describes and analyses the main features of these gardens such as the diversity of species, their management, the different role of men and women, etc. Our results show that there are 30 species of medicinal plants amongst 102 species. We also found that women growth a statistically significant higher number of medicinal plants that men. Finaly, we did not find a relation between the number of medicinal plants grown in a garden and their daily use

Networking the environment : social network analysis in environmental management and local ecological knowledge studies

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-055

Local perceptions as a guide for the sustainable management of natural resources : empirical evidence from a small-scale society in Bolivian Amazonia

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552Research on natural resource management suggests that local perceptions form the basis upon which many small-scale societies monitor availability and change in the stock of common-pool natural resources. In contrast, this literature debates whether local perceptions can be effective in guiding the sustainable management of natural resources. With empirical evidence on this matter still highly limited, we explored the role of local perceptions as drivers of harvesting and management behavior in a small-scale society in Bolivian Amazonia. We conducted structured interviews to capture local perceptions of availability and change in the stock of thatch palm (Geonoma deversa) among the Tsimane', an indigenous society of foragers-horticulturalists (n = 296 adults in 13 villages). We analyzed whether perceptions of availability match estimates of abundance obtained from ecological data and whether differences in perception help to explain harvesting behavior and local management of thatch palm. Perceptions of availability of G. deversa are highly contingent upon the social, economic, and cultural conditions within which the Tsimane' have experienced changes in the availability of the resource, thus giving a better reflection of the historical, rather than of the ecological, dimensions of the changes undergone. Although local perceptions might fall short in precision when scrutinized from an ecological standpoint, their importance in informing sustainable management should not be underestimated. Our findings show that most of the harvesting and management actions that the Tsimane' undertake are, at least partially, shaped by their local perceptions. This paper contributes to the broader literature on natural resource management by providing empirical evidence of the critical role of local perceptions in promoting collective responses for the sustainable management of natural resources

Social organization influences the exchange and species richness of medicinal plants in Amazonian homegardens

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552Medicinal plants provide indigenous and peasant communities worldwide with means to meet their healthcare needs. Homegardens often act as medicine cabinets, providing easily accessible medicinal plants for household needs. Social structure and social exchanges have been proposed as factors influencing the species diversity that people maintain in their homegardens. Here, we assess the association between the exchange of medicinal knowledge and plant material and medicinal plant richness in homegardens. Using Tsimane' Amazonian homegardens as a case study, we explore whether social organization shapes exchanges of medicinal plant knowledge and medicinal plant material. We also use network centrality measures to evaluate people's location and performance in medicinal plant knowledge and plant material exchange networks. Our results suggest that social organization, specifically kinship and gender relations, influences medicinal plant exchange patterns significantly. Homegardens total and medicinal plant species richness are related to gardeners' centrality in the networks, whereby people with greater centrality maintain greater plant richness. Thus, together with agroecological conditions, social relations among gardeners and the culturally specific social structure seem to be important determinants of plant richness in homegardens. Understanding which factors pattern general species diversity in tropical homegardens, and medicinal plant diversity in particular, can help policy makers, health providers, and local communities to understand better how to promote and preserve medicinal plants in situ. Biocultural approaches that are also gender sensitive offer a culturally appropriate means to reduce the global and local loss of both biological and cultural diversity

Peer evaluation can reliably measure local knowledge

We assess the consistency of measures of individual local ecological knowledge obtained through peer evaluation against three standard measures: identification tasks, structured questionnaires, and self-reported skills questionnaires. We collected ethnographic information among the Baka (Congo), the Punan (Borneo), and the Tsimane’ (Amazon) to design site-specific but comparable tasks to measure medicinal plant and hunting knowledge. Scores derived from peer ratings correlate with scores of identification tasks and self-reported skills questionnaires. The higher the number of people rating a subject, the larger the association. Associations were larger for the full sample than for subsamples with high and low rating scores. Peer evaluation can provide a more affordable method in terms of difficulty, time, and budget to study intracultural variation of knowledge, provided that researchers (1) do not aim to describe local knowledge; (2) select culturally recognized domains of knowledge; and (3) use a large and diverse (age, sex, and kinship) group of evaluators.Peer reviewe