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Generally speaking, environmental education teaching, research, and practice have been informed by the traditions of western, Euro-centric culture. In this context indigenous perspectives are often marginalized, maligned, and perceived to be unscientific and therefore inferior. This essay adds to the growing body of literature exploring aboriginal indigenous environmental epistemologies and responsible human interactions with the natural environment. The paper provides a Canadian context as it examines the environmental philosophy and attitude of a Canadian First Nations community to the natural environment grounded in the lived experiences of adults, children and elders from the Walpole Island First Nation. We make the argument that while not a panacea, Aboriginal environmental epistemologies hold lessons for teaching environmental stewardship and sustainability behavior in mainstream classrooms.

Exploring School Leadership in England and the Caribbean by Paul Miller Toronto, Canada: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016, 189 pages ISBN: 978-1-47425-170-9 (hardcover) Paul Miller, the author of Exploring School Leadership in [...]

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) described the Caribbean as one of the most susceptible regions in the world to climate change. Discourse in the region is vigorous at the policy-making and academic discourse levels, though far less so at the grassroots level, making for a very top down debate and policy-making process. This paper argues that local and traditional knowledge (LTK) in the Caribbean is an invaluable resource and cultural capital that can play a major role in addressing climate change concerns but has been largely untapped. It suggests that combining LTK with modern science can advance the climate change agenda in the region and proposes the establishment of a Caribbean Local and Traditional Knowledge Network (CLTKN) as a mechanism to harness local traditional knowledge and integrate it in regional climate change agendas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we examine the concept of school or educational leadership in the context of an appropriate model for the Caribbean. We discuss the conceptions of educational leadership, highlighting the contested nature of the field. Distributed leadership is critically examined as an appropriate model of school leadership for the Caribbean. It is not advanced here as a panacea, but rather as a theoretical frame of reference for leadership that is geared towards effective participatory school governance and enhanced student achievement. We argue that school leadership should be participatory, inclusive, and focus on improving school culture, maximising student success and enhancing collegiality and morale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the historical and contemporary use of Walpole Island, one of six islands at the mouth of the St. Clair River on the north of Lake St. Clair creating the lands of the Walpole Island First Nation, also known as Bkejwanong Territory, traditionally used by the Ojibwe, Odawa and Pottawatomi Indians, together known as the Three Fires Confederacy. The area is notable for its ecological diversity containing habitats such as tall grass prairies, oak savanna remnants, Carolinian forests, wetlands, and waterways. Other topics include how Indian stewardship has maintained a unique biodiversity in the area, historical injustices, and the the issuance of hunting and fishing licenses to outsiders to gain revenues.

Members of the genus Dioscorea, food yams, were introduced to Jamaica from Africa during the slave era and have remained a staple in local diets and national cuisine. Yam cultivation has also been an important economic activity providing employment for thousands of rural Jamaicans. Until the 1960s yams were grown for local use by subsistence growers for home consumption or by commercial growers for sale in local produce markets. Since then, however, yam has also grown to become an important export crop. With its value added potential virtually untouched, this crop possesses intriguing possibilities from the standpoint of food security and rural livelihoods in yam growing areas of Jamaica. At the same time there are concerns about the ecological and economic sustainability of yam farming under current conditions. In this paper we will analyze the sustainability of yam cultivation and consider concrete strategies for increasing the environmental sustainability and enhancing its contribution to food security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, Jamaica has been seriously affected by a number of extreme meteorological events. The one discussed here, Hurricane Dean, passed along the south coast of the island in August 2007, damaging crops and disrupting livelihood activities for many small-scale farmers. This study is based on detailed ethnographic research in the southern coastal region of St. Elizabeth parish during the passage of Hurricane Dean, and explores the ways in which small farmers negotiate the stressors associated with hurricane events. The study employed a mix methods approach based on a survey of 282 farming households. The paper documents coping strategies employed by farmers in the immediate period of Hurricane Dean to reduce damage to their farming systems, and highlights the positive correlation between farmers' perceptions of hurricanes and degree of damage to local farming systems. In addition, through an analysis of socio-economic and environmental data, the paper provides an understanding of the determinants of adaptive capacity and strategy among farmers in the area. The study indicated that despite high levels of vulnerability, farmers have achieved successful coping and adaptation at the farm level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small-scale farmers' experimental innovations have not generally been considered for on-farm research trials as those in the traditional sector have been perceived as recipients, rather than originators, of technical knowledge and sustainable and viable practices. Yet there is abundant evidence throughout the tropics that small-scale farmers are adaptive and experimental problem solvers, and experts at devising innovative survival strategies. While literature on the topic is rich with accounts from Africa, Asia and Latin America, there is a general dearth of examples from the Caribbean. This paper highlights some examples of farm- and village-level problem solving and survival practices among small-scale domestic food producers in the challenging agroecological environment of Jamaica. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yam farming in Jamaica has been one of the few success stories in agriculture since Independence in 1962. Production is entirely dominated by small farmers who have intensified production systems. Over the last decade yam farmers experienced a ‘yam stick problem’ due to the scarcity, poor quality and high prices of yam sticks. This paper focuses on the content and contextualisation of indigenous technical knowledge among yam farmers. The intrinsic dynamic nature of indigenous technical knowledge is revealed by showing how farmers have adapted their cultivation methods and have themselves innovated new ways of staking yams in efforts to solve the yam stick problem. In effect they have had to rely on their own indigenous knowledge base as a source of new ideas. We discuss a series of alternatives to traditional yam staking methods with a large sample of farmers, including both real and hypothetical examples of externally-induced innovations. Farmers’ responses to these innovations are reported and analysed in the context of Briggs’ recent review of indigenous knowledge and development issues. Our research suggests that farmer innovation is a normal consequence of coping with farming problems. Further, farmers are not intrinsically unresponsive to externally-induced innovations, which supports the view that ‘Western science’ and indigenous knowledge are not necessarily bipolar and mutually exclusive knowledge systems. We conclude that indigenous technical knowledge can provide a nexus for research in fostering partnerships with farmers, NGOs and planners in their search for sustainable solutions to the yam stick problem and broader aspects of rural development and resource management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]