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Globally, protected areas associated with sacred sites and cemeteries are an emerging area of research. However, they are biased toward terrestrial systems. In Fiji, funerary protected areas (FPAs) in freshwater and marine systems are culturally protected by Indigenous Fijians following the burial of a loved one on clan land. First documented in the 1800s, FPAs in Fiji have not been researched despite more than 30 years of conservation efforts and countrywide comanagement of natural resources. We sought to bridge this knowledge gap by elucidating 8 socioecological attributes of Indigenous FPAs through stratified, purposive, semistructured interviews of 201 key informants across Fiji's 189 districts. Seventy‐three districts actively implemented FPAs; another 34 were not being implemented because of low FPA awareness, FPA exclusion from comanagement plans, and conflicts in chief selection. Thirty‐three percent of districts established FPAs for chiefs only, and 20% established FPAs for any clan member, resulting in the establishment of numerous FPAs annually. From the 1960s to 2019, 188 FPAs were established. Forty‐four percent of FPAs were protected for 100 nights, and 47% protected all resources and associated ecosystems in the FPA. Only 25% of districts harvested edible fish and invertebrates; another 22% harvested edible fish only. For some chiefs' funeral rites, only turtles were harvested, which are protected by law, thereby requiring government exemption for traditional use. The FPA harvest provisions varied from engaging whole communities to engaging specific clans, such as traditional fishers or those who performed the burial. Our results showed that practices associated with FPAs in Fiji are diverse, organically evolving, and more socially nuanced and complex than the fisheries and food provisioning focus they are known for. Erosion of Indigenous knowledge and practices associated with FPAs and FPA exclusion from conservation planning will negatively affect social and ecological resilience, resulting in vulnerable communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional knowledge about snow and ice conditions on and in the ground is essential in the life of the Yamal Nenets. This holistic knowledge helps the Nenets to travel in the tundra, find good pastures for their domesticated reindeer herds, select proper places for making their camps, find firewood, and locate clean snow or ice for drinking water. It is particularly important for reindeer herders, because looking at different characteristics of snow (layers, hardness, and granularity) enables them to find good pastures for their animals. If there are dangers posed by a crust of ice on the snow, herders have to move their herds to other pastures. Moreover, even reindeer know which kind of snow is easier for them to break with their hooves and where good forage is found. Significantly, the Nenets language has developed a sophisticated terminology describing different types of snow and ice, and similarly permafrost has a special name. Like many other Indigenous peoples of Siberia, the Nenets have noticed that climate change in the Arctic is dramatically affecting their life: it is changing the tundra landscape, the seasons, and the conditions under which they live and herd reindeer. In consequence, the reindeer-herding culture itself helps the people to preserve this knowledge of how to live in the tundra, but to remain relevant, the Nenets' knowledge of tundra ecology and their words for snow, ice, and permafrost must continuously adapt to new realities of the tundra. However, if that culture disappears in the Yamal, this resource will also be difficult to save. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This report describes the adoption and integration of Western medicine in Cherán K'eri after the social changes in the 1940s which led to the transition from healer to pharmacist. There are various health models that rely heavily on community pharmacies. The place used as the basis for this report was a clinic managed by a Purépecha-speaking physician and pharmacist that served primarily monolingual indigenous Purépecha patients, whose population was around 9550 according to the 2010 census. Twelve major differences were observed between community pharmacies in the United States and the community pharmacies of Cherán. It was also observed that the modern approach to the health of the indigenous population used a combination of Western medicine together with traditional methods and only resorted to short-term therapies with Western medicines lasting five days or less. A formulary from the clinic's community pharmacy compiled in 2022 listed the 38 most common medications. Medications used included anti-infectives (n = 3), central nervous system (n = 2), endocrine/hormonal (n = 3), gastrointestinal (n = 3), musculoskeletal (n = 17), respiratory or allergy (n = 6), and genitourinary (n = 2). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional knowledge about snow and ice conditions on and in the ground is essential in the life of the Yamal Nenets. This holistic knowledge helps the Nenets to travel in the tundra, find good pastures for their domesticated reindeer herds, select proper places for making their camps, find firewood, and locate clean snow or ice for drinking water. It is particularly important for reindeer herders, because looking at different characteristics of snow (layers, hardness, and granularity) enables them to find good pastures for their animals. If there are dangers posed by a crust of ice on the snow, herders have to move their herds to other pastures. Moreover, even reindeer know which kind of snow is easier for them to break with their hooves and where good forage is found. Significantly, the Nenets language has developed a sophisticated terminology describing different types of snow and ice, and similarly permafrost has a special name. Like many other Indigenous peoples of Siberia, the Nenets have noticed that climate change in the Arctic is dramatically affecting their life: it is changing the tundra landscape, the seasons, and the conditions under which they live and herd reindeer. In consequence, the reindeer-herding culture itself helps the people to preserve this knowledge of how to live in the tundra, but to remain relevant, the Nenets’ knowledge of tundra ecology and their words for snow, ice, and permafrost must continuously adapt to new realities of the tundra. However, if that culture disappears in the Yamal, this resource will also be difficult to save.

This report describes the adoption and integration of Western medicine in Cherán K’eri after the social changes in the 1940s which led to the transition from healer to pharmacist. There are various health models that rely heavily on community pharmacies. The place used as the basis for this report was a clinic managed by a Purépecha-speaking physician and pharmacist that served primarily monolingual indigenous Purépecha patients, whose population was around 9550 according to the 2010 census. Twelve major differences were observed between community pharmacies in the United States and the community pharmacies of Cherán. It was also observed that the modern approach to the health of the indigenous population used a combination of Western medicine together with traditional methods and only resorted to short-term therapies with Western medicines lasting five days or less. A formulary from the clinic’s community pharmacy compiled in 2022 listed the 38 most common medications. Medications used included anti-infectives (n = 3), central nervous system (n = 2), endocrine/hormonal (n = 3), gastrointestinal (n = 3), musculoskeletal (n = 17), respiratory or allergy (n = 6), and genitourinary (n = 2).

Despite unprecedented knowledge of conservation science, loss of biodiversity continues on a global scale. In this study, we investigate how choices are exercised where science, local and traditional knowledge come together for conservation decision-making. Our case study is the Palau Protected Areas Network, a program established to support conservation in the Pacific island nation of Palau. We apply a framework based on the concept of knowledge governance to explore the rules and norms that shape the relationships between knowledge and decision-making across both customary and Western-styled institutional lines. The major practical implications from this study are that: (1) there are internal and external audiences for Palauan conservation, (2) these audiences are associated with different expectations around what makes knowledge a legitimate basis for action, (3) the current conservation system operates in parallel, with science informing largely external audience and local and traditional knowledge speaking more directly to internal audiences and (4) this parallel system is likely to come under increasing pressure as the audiences for conservation change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Through the use of traditional environmental knowledge (TEK), the impacts of climate change on the Fort Albany First Nation community are explored. Thirty-nine community members were interviewed using a semi-directive interview format to gather knowledge about their observations of local environmental and climatic change and the significance of these changes. Thematic analysis, cluster analysis, and concept mapping were applied to analyze interview transcriptions. A second round of interviews was conducted to obtain feedback on the themes and concepts that emerged from the first round of interviews. Community members indicated that there have been noticeable changes in the timing of seasons, snow type, and total snowfall, with an increase in extreme weather events. These changes have impacted animal behaviour, traditional harvesting activities, and the winter road, which have led to socio-economic and well-being issues. The community has exhibited strength in adapting to ongoing changes in the environment; however, their ability to adapt to climate change in the future is not certain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many regions, including our study area along the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, it is necessary to apply traditional or local environmental knowledge in biological research projects based in Western scientific knowledge. In such projects, it is important for both researchers and local people that the integration of the two knowledge systems: a) produces scientifically rigorous reports, and b) justly benefits local people. As every knowledge system is unique, there is no universal list of best-practices that will attain these two goals. To discover the best-practices for a particular project, it is necessary to develop the unique relationship between the two knowledge systems and related research methodologies based on personal experience. To gain this experience in the context of our camera trapping project that integrates traditional environmental knowledge, we undertook mental model interviews with local people. Interview results revealed the environmental knowledge our local assistants are most likely to share with us. We used this information to refine our sampling methodology to ensure scientifically rigorous results, and to appropriately engage locals to ensure the project yielded locally desirable benefits. This or a similar technique could be used by other researchers in comparable contexts to yield more comprehensively beneficial results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sahel region is characterised by forestry resources exploitation for making tools, household utensils, chattels and others admittedly usefulness products. The aim of this study conducted by surveying in sahelian villages and by farm observations is to characterise the traditional knowledge of forestry resources used by different ethnic groups and their impact on resources evolution. Moreover, an economic attempt to escape this kind of forestry resources exploitation is done. Many cultivation and keeper tools, chattels, household utensils are made with forestry resources. The plants used for every forestry produce is variable with the existence or abundance of the species and the sociologic and cultural consideration peculiar to each ethnic group like choice of fuel wood. The different exploitation forms more or less severe had been contributed to amplify the climatic dryness effects on forestry resources degradation. Fortunately, an evolution with manufactured products enable to adapt environment changes. There is an imperious necessity to document, consider and to improve indigenous knowledge of natural resources for sustainable development

Introduction: In Canada, unique food security challenges are being faced by Aboriginal people living in remote-northern communities due to the impacts of climate change on subsistence harvesting. This study used traditional environmental knowledge (TEK) to investigate whether there was a temporal relationship between extreme climatic events in the summer of 2005, and fish die-offs in the Albany River, northern Ontario, Canada. Also, TEK was utilized to examine a potential shift in subsistence fish species distribution due to climate change. Methods: To investigate whether there was a temporal relationship between the fish die-offs of July 2005 (as identified by TEK) and an extreme climatic event, temperature and daily precipitation data for Moosonee weather station were utilized. To determine if there was an increasing trend in mean maximal summer temperatures with year, temperature data were examined, using regression analysis. Present-day fish distributions were determined using unpublished TEK data collated from previous studies and purposive, semi-directive interviews with elders and experienced bushman. Results: Fish die-offs in 2005 occurred during the time period 11-18 July, as reported by participants. Recorded air-temperature maxima of the two July 2005 heat waves delineate exactly the time period of fish die-offs. Two heat waves occurring during the same summer season and so close together has never before been recorded for this region. A highly significant (p<0.0009) positive relationship between mean maximal summer temperatures and year was evident. Regionally novel fish species were not apparent, utilizing TEK. Conclusions: Traditional environmental knowledge coupled with climate data revealed temporal relationships between extreme climatic events in 2005, and fish die-offs in the Albany River. Thus, climate change can directly impact food security by decreasing the number of fish through mortality--and indirectly through population dynamics--by impacting the yield of fish subsistence harvests in the future. By contrast, TEK did not reveal northward expansion of novel fish species in the Albany River or fish distributional contraction in the western James Bay region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bhutan was an inhabited wilderness until 1961, when road construction started after the closure of the Tibetan border. Since then, the road network has expanded from the Indian boarder, often tracing traditional trails. This has accelerated commerce as well as movement of people from India, benefitting both the Bhutanese and foreign tourists. At the same time, dependence on imported automobiles and fossil fuel has risen, and roadless areas have begun to shrink. This brought an inevitable loss of traditional environmental knowledge, such as the care of mules for packing, and reduction in physical and mental health among the Bhutanese. People who lost jobs as horsemen moved into towns to find jobs. Road extension is also a double-edged sword for visitors. It has resulted in shrinking trekking areas and loss of traditional culture, both of which have been sacrificed for easy access. Protected areas often function as fortifications against mechanical civilization. However, protected-area status or its zoning does not guarantee that an area will remain roadless where there is considerable resident population. An analysis in Jigme Dorji National Park showed the gradual retreat of trailheads and increasing dependence on automobiles among residents and trekkers. B. MacKaye, a regional planner in the Eastern United States, proposed using trails as a tool to control such mechanical civilization. His philosophy of regional planning suggests two measures; one is consolidated trailheads as dams, and the other is confinement of roads by levees, consisting of new trails and wilderness belts. According to case studies, the author proposed six options for coexistence of trails with roads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of VertigO is the property of La Revue Electronique en Sciences de l'Environnement VertigO and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Aboriginal people perceive land and water as equal components of country, and hold distinct perspectives on water relating to identity and attachment to place, environmental knowledge, resource security, and the exercise of custodial responsibilities to manage interrelated parts of customary estates. This paper documents Aboriginal perspectives from certain areas in northern Australia, defined as the region of tropical savannas stretching from Townsville to Broome, and offers a number of suggestions for improving current knowledge of Aboriginal values and Aboriginal participation rates in water and catchment management. The paper highlights the cultural significance of rivers and water in selected northern regions, and provides a preliminary outline of research and management priorities as determined by key north Australian Aboriginal land management organizations. Priorities include developing the capacity for collaborative aquatic resource management, conservation of traditional ecological knowledge, riparian resource inventories and threat assessment, as well as improved Aboriginal participation in catchment management and water policy. Although there is a strong north Australian focus to this paper, the issues raised are relevant to water and natural resource management policy throughout Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This letter addresses the indigenous discourse on a set of plant species used by the Witoto Indians of Northwest Amazonia to extract ash or vegetable salt, obtained from the combustion of the tissues of vegetable species, filtering of the ashes, and desiccation of the resulting brine. It aims to demonstrate how the study of the human condition is carried out through a reading of natural entities. The method employed is the indexical analysis of a discourse uttered by the elder Enokakuiodo in the Witoto language from 1995 to 1998, in a verbal genre called rafue , one of several genres of the ‘language of the yard of coca’. The species used to extract ash salt are conceived of as coming from the body of the Creator and as an image of the human body. The rafue of salt performs, in words and gestures, a narrative of human affects and capacities by reading ecological, biological, cultural and linguistic indices from a set of plant species. This discourse on plant species is a discourse on the control and management of bodily affects and capacities, represented as ash salts, that are lessons about sexual development which the Creator left for humanity as a guide—a ‘sexual education’.