executive sumary The recognition of the contribution of relevant traditional and indigenous knowledge in relation to actions in support of biodiversity conservation and its sustainable and equitable use goes beyond its simple validation in the context of conventional science-based approaches to the study of biodiversity. Traditional and indigenous knowledge related to biodiversity is central to elucidating its status and trends and for developing plausible scenarios based on community participation with regard to the way biodiversity is conserved and used. Biodiversity-dependent services such as provision of food and fiber, purification of water and air, climate regulation and many cultural and spiritual values that depend on it are key to human well-being and sustainable development. Learning about biodiversity, about how traditional and indigenous holders of biodiversity-related knowledge cope with biodiversity, how this knowledge is used to effectively manage biodiversity and to maintain ecosystem services at various scales, as well as which are the most appropriate approaches to promote education and raise further awareness on these issues – all of this has been part and parcel of the mission of Regional Centres of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development (RCEs) since their inception. This book constitutes an important contribution to multistakeholder learning in the area of biodiversity and traditional knowledge at the nexus of the goals of the UN Decade on Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) with those of the UN Decade on Biodiversity (2011-2020), which are mutually reinforcing. The book provides an important reality check on the way traditional and indigenous knowledge on biodiversity is being increasingly widely recognised – in the variety of social, cultural, economic and environmental contexts covered by the case studies treated in the book. Until a few years ago only, the notion of bio-cultural diversity was still being questioned. Today, bio-cultural protocols are being designed and implemented to regulate access to biodiversity and the sharing of the benefits arising from its utilisation at the local level in several countries and regions in the world as a concrete way to operationalise the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-Sharing under the Convention on Biological Diversity. 4 This book demonstrates further the interlinkages between biological and cultural diversity and raises important questions for further research and for the development of policies which can be better reflective of a more integrated approach to dealing with biodiversity i.e. an approach which takes the cultural element of sustainable development into due account. Not surprisingly, the education and learning experiences conducted in the context of the RCEs reveal how artificial separating biodiversity knowledge from culture can be. It is only through a process of co-learning among all stakeholders concerned with biodiversity – each representing a cultural perspective – that appropriate biodiversity and ecosystem services policies can be co-designed. The lessons learned through the experience of the RCEs are elucidated in this book, including on how to document those experiences, anticipate the direction which the international science and policy debate on biodiversity has taken with regard to the recognition of relevant traditional and indigenous knowledge. It is now widely recognised that processes at the science-policy interface, such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the newly-created Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, must also work with non-peer reviewed, grey literature and with relevant knowledge held by local and indigenous communities. The RCEs constitute not only a network of projects but also a knowledge network from the experience of which multiple stakeholders can benefit – governments, scientists, multilateral environmental agreements, civil society organisations, and the private sector. The ultimate objective being learning together about and acting together for the sake of biodiversity, human well-being and sustainable development. Salvatore Aricò Coordinator, UNESCO -wide Biodiversity Initiative November 2012
Traditional Knowledge and Biodiversity
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