Integrating local and scientific knowledge to enhance conservation of forest resources in Shaikarawe forest conservation area: initiative towards addressing climate change in Botswana
Presentation
Overview
Overview
Description
Monitoring environmental change, with ecological wisdom (ecophronesis), in Shaikarawe forest conservation area can guide policy on conservation of forest resources and provide early warning data on its degradation. It can also ensure that there is sustained flow of goods and services from the conservation area. There is no monitoring system for environmental change in Shaikarawe forest conservation area despite it being a critical source of livelihood for local communities. Shaikarawe is a remote settlement in the Okavango region of Botswana. While it is established that local knowledge is relevant in management of natural resources, there is need for validity of this knowledge to be assessed. It is also vital that the community does not only rely on local knowledge to manage forest resources. There is need to integrate this with scientific ecological knowledge and establish instances where these knowledge systems complement each other. Local knowledge is significant where people’s livelihoods are dependent on ecosystem services such as in Shaikarawe where extensive ecological studies have not been conducted. In rural areas such as in Shaikarawe there is no capacity to conduct ecological studies hence the use of local knowledge can assist in gaining insights into ecosystem processes. Local knowledge has some limitations, and local people are often limited in understanding environmental processes taking place at the landscape level and temporal scales that are not obvious to them. This is mixed method research. Ecological knowledge can complement local knowledge by predicting responses of forests to multifaceted processes such as climate variability.
