Volume 181, January 2015, Pages 133–149
Review
Indigenous biocultural knowledge in ecosystem science and management: Review and insight from Australia
Highlights
- •
- We found 1325 publicly available Australian Indigenous biocultural knowledge documents (IBKD).
- •
- Only 14% of IBKD acknowledged Indigenous authorship, mainly since the 1990’s.
- •
- Most IBKD has occurred since the 1970’s and many opportunities remain to document and use IBK.
- •
- Spatial analysis of the 568 place-based IBKD showed that IBKD hotspots differ to Australia’s biodiversity hotspots.
- •
- IBK makes significant and unique contributions to Australia’s conservation priorities.
Abstract
Worldwide,
environmental conservation directives are mandating greater inclusion
of Indigenous people and their knowledge in the management of global
ecosystems. Colonised countries such as the United States of America,
New Zealand and Australia have responded with an array of policy and
programs to enhance Indigenous involvement; however, balancing
Indigenous and non-Indigenous priorities and preferred management
methods is a substantial challenge. Using Australia as a case study, we
investigate past documentation and use of Indigenous biocultural
knowledge (IBK) and assess the main contributions to ecosystem science
and management. Focussing on the terrestrial environment, this
innovative paper presents an integrated review of IBK documentation
(IBKD) by conducting a spatial, temporal and content analysis of the
publically available literature. A spatial analysis of the place-based
documents identified Australian IBKD hotspots, gaps and opportunities
for further collaboration. Sixty percent of IBKD has occurred off the
Indigenous estate with only 19% of the total coinciding with current
Indigenous Protected Areas. We also found that IBKD hotspots were
different to Australia’s biodiversity hotspots suggesting opportunity
for development of integrated biological and cultural hotspots. A
temporal analysis of IBKD showed exponential growth since the 1970s and
typical involvement of non-Indigenous researchers. Indigenous authorship
remained negligible until the 1990s when there was an obvious increase,
although only 14% of IBKD to date has acknowledged Indigenous
authorship. Working through Australia’s broad biological conservation
priorities, we demonstrate how IBK has and can be used to inform
research and management of biodiversity, threatened species, aquatic
ecosystems, fire, invasive species, and climate change. We also
synthesise documented suggestions for overcoming cross-cultural
awareness and communication challenges between Indigenous people and
biologists, environmental managers and policy makers. Lastly, we suggest
that inclusion of both tangible and philosophical engagement of
Indigenous people in national conservation agendas may promote more
holistic socio-ecological systems thinking and facilitate greater
progress towards addressing the Indigenous engagement directive of
international conservation agreements.
Keywords
- Indigenous ecological knowledge;
- Traditional knowledge;
- Cross-cultural ecology;
- Biocultural diversity;
- Socio-ecological systems;
- Sustainable development
- Corresponding author at: Department of Environment and Geography, Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia. Tel.:
+61 2 98508405.
Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
