Traditional Forest-Related Knowledge Sustaining Communities, Ecosystems and Biocultural Diversity

About this book

Exploring a topic of vital and ongoing importance, this volume examines the history, current status and likely future trends in the development and application of traditional forest knowledge by local and indigenous communities worldwide. It considers the interplay between traditional beliefs and practices and formal forest science and interrogates the often uneasy relationship between these different knowledge systems. The contents also highlight efforts to conserve and promote traditional forest management practices that balance the environmental, economic and social objectives of forest management. It places these efforts in the context of recent trends towards the devolution of forest management authority in many parts of the world. The book includes regional chapters covering North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, Russia and Central Asia, and the Western Pacific. As well as relating the general factors mentioned above to these specific areas, these chapters cover issues of special regional significance (such as the changing patterns of cultivation in Asia). Other chapters examine topics ranging from key policy issues to the significant programs of regional and international organisations, and from research ethics and best practices for scientific study of traditional knowledge to the adaptation of traditional forest knowledge to climate change and globalisation.

Contents

Dedication
Preface
Acknowledgements

1. Introduction: The Growing Importance of Traditional Forest-Related Knowledge
2. Africa
3. Latin America-Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile
4. Amazonia
5. North America
6. Europe
7. Russia, Ukraine, the Caucasus, and Central Asia
8. Northeast Asia
9. South Asia
10. Southeast Asia
11. Western Pacific
12. Globalisation, Local Communities, and Traditional Forest-Related Knowledge
13. Traditional Forest-Related Knowledge and Climate Change
14. Ethics and Research Methodologies for the Study of Traditional Forest-Related Knowledge
15. The Unique Character of Traditional Forest-Related Knowledge: Threats and Challenges Ahead

Subject Index
Author Index

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