Nexus between indigenous ecological knowledge and ecosystem services: a socio-ecological analysis for sustainable ecosystem management.

Arijit Das,Rajiv Pandey,Manob Das,Selim Seikh

doi:10.1007/s11356-021-15605-8

Abstract

The well-being of the human society cannot be ensured and sustainable unless the flow of Ecosystem Services (ESs) would be matching with their consistent demand. The consistent flow of ESs required sustainable management of ecological resources of the ecosystem. The management of ecosystem can be ensured with variety of approaches. Integration of indigenous ecological knowledge (IEK) in management prescription with the view that IEK-based extraction of ESs ensures removal of resources from the ecosystem within the limit thereby ensuring the sustainability of ecosystem. The present study is an evaluation to understand the nexus between ESs and IEK for sustainable environmental management. The focus of the study was a tribal dominated socio-ecological patch of Barind Region of Malda district, Eastern India. The assessment of ESs and IEK was based on the data collected from the randomly selected tribal households following the pre-tested questionnaire containing questions on ESs as per millennium ecosystem assessment. The data were analyzed following social preference approach, and statistical tests (Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney). General linear model (GLM) has also been used to examine the impact of socio-demographic attributes on the perceived valuation of ESs. The results revealed that the provisioning ESs (such as water, fuel wood, medical plants) were most preferred followed by cultural and regulating ESs by tribal. Differential importance of ESs was observed among tribal and accounted by gender, education as well as age of the tribe. A gap between the actual accessibility and evaluation of ESs by the tribal communities was also apparent. The socio-demographic attributes have an immense impact on the valuation of ESs and also governed based on the IEK. Various types of indigenous ecological belief systems were closely linked with conservation of ecosystem and sustainable supply of ESs. The present study can contribute to understand socio-ecological nexus with the lens of IEK in tribal dominated ecological landscapes for improved ecosystem and environmental management besides ensuring sustainability of flow of ESs.

Highlights

Indigenous Ecological Knowledge (IEK), an enterprise consisting both the ecological and social systems, is interwoven leading to ensure the sustenance of both the systems
The results revealed that the provisioning Ecosystem Services (ESs) was most preferred followed by cultural and regulating ESs by tribal
The present study dealt with the assessment the nexus between indigenous ecological knowledge (IEK) and Ecosystem Services (ESs) from socio-ecological perspectives in tribal dominated landscapes

Summary

Introduction

Indigenous Ecological Knowledge (IEK), an enterprise consisting both the ecological and social systems, is interwoven leading to ensure the sustenance of both the systems. IEK is fundamentally vital for livelihood and quality of living (Turner et al, 2000) for tribal; conservation of biodiversity (Gadgil et al 1993; Berkes et al 2000) conservation of rare species (Colding, 1998); conservation of protected areas (Johannes 1998) and local natural resource management (NRM) for tribal dominated socio-ecological systems Global acknowledgements such as millennium assessment recognized that the livelihood and human well-being (HWB) of the indigenous communities is largely dependent on direct and indirect ESs (MEA, 2005). The non-inclusion of IEK leads to underrepresentation of cultural services in decision-making framework (Chan et al, 2012a; b) and against the fourth operating principle of IPBES, which highlights the importance of IEK for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and ecosystems (IPBES, 2016)

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