Stepping Out of Our Paradigm: A Path for the Integration of Scientific and Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Natural Resource Management

Abstract

The call for the of scientific and traditional ecological (TEK) in natural resource and environment management (NREM) is now stronger than ever. Australian central and state governments have indicated that knowledge integration in NREM is a way to pursue social equity and enhance sustainability. Yet a clear path for integrating systems on the ground is still to be developed, which often hinders the dialogue between holders of different systems. In this paper we argue that the of systems in NREM should be pursued at the level of the production process and with the involvement of holders. We are aware that integrating TEK and scientific requires a change of social values. To achieve this change, we argue that both scientific and traditional ecological holders need to step out of their own paradigms and meet each other half way.