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Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine
Published in: Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 1/2011

Open Access 01-12-2011 | Editorial

Local knowledge: Who cares?

Authors: Ina Vandebroek, Victoria Reyes-García, Ulysses P de Albuquerque, Rainer Bussmann, Andrea Pieroni

Published in: Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine | Issue 1/2011

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Excerpt

Local Knowledge Systems (LKS) consist of the knowledge, beliefs, traditions, practices, institutions, and worldviews developed and sustained by indigenous and local communities, and are believed to represent an adaptive strategy to the environment in which these communities live. The value of LKS has been contested by some scholars as being restricted to local issues [1], and local knowledge holders have alternative been labeled as "guardians of the earth", "conservationists", or as subsistence consumers who will no longer coexist sustainably with the environment when their populations increase, and as they become more integrated into market economies [2‐4]. LKS have sometimes been viewed as "traditional", with the negative connotation of being outdated or primitive, and thus of little use to solve problems of modern society [5]. Others have put forward that the adaptive nature, applicability and value of LKS need to be empirically tested and validated by science [6, 7]. …
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Metadata
Title
Local knowledge: Who cares?
Authors
Ina Vandebroek
Victoria Reyes-García
Ulysses P de Albuquerque
Rainer Bussmann
Andrea Pieroni
Publication date
01-12-2011
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine / Issue 1/2011
Electronic ISSN: 1746-4269
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/1746-4269-7-35

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