Monday, August 6, 2007 - 4:20 PM

SYMP 3-9: How can traditional ecological knowlege inform restoration ecology and vice versa?

Dennis Martinez, Indigenous Peoples' Restoration Network (IPRN)

There has been relatively little inclusion in recent thinking of the fields of ethno-history and ethno-ecology in the discussion and setting of goals for restoration (Hobbs, 2006); nor have issues of environmental and social justice and indigenous cultural survival been part of any meaningful restoration dialogue. The SER International Primer has included the concept of cultural landscape (Higgs and Martinez, 2004), but it is poorly integrated with current theory which treats it as a stand-alone poor intellectual relative of mainstream restoration (Martinez, 2006). I argue that there is an eco-cultural restoration continuum that ranges from self-organizing, autogenic nature at  one end, and ecologically inappropriate or irrelevant historical-cultural landscapes at the other end. In between are cultural landscapes created and maintained for millennia by indigenous peoples with ecologically appropriate and sustainable cultural practices. Here nature merges with culture. Restoration theory should recognize these longstanding, tested, ecologically appropriate cultural practices as ecological values to be restored or maintained (Martinez, 2007). I will discuss the relevance of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and traditional indigenous land management systems to the reconstruction of reference ecosystems for ecological restoration; the relationship between restoration and restoration maintenance; the concept of succession and climax vegetation; the role of cultural landscapes in indigenous cultural survival, conservation, and restoration; and the nature-culture dichotomy in Western thinking. Specific modifications will be proposed for the SER Primer 9 attributes and general restoration standards and guidelines.

See more of SYMP 3 - Key concepts and research questions in restoration ecology
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See more of The ESA/SER Joint Meeting (August 5 -- August 10, 2007)