99th ESA Annual Meeting (August 10 -- 15, 2014)

SYMP 2

Ecosystem Stewardship Through Traditional Resource and Environmental Management: Indigenous Management Models from Around the Globe

This symposium explores Indigenous Management Models through which indigenous and local communities are currently implementing traditional knowledge to manage and restore ecosystems, while adapting to environmental, cultural, and socioeconomic changes. Indigenous Management Models address ecosystem management practices, knowledge sharing and transmission, and decision-making as they relate to cultural and ecological resilience. Speakers will explore and compare contemporary implementation of traditional ecological practices across cultures involving wetlands and water resources, fire management, and food production/collection systems. Lessons will be reviewed regarding effective mechanisms for incorporating indigenous worldviews into decision-making strategies for ecological and cultural restoration. Speakers will further consider mechanisms by which traditional ecological knowledge can effectively and appropriately be shared with broader audiences of practitioners in a way that respects cultures, enhances ecosystem management practices, and returns benefits to indigenous and local peoples. Throughout the symposium, we will consider whether and how the implementation of Indigenous Management Models affects ecosystem health and socio-economic resilience. Collectively, these presentations highlight mechanisms by which humans act not only as ecosystem scholars and managers, but as integral, active components of healthy, resilient ecosystems. The global scope of this symposium allows for cross-cultural analysis of lessons emerging from Indigenous Management Models, and acknowledges that advances in earth stewardship require international as well as local scales of understanding and collaboration.