Question

. Do you think that local and traditional knowledge that we obtain from communities

living in rural and forest areas across India can play a significant role in devising ways

to conserve biodiversity and protecting natural resources? Justify your answer with

relevant examples.​

Answer 1

Answer:

Traditional knowledge is vital for sustainability of natural resources including forests, water, and agroecosystems across landscape continuum spanning from households through farms, village, commons and wilderness. Here, I examine the traditional knowledge on biodiversity, particularly in the light of contemporary research on traditional and formal knowledge systems and demonstrate the value of traditional knowledge for biodiversity conservation. I also revisit the efficacy of traditional knowledge systems for conservation. I identify recent developments in local knowledge research and interface this with the challenges that contemporary society faces in India and how local knowledge can be useful to address the biodiversity conservation.

Humanity faces exceptional challenge of eroding natural resources and declining ecosystems services due to a multitude of threats created by unprecedented growth and consumerism. Also imperilled is the biodiversity and sustainability of the essential ecological processes and life support systems (Chapin et al., 2000) in human dominated ecosystems across scales (Vitousek et al., 1997). Indeed, human-domination of earth is evident in global change (Ayensu et al., 1999; Lawton et al., 2001; Phillips et al., 1998; Schimel et al., 2001; Forest et al., 2002), biodiversity extinctions (Bawa and Dayanandan 1997; Sala et al., 2000; Singh, 2002) and disruption of ecosystem functions (Loreau et al., 2001). Ecological problems coupled with unequal access to resources results in human ill-being and threats to the livelihood security of the world's poorest (Pandey, 1996; Balvanera et al., 2001).