Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
The Durrell team highlight the initiatives' importance for ensuring trans-
parency and good governance through open support of the scheme by village
heads and politicians and improved acceptance of the presence of government offi-
cials in the area. Competitions promote a sense of pride in conservation and are
ideal for public awareness and promoting media interest. It is too early to judge
whether the monitoring is improving the conservation status of the target species.
Source
: Andrianandrasana
et al.
(2005).
is wider than just CPUE. Moller
et al
. (2004) give a table of types of information
that harvesters use, which include animal condition, species composition and
unusual events.
These types of information are part of
traditional ecological knowledge
, which
is any information that is known informally about the environment where people
live. Traditional ecological knowledge is a useful component of management,
because by making use of it, managers can demonstrate that they respect users'
expertise, and can enter into a dialogue about how best to manage the ecosystem
(Aswani and Hamilton 2004; Drew 2005; Section 7.8). Combining local know-
ledge with scientific tools can be a very productive way to enter into co-manage-
ment and build understanding (Box 7.4 Section 7.5.1).
Box 7.4
Including local knowledge and behaviour into a GIS for fisheries
management.
The placement of Marine Protected Areas can be a contentious issue. Often the
areas of highest fish species diversity and abundance are both key fishing grounds
and prime targets for protection. GIS (Geographical Information System) tech-
nology is a particularly useful way of visualising local knowledge about fisheries,
which is often spatial (where the best fishing grounds are at different times of year,
where particular species aggregate or spawn). As well as being useful for combin-
ing datasets of various kinds, a GIS-based map is an interactive tool that can be
used to help in negotiating decisions about MPA placement.
Aswani and Lauer (2006) worked with local resource users to map their know-
ledge of a reef system in the Solomon Islands, including where people fish, spawn-
ing grounds and substrates. The process of compiling this database was important
in building local support for the MPA, and highlighting areas where the place-
ment of an MPA would have caused major difficulties for local people. After the
process, local support for the MPA was estimated at 70-90%.
GISs are difficult participatory tools. On the one hand, they are visually appeal-
ing ways to present and integrate spatial information. On the other hand, building
a GIS is technically demanding, requires external facilitation and needs expensive
equipment. So it is not an ideal tool for ongoing management at the local level.
