TY - JOUR
T1 - Finding common ground
T2 - Birds, biodiversity, and the implications for collaboration with traditional landowners in New Guinea
AU - Thomas, William H.
PY - 2010/1
Y1 - 2010/1
N2 - It has been proposed that indigenous societies can be models for the conservation of biodiversity. However, attempts at implementing conservation-based development plans are being judged failures. In this article, I argue that these failures can be addressed by translating indigenous knowledge into context that is mutually intelligible to both indigenous people and conservation biologists. Drawing on sixteen months of ethnobiological fieldwork, this article uses indigenous knowledge to describe the relationship of traditional life to biodiversity for the Hewa of Papua New Guinea's Central Range. The island of New Guinea is one of the planet's last bastions of cultural and biological diversity. Using birds as an indicator of diversity, I argue that more productive conservation policies will emerge when indigenous activities are viewed not as vehicles for establishing equilibrium with the environment, but as a source of ecological disturbance. Although Hewa traditions currently play a significant role in shaping this biologically diverse environment, their lifestyle is not necessarily a template for sustainability in the future.
AB - It has been proposed that indigenous societies can be models for the conservation of biodiversity. However, attempts at implementing conservation-based development plans are being judged failures. In this article, I argue that these failures can be addressed by translating indigenous knowledge into context that is mutually intelligible to both indigenous people and conservation biologists. Drawing on sixteen months of ethnobiological fieldwork, this article uses indigenous knowledge to describe the relationship of traditional life to biodiversity for the Hewa of Papua New Guinea's Central Range. The island of New Guinea is one of the planet's last bastions of cultural and biological diversity. Using birds as an indicator of diversity, I argue that more productive conservation policies will emerge when indigenous activities are viewed not as vehicles for establishing equilibrium with the environment, but as a source of ecological disturbance. Although Hewa traditions currently play a significant role in shaping this biologically diverse environment, their lifestyle is not necessarily a template for sustainability in the future.
KW - Birds
KW - Conservation
KW - Disturbance
KW - Indigenous knowledge
KW - New Guinea
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77649180660&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00267-008-9184-5
DO - 10.1007/s00267-008-9184-5
M3 - Article
C2 - 18704563
AN - SCOPUS:77649180660
SN - 0364-152X
VL - 45
SP - 82
EP - 92
JO - Environmental Management
JF - Environmental Management
IS - 1
ER -