Values, Knowledge and Governance of Socio-ecological Production Landscapes and Seascapes GEF-Satoyama Project Working Paper (original) (raw)

2019, GEF-Satoyama Project Working Paper

The “GEF-Satoyama Project” (the “Project”), a global project funded by the Global Environment Facility since 2015, aims to mainstream conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes (SEPLS) for a society in harmony with nature. This paper showcases the experiences of ten demonstration projects in SEPLS from the Indo-Burma, Tropical Andes and Madagascar and Indian Ocean Islands regions, which were selected through calls for proposals in these three regions and received financial support by the Project, focusing around the three questions that are important for SEPLS. These are: How can various stakeholders become aware of the values of SEPLS; how can traditional knowledge gained from SEPLS be maintained and used; and how can the governance of SEPLS be strengthened? Review and analysis of the demonstration projects showed that they were tackling the issues pertinent to the values, traditional knowledge and governance as vital and interconnected constituents of SEPLS. The preliminary outcomes of their efforts were illustrated in various ways, such as reduced negative drivers affecting biodiversity (particularly resource overexploitation, land use and land cover changes, climate change and pollution) as well as stronger institutions to promote biodiversity conservation and sustainable forms of production in SEPLS. More specifically, we found that: • SEPLS provide a wide array of values to people. Collaborative research on threatened species in SEPLS, and local entrepreneurship harnessing core values of SEPLS, particularly food, help people better recognize these values. • Traditional knowledge is an integral part of SEPLS that enables people to use and manage various resources sustainably, but is in decline. Effective measures to address this decline include community schools that complement modern education and that facilitate knowledge exchange between elders and youths; reinforcing traditional ecological production; and institutional efforts to integrate traditional knowledge into science and policies, e.g. through adaptive co-management. • Governance in SEPLS can be strengthened through effective collaborative management schemes and involving local communities in rule- and decision-making processes. Effective collaborative management consists of effective communications between all stakeholders, financial support and policies. There are interlinkages among perceived and realized values, traditional knowledge and governance. This means that the development and implementation of polices related to SEPLS must systematically take into account the values of the different ecosystems that are relevant to the affected communities. They should, furthermore, draw from both scientific and traditional knowledge and be inclusive of and coherent between the different sectors and levels of governance. Effective communication and consensus-building between all the stakeholders is, therefore, key. In other words, public policies that are coherent among the different sectors and levels of government, and that recognize local values, traditional knowledge, customary rights and community institutions would provide enable environment for sustainably managing SEPLS.