Project description
Indigenous environmental knowledge: how it changes and what the ecological impacts are
Indigenous peoples, descendants of the earliest known inhabitants of a colonised territory, share collective ancestral knowledge and culture including unique ways of relating to people and the environment. This indigenous environmental knowledge (IEK) often relates to plants and animals, weather patterns and climate, agriculture and more. Some studies suggest that changes in IEK are evidence of knowledge erosion, while others suggest adaptability and resilience. Either way, it is not clear what the ecological impacts of these changes are. The ERC-funded IEK-CHANGES project will rigorously assess IEK changes over time and their ecological impacts using systematic data collection at a unique research site in the Bolivian Amazon.
Objective
Ethnobiological research provides contradictory evidence of changes in Indigenous Environmental Knowledge (IEK) systems, with some studies suggesting processes of knowledge erosion and others emphasizing adaptability and resilience. The ecological impacts of such changes are also largely unknown, given that ethnobiologists generally lack diachronic or longitudinal data for the study of IEK changes over long periods of time, and their knock-on effects on biodiversity. Using systematic ethnobiological place-based data collection in a unique research site in the Bolivian Amazon with an untapped wealth of long-term ethnobiological information, in this project I will rigorously assess the processes through which IEK systems change over time, and the ecological impacts associated with such changes. This project will be conducted in partnership with the Tsimane Indigenous Peoples through processes of knowledge co-production. The combined use of cutting-edge geospatial analyses with ethnographically-grounded data will allow me to disentangle the interwoven relationships between IEK changes and biodiversity loss, and provide a more granular interpretation of causality in hypothesis-driven ethnobiological research. The project will contribute to a paradigm shift in the way in which change and causality are addressed and theorized in ethnobiological scholarship, enriching scholarly discussions about the push and pull between continuity and change within IEK systems, and significantly expanding our knowledge of the pathways through which the loss of collective intergenerational memory impinges negatively on biodiversity conservation. The projects ground-breaking nature lies on its focus not only on changes in IEK content (e.g. plant uses), but also on the contexts for such changes (e.g. biocultural landscapes), and its interwoven ecological impacts (e.g. forest loss).
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2023-STG
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08193 Cerdanyola Del Valles
Spain
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