Bridging Scales and Knowledge Systems
Concepts and Applications in Ecosystem Assessment
Edited by Walter V. Reid, Fikret Berkes,
Thomas Wilbanks, Doris Capistrano
The very first meeting of the MA Exploratory Committee
introduced three novel dimensions to the assessment process.
First, the group concluded that the assessment could not be
done at a single global scale and would need to examine
processes of ecosystem change and human impacts at other
scales, including in particular the scale of individual
communities. Second, it was evident that the audience for
the findings of an assessment of these issues was much
broader than the traditional audience of global assessments
(national governments) and must include other stakeholders
from business, nongovernmental organizations, indigenous
people, and other civil society groups. Finally, it was
clear that the knowledge base for an assessment of this
nature could not be limited to the scientific literature but
must draw on other “informal” sources of knowledge,
including local, traditional, and practitioner’s knowledge.
The MA was the largest assessment effort ever to attempt
to incorporate all of these dimensions in its design, and in
that regard it can be seen as an experiment or pilot in
applying multiple scales and knowledge systems in an
assessment. But, in fact, a tremendous depth of research and
experience exists in relation to each of these dimensions of
scale, stakeholders, and knowledge systems. Recognizing that
this existing experience could significantly aid the MA
process, and also recognizing that the MA itself provided an
experiment that could further advance understanding of
issues of scale and epistemology, the MA Sub-Global Working
Group organized an international conference on these issues
called Bridging Scales and Epistemologies: Linking Local
Knowledge and Global Science in Multi-scale Assessments.
More than two hundred people from fifty countries
participated in that conference, which was held in March
2004 and hosted by the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in
Alexandria, Egypt.
This book—Bridging Scales and Knowledge Systems: Concepts
and Applications in Ecosystem Assessment—is one product of
that conference. While the MA provides the motivation for
this book, and while several chapters present experiences
from the MA, this book, like the conference, reaches far
beyond the MA process to explore the challenges, costs, and
benefits of bridging scales and knowledge systems in
assessment processes and in resource management. The issues
explored in this book push the limits of science, politics,
and social processes. Although a number of general lessons
emerge, many questions remain unanswered about how to make
such processes work, how to address issues of power and
empowerment, and how to address technical issues of
information scaling and knowledge validation. In this
respect, the volume does not attempt to provide a blueprint,
but it does illustrate the multiple dimensions of the
challenges inherent in bridging scales and knowledge
systems.
Chapters for Download
Contents,
Preface, Acknowledgements
Chapter 1: Introduction (Walter V. Reid, Fikret Berkes, Thomas J. Wilbanks, And Doris Capistrano)
Bridging Scales
Chapter 2: How Scale Matters: Some Concepts and Findings (Thomas J. Wilbanks)
Chapter 3: The Politics of Scale in Environmental Assessments (Louis Lebel)
Chapter 4: Assessing Ecosystem Services at Different Scales in the Portugal Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (Henrique M. Pereira, Tiago Domingos, And Luís Vicente)
Chapter 5: A Synthesis of Data and Methods across Scales to Connect Local Policy Decisions to Regional Environmental Conditions: The Case of the Cascadia Scorecard (Chris Davis)
Chapter 6: Scales of Governance in Carbon Sinks: Global Priorities and Local Realities (Emily Boyd)
Bridging Knowledge Systems
Chapter 7: What Counts as Local Knowledge in Global Environmental Assessments and Conventions? (J. Peter Brosius)
Chapter 8: Bridging the Gap or Crossing a Bridge? Indigenous Knowledge and the Language of Law and Policy (Michael Davis)
Chapter 9: Mobilizing Knowledge for Integrated Ecosystem Assessments (Christo Fabricius, Robert Scholes, And Georgina Cundill)
Case Studies
Chapter 10: Keep It Simple and Be Relevant: The First Ten Years of the Arctic Borderlands Ecological Knowledge Co-op (Joan Eamer)
Chapter 11: Cosmovisions and Environmental Governance:The Case of In Situ Conservation of Native Cultivated Plants and Their Wild Relatives in Peru (Jorge Ishizawa)
Chapter 12: Harmonizing Traditional and Scientific Knowledge Systems in Rainfall Prediction and Utilization (Rengalakshmi Raj)
Chapter 13: Managing People’s Knowledge: An Indian Case Study of Building Bridges from Local to Global and from Oral to Scientific Knowledge (Yogesh Gokhale, Madhav Gadgil, Anil Gupta, Riya Sinha, and K. P. (Prabha) Achar)
Chapter 14: Barriers to Local-level Ecosystem Assessment and Participatory Management in Brazil (Cristiana S. Seixas)
Chapter 15: Integrating Epistemologies through Scenarios (Elena Bennett And Monika Zurek)
Synthesis
Chapter 16: The Politics of Bridging Scales and Epistemologies: Science and Democracy in Global Environmental Governance (Clark Miller And Paul Erickson)
Chapter 17: Conclusions: Bridging Scales and Knowledge Systems (Fikret Berkes, Walter V. Reid, Thomas J. Wilbanks, And Doris Capistrano)
Notes, List of Authors, Index