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2.8 Indigenous and local systems of knowledge (feat. Brigitte Baptiste)

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Ecosystem Services: a Method for Sustainable Development

University of Geneva

4.7 (160 ratings) | 11K Students Enrolled

Ecosystem services are a way of thinking about – and evaluating – the goods and services provided by nature that contribute to the well-being of humans. This MOOC will cover scientific (technical), economic, and socio-political dimensions of the concept through a mix of theory, case-studies, interviews with specialists and a serious-game. By the end of this course, our aim is to enable you to: • define the concept of ecosystem services, its principles and limitations • understand the key services associated with any ressource (e.g., fresh water) through readings and case-studies • appreciate the advantages and potential risks of monetising ecosystem services • appreciate the social dimensions (power issues, cultural biases) embedded within any method • integrate tactical advice on mainstreaming this approach into policy and standard government practices • Optional: learn how to map ecosystem services with GIS tools The session that runs May 29th- July 10th will be actively monitored by the instructors, and learners will have the opportunity to ask questions. This course was developed by instructors from the University of Geneva with the help of numerous researchers and input from the Geneva Water Hub and the Natural Capital Project. The course was financed by the University of Geneva, the Global Programme Water Initiatives of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), and the Luc Hoffmann Institute. This MOOC is supported by the Geneva Water Hub and the University of Geneva along with the MOOC in « Water Resources Management and Policy » (www.coursera.org/learn/water-management) and the one in « International Water Law » (www.coursera.org/learn/droit-eau). We look forward to you joining us!

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4.7 (160 ratings)

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CT

Oct 25, 2018

An interesting course on understanding several ecosystem services more in-depth, as well as the ways these are quantified. I personally enjoyed also the critical perspectives at the concept

SS

Jul 13, 2019

Goes into adequate depth both for someone who is new to the concept as well as for someone who has a fairly well established background of Environmental and Spatial Planning.

From the lesson

Module 2: Valuation of Ecosystem Services

Here you learn about what is valuation, the difference between a price and a value, and various ways to derive a monetary estimate for different ecosystem services. You will also learn about world views that differ radically from the anglo-saxon model with respect to concepts such as "nature" and "biodiversity".

2.5.1 Economic valuation theory - part A8:50

2.5.2 Economic valuation theory - part B10:50

2.6 Critique, dangers and biases in favor of monetisable services (feat. Mike Hannis)7:43

2.7 Indigenous and local communities cultural values (feat. Brigitte Baptiste)13:33

2.8 Indigenous and local systems of knowledge (feat. Brigitte Baptiste)11:11

Taught By

Martin Schlaepfer
Senior Lecturer
Anthony Lehmann
Associate Professor
Juliet Jane Fall
Professor

Transcript

[MUSIC]

The departure point for a system of knowledge as we were discussing before,

is the way our minds frame an image of nature, and

minds are exposed to different kinds of, Phenomenons in nature.

We grow in the middle of seasons, in the middle of flocks of birds,

in the middle of noisy crickets, or birds that are singing around myself.

But in many cases, the way our mind frames nature

is completely different than ours in the western culture.

Greeks created a way of seeing the world, of understanding the world.

But there are hundreds of different ways of

creating and building an image of the world into our brains.

One of the most striking examples I know is that of the Ayahuasca or Yage cultures.

The Ayahuasca culture is mostly found in the Amazon, and

many different groups share that way of knowing and framing an image of the world.

And the most interesting issue of the Ayahuasca cultures is that

people at the age of nine or ten start to drink

the result of a mixture of plants,

one of them being the vine of Ayahuasca mixed with other plants.

And through that, they start to dream while being awake.

And that dream, it's a real neurological change of the brain functions.

And through that type of dream, they are able to talk to nature,

to talk to plants and even to become a plant or to become an animal.

In the shamanistic cultures, you can become a wolf in the Russian steppes.

You can become a coyote in the United States Great Plains.

Or you can become a jaguar in the rainforest.

That's not an invention.

It's something that your brain under the training and

under the views that you get through the Ayahuasca creates.

Therefore, the image of the world, the image of the ecosystem is quite different.

The experience that you have in the middle of kind of, you can say,

virtual reality that is created by the use of Ayahuasca

is completely different than the Western view.

When you have a conversation with people that live in the rainforest, and

they talk to you about very specific conversations they have

with certain beings that they encounter through their lives.

Such as the jaguar person, such as the anaconda or

snake person, you just smile and

you say, okay, that's imagination.

That's a way of thinking but in fact

there's a full set of categories that are behind that way of thinking.

You just done think that plants are the same

than for Linnaeus in the Western taxonomical system.

Therefore botany, zoology, soil science on even ecology uses quite

different categories for describing the world than most of the local communities.

And we have to accept that some of those categories cannot be translated.

You just have to accept that the word means differently

to different communities or to different people.

And as you grow old, you understand that those vision

of the world are equally valid, equally important and

in fact they enrich the daily lives of everybody.

That those views are a demonstration that the mental abilities,

intellectual abilities of humanity are quite diverse and

we need not just to enjoy them, acknowledge them, but

make them some room in our dominating institutions.

We need those visions of divergence of the world, and

we need the visions of the local people about the local environment

even if the categories that they use to describe are managed,

those issues are really, really different than ours.

Local communities that depend, by example, on fishing,

there's plenty of societies in our continent in America that really

need a fish on the plate for every day meal.

And they got it from very different species.

We have 400 species of fish in the Columbian Amazon or

in the Magdalena River.

And people knows the behavior of the fishes.

They know the ecology the natural history and

because they rely on that knowledge for surviving.

But as I mentioned before, they also have ways of talking to the fish,

they have ways of naming those fishes.

They have allocated rights on the properties for that fish.

Therefore, the meaning of well-being

of that needs that lie behind our

existence may vary quite much.

People may be satisfied with just one fish and let the rest

go away even if they can get them to take them to the market and make money.

Values and knowledge are quite related in that situation.

People knows or believes that they don't have the right,

they would misbehave,

or they just will damaged their own futures if they take more than they need.

But that's also a fact of each culture.

It's socially and culturally defined and that's why there

are many conflicts between cultural views about nature and

about biodiversity, who has the right to name something as a resource.

Who can stand defending some type of animal or

plant because of their preferences, or his or she's preferences.

And therefore we are in the middle of a cultural struggle

that has many ways of being solved, but the first and

most important dimension has to do with respect,

appreciation and mutual understanding.

I think that the approach that the IPBES by example is following, or the CBD,

the Convention of Biological Diversity is going

to that way to really invite all knowledge systems that lie

behind specific portions of the land and specific societies.

To be expressed freely, to be developed and to be included into

the decisions of the governments and the institutions for

protecting and managing sustainability in the world.

Finally, I want to mention that knowledge systems are never static.

Even the most traditional indigenous have knowledge systems that evolve, that adapt,

that are able to incorporate new languages, new knowledge, new values.

And therefore, there's a double dimension on the existence of knowledge systems.

The knowledge that the people has and the community shares,

and of course the politics that emerge from that knowledge.

People have the right to position their values and their ways of seeing and

understanding nature in the middle of other communities and

in the middle of social struggles or territorial struggles.

That's history of Earth, but they also have

the right to contribute through that view to the process of

innovating ways of adapting to the world changes.

And particularly in these times when climate change is

really affecting everybody,

it's affecting all of the land of the lands and all the societies.

Indigenous and local knowledge system are thinking about the challenges and

the way their own views of biodiversity and

the natural phenomenons can be handled to adapt to such situations.

So the political and scientific linkages are alive in every community and

we cannot pretend that local communities,

indigenous communities don't express that those beliefs and

those values and that they are not incorporated

into a wider political discussion.

And there is where science sometimes fails thinking that everything is objective.

And that we can handle the changes of the world just

with knowledge and not with some advocacy.

[MUSIC]

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