Local Knowledge Systems local indicators, connecting to regional forecasts

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Local Knowledge Systems local indicators,
connecting to regional forecasts
Jere Gilles University of Missouri McKnight
Workshop Lima, Perú, 29 April 2008
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Topics

• Adaptation and community networks
• Local and scientific knowledge systems
• Aymara traditional forecast indicators
• Local networks and scientific forecasts
• Building resilience through linking systems

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Adaptation and knowledge

• Adaptation is a continual locally based process
• Adaptation depends upon the pool of knowledge
  available and the costs and incentives to change
• Extra community knowledge needed with increased
  importance of extra-community shocks

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Linking knowledge Systems to Improve Adaptation
and resilience

• Linking local and scientific is the only way to
  downscale in order to help decision makers
• We must understand differences before we can
  develop strategies for linking them.

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Local Knowledge

• Empirical but based in practice
• It is context specific (a time and place)
• The core of local knowledge are explanations
  specific to a particular place and time

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Scientific Knowledge

• Empirical
• Explanations based upon prior observations and on
  theories
• The core of scientific knowledge are explanations
  that are independent of time and
  place/reductionist

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Local and Indigenous Knowledge

• Local knowledge is practitioner knowledge not
  necessarily indigenous knowledge
• Differences between local and scientific
  knowledge on climate (Orlove, Chiang and Case,
  Nature 2000)

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Pleaides (Koto) rainfall and potato yield
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Differences between Knowledge Systems

• Context LK the principal focus, SK the
  principal obstacle
• Perspective LK holistic, SK reductionist
• Principal Language LK Practice, SK words and
  symbols

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Sources of climate forecast information in the
Altiplano

• Two communities Peru and Bolivia
• Sources of information 1999 90 used abiotic
  indicators and 99 used biotic ones 3 used
  scientific sources directly, 13 used media (in
  Peru the Bristol Almanac was an important source)

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Traditional Indicators

• Abiotic indicators
• Stars
• Winds
• Biotic indicators
• Plants
• Animals

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Production Decisions related to climate

• Few people relied on their own observations of
  indicators
• Relied on the knowledge of local experts/nodes
  the best potato producers

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Schematic of a Network
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Changes observed 1999-2006

• Significant decline in use of indicators but the
  exact degree unclear
• Participatory methods lower level of use and
  efficacy than survey/ intensive methods
• 74 still use in Bolivian community LT 50 in
  Peruvian one from surveys

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Reasons for Decline?

• Local knowledge answerthey dont work like they
  used to (expers disagree)
• Scientific knowledge hypotheses
• Environmental change
• Changes in the production system
• Disappearance of nodes/experts
• Never worked

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Our Challenge for the future

• Create effective local knowledge systems related
  to weather and climate
• Develop linkages between knowledge systems
• Currently working with farmer groups in Bolivia
  to monitor and evaluate indicators