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IFCAE Project: Ecological Literacy: Across Geographies, Generations and Economies. Concept Development |
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| Timeframe: | 2008-2010 |
| Project Leaders: | Trish Shanley (CIFOR), Greg Hill, Citlalli Lopez |
Ecological Literacy: across geographies, generations and economies The Institute for Culture and Ecology is a partner in an international project to better understand the knowledge base that children have about their natural environment and how this is related to their income, geography and/or age. Understanding how local ecological knowledge is gained, lost or changed across geographies and generations is valuable as local knowledge and insights have been shown to contribute to human
resilience in times of changing demographic and environmental realities. As
people are confronted with new challenges, such as climate variability,
macroeconomic changes, weakening governance systems, environmental
degradation and social and psychological upheaval -- adaptive strategies
based on local knowledge systems may play an
increasingly important function.
The project will address questions such as What are the impacts of income, age and location on children's contact with and/or knowledge of nature? Under what conditions, how and what types of local ecological knowledge are retained across generations? How can institutions and policies support local knowledge systems which have a role in strengthening the adaptive capacity of the rural and urban people? The project seeks to make contributions to disciplines such as the following: ethnoecology, education, childhood development and urban forestry. Articles and policy briefs will be primary outputs. Beyond outputs in academic journals, the project will produce articles accessible to a broad public in magazines and newspapers, as well as other media such as radio and video.
A survey instrument is currently being drafted and will be delivered to classrooms in four countries in Spring of 2008. The survey will eventually be delivered to more than 20 countries, in the North and South including Burkina Faso, Cameroon, South Africa, Iran, Indonesia, Philippines, China, Finland, Switzerland, Brazil, Mexico, USA. We plan for the survey to play the role of a framework for more localized in-depth research on the topic. Having an established set of variable, research questions and assumptions will allow for more effective meta-analysis of local studies to take place in the future. Initial funding for the project has been provided by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in Bogor, Indonesia and other institutional partners include Center for International Forestry Research, Indonesia People and Plants International, US, University of Basel, Switzerland, Dept. of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Institute of Tropical Studies, University of Veracruz, Mexico. Dept. of Environmental Science, Rhodes University, South Africa, Southeast Asian Non-Timber Forest Product Exchange Programme, Philippines, University of Portland, US and The National Council of Rubber Tappers, Brazil.
The project will address questions such as What are the impacts of income, age and location on children's contact with and/or knowledge of nature? Under what conditions, how and what types of local ecological knowledge are retained across generations? How can institutions and policies support local knowledge systems which have a role in strengthening the adaptive capacity of the rural and urban people? The project seeks to make contributions to disciplines such as the following: ethnoecology, education, childhood development and urban forestry. Articles and policy briefs will be primary outputs. Beyond outputs in academic journals, the project will produce articles accessible to a broad public in magazines and newspapers, as well as other media such as radio and video.
A survey instrument is currently being drafted and will be delivered to classrooms in four countries in Spring of 2008. The survey will eventually be delivered to more than 20 countries, in the North and South including Burkina Faso, Cameroon, South Africa, Iran, Indonesia, Philippines, China, Finland, Switzerland, Brazil, Mexico, USA. We plan for the survey to play the role of a framework for more localized in-depth research on the topic. Having an established set of variable, research questions and assumptions will allow for more effective meta-analysis of local studies to take place in the future. Initial funding for the project has been provided by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in Bogor, Indonesia and other institutional partners include Center for International Forestry Research, Indonesia People and Plants International, US, University of Basel, Switzerland, Dept. of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Institute of Tropical Studies, University of Veracruz, Mexico. Dept. of Environmental Science, Rhodes University, South Africa, Southeast Asian Non-Timber Forest Product Exchange Programme, Philippines, University of Portland, US and The National Council of Rubber Tappers, Brazil.