Doctoral Dissertation Research: Implications of Diverse Environmental Knowledge for Community Conservation

Indigenous and local environmental knowledge plays a vital role in community-based conservation in the United States and across the world. Deploying such knowledge to inform community decision making regarding natural resource management, however, involves complex negotiations between stakeholders, who often have differing environmental perspectives. By investigating how diverse knowledge shapes the dynamics of collective governance of community conserved areas, this doctoral dissertation research sheds light on some of the more challenging aspects of community conservation policy and practice, such as knowledge integration and stakeholder equity. The dissemination of research results to policy makers and academic and general audiences will raise awareness of the value of Indigenous and local knowledge for biodiversity conservation while emphasizing its diversity and complexity. This project trains a graduate student in anthropology in the methods of scientific data collection and analysis and exemplifies the importance of scientifically investigating the epistemological aspects of community-based natural resource management in order to foster more successful conservation outcomes. This project analyzes how different types of knowledge come into contact to influence conservation processes and the effects of these varied epistemologies on the governance and representation of an Indigenous community conserved area. Specifically, the researchers examine how knowledge holders mobilize environmental ideas, beliefs, and values to validate opinions about natural resource management and how differing perspectives are contested or adopted in order to achieve consensus-based collective action. Qualitative methods and a multi-scalar and multi-sited research design are utilized to assess the role of knowledge in shaping conservation processes at an individual, community, and organization level. Determining the types of knowledge Indigenous communities mobilize to manage and conserve biodiversity enhances our theoretical understanding of Indigenous and local environmental knowledge. Additionally, ascertaining the role of such knowledges in the negotiation of conservation problems helps expand scientific comprehension of the interpersonal and epistemological processes inherent to collective action and environmental governance. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.