CULTURAL LANDSCAPES AND COMMUNITY CONSERVATION
Discussions near a community forest, coastal SW Cameroon. (Photo: J.B. Seibert)
Cultural landscapes are formed by people’s ongoing, deeply embedded, dynamic, and long-standing connection to place and shared histories. They embody the intimate weaving of cultures and environments out of which traditional management practices grow and develop.
Traditional management systems typically integrate a wide range of habitats, species and practices, adapt to and capitalize on seasonal change, and grow from local ecological processes and biological diversity. Rather than directed towards quick gain, they place a premium on endurance, resilience, and well-being over time, accommodating many social needs, material as well as symbolic. As a result, these management systems, and the cultural landscapes of which they are a part, not only create the basis for community, health, and sustainable livelihoods, but reduce risk in a complex and uncertain environment, helping local groups adapt to change.
Sierra Tarahumara in the State of Chihuahua, México. (Photo: Adolfo Rebolledo)
Campesino in his milpa, in the Sierra Tarahumara, México. (Photo: Adolfo Rebolledo)
“Traditional” can suggest static, but these systems are inherently dynamic. What is different today is the staggering pace and intensity of environmental, social and political change. Climate change, expansion of industrial agriculture and logging, associated land grabs, fires and deforestation, mining, oil extraction … the globalized economy, manifested in a range of commercial activities, is creating enormous pressure on cultural landscapes across the globe.
“Cultural landscapes and traditional management practices grow from shared histories and connections to place... interwoven with biological and cultural diversity, they conserve biodiversity and strengthen communities.”
Archery competition during Mam-eh festival in Capas, Tarlac. The Philippines.
Fortunata Panzo taking the sheep to graze near the milpa. Mexico. (Photo: Gabriela Alvarez)
Our work
People and Plants is working to support and strengthen traditional knowledge and management systems, cultural landscapes, and the land and resource rights that underpin them.
Our Cultural Landscapes and Community Conservation work is as diverse as the landscapes and people with whom we collaborate, and includes:
Knowledge exchange tools that strengthen endangered traditional management and knowledge systems, promote sustainable practices, and encourage young peoples’ interest in cultural traditions.
Community management of forests and resources, including inventories, sustainable management practices and plans, and equitable marketing.
Peer to peer learning and exchanges between local groups, encouraging people to share experiences, knowledge, skills and know-how relating to natural resource use, trade, management, health, well-being, and rights.
Inter-cultural training programs that explicitly strengthen and complement indigenous skills, practices, and knowledge, and serve as a bridge between indigenous and western concepts of science and learning.
Sustainable and ethical management protocols for plant resources of subsistence or commercial importance. Protocols are designed around local knowledge and ecological sciences, and are calibrated to satisfy local livelihood and conservation needs.
Appropriate and effective laws and policies, including bringing the views and experiences of local communities to national and international policy processes.
Programs
SMALL GRANTS PROGRAM
As of 2023, the Cultural Landscapes and Community Conservation Program received support from a generous donor for small grants to collaborators and partners around the world, including for our traditional foodways video series, traditional basket-making in Cameroon, traditional breadmaking in South Africa, land and resource rights in Panama, seasonal calendars as a process of community reflection in Mexico, and traditional food festivals in The Philippines and Indonesia.