Knowledge coproduction to improve assessments of nature's contributions to people

• Published in: Conservation biology 2023-12, Vol.37 (6), p.e14182-n/a
• Main Authors: Vallet, Améline, Locatelli, Bruno, Valdivia‐Díaz, Merelyn, Quispe Conde, Yésica, Matencio García, Gerardina, Ramos Criales, Alejandrina, Valverde Huamanñahui, Francisca, Ramos Criales, Santusa, Makowski, David, Lavorel, Sandra
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Assessments; Bayes Theorem; Bayesian analysis; Bayesian belief networks; Bayesian theory; Belief networks; bienestar; Biodiversity; Climate change; Conservation of Natural Resources; Ecosystem; Ecosystem assessment; Ecosystem services; Environment and Society; Environmental Sciences; ethnopharmacology; etnofarmacología; Herbal medicine; Humans; ILK protein; investigación participativa; investigación transdisciplinaria; Knowledge; Life Sciences; mapeo de distribución botánica; medicina tradicional; Medicinal plants; Overexploitation; participatory research; Pharmaceutical sciences; Pharmacology; plant distribution mapping; Plants; Plants, Medicinal; Policy research; Probability theory; Quality of Life; red de creencia bayesiana; servicios ambientales; Spatial distribution; Sustainability; Sustainability science; Traditional medicine; transdisciplinary research; well‐being; 传统医学; 参与式研究; 植物分布; 民族药物学; 生态系统服务; 福祉; 贝叶斯信念网络; 跨学科研究
• ISSN: 0888-8892; 1523-1739
• DOI: 10.1111/cobi.14182

Sustainability science needs new approaches to produce, share, and use knowledge because there are major barriers to translating research into policy and practice. Multiple actors hold relevant knowledge for sustainability including indigenous and local people who have developed over generations knowledge, methods, and practices that biodiversity and ecosystem assessments need to capture. Despite efforts to mainstream knowledge coproduction, less than 3% of the literature on nature's contributions to people (NCP) integrates indigenous and local knowledge (ILK). Approaches and tools to better integrate scientific and ILK knowledge systems in NCP assessments are urgently needed. To fill this gap, we conducted interviews with ILK experts from Abancay and Tamburco, Peru, and convened focus groups and workshops during which participatory mapping, a serious game, a Bayesian belief network based on ILK were introduced. We inventoried 60 medicinal plants used to treat different illnesses, and analyzed the spatial distribution of the 7 plants that contribute the most to a good quality of life, and delineated their nonmedicinal uses. Based on the Intergovernmental Science‐Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services conceptual framework, we defined dimensions of a good quality of life according to indigenous and local worldviews. Medicinal plants contributed strongly to health and household security, among other contributions. Climate change and overexploitation were the main perceived threats to medicinal plants, despite the existence of formal and customary institutions to regulate trade. Our approach was flexible enough to integrate diverse forms of knowledge, as well as qualitative and quantitative information from, for example, the Bayesian belief network. Coproducción de conocimiento para mejorar la evaluación de las contribuciones de la naturaleza para las personas Resumen La ciencia de la sostenibilidad necesita nuevos enfoques para producir, compartir y utilizar los conocimientos, ya que existen grandes obstáculos para trasladar la investigación a la política y la práctica. Varios actores poseen conocimientos relevantes para la sostenibilidad, incluidos los pueblos originarios y locales que han desarrollado conocimientos, métodos y prácticas a lo largo de generaciones, que deben reflejarse en las evaluaciones de la biodiversidad y los ecosistemas. A pesar de los esfuerzos por integrar la coproducción de conocimientos,