Connecting Diverse Knowledge Systems for Enhanced Ecosystem Governance: The Multiple Evidence Base Approach

“…of thinking around ‘‘evidence-based’’ and ‘‘evidence-based practice’’ has a long history, particularly in medicine and was formally defined in medicine by Sackett et al. (1996) as, ‘‘the conscientious and judicious use of current best evidence from clinical care research in the management of…”

“…process may help to leverage the power dynamics, maintain integrity of knowledge systems, generate new questions, and thus enable ecosystem assessments and knowledge generation that are salient, credible, and legitimate for knowledge holders at different scales (Cash et al. 2003; Reid et al. 2006).”

“Scientific validation of traditional or local knowledge is often a more or less explicit requirement for inclusion of other knowledge systems (Agrawal 1995).”

“Ostrom (2011) for instance suggests that conceptual frameworks facilitate the integration of different types of theories and models as they apply to different questions and parts of a research problem, but together contribute to the understanding of a whole.”

“However, in the science-practice realm there are many emerging initiatives that use approaches similar to a MEB, see for example Danielsen et al. (2009, 2014), Rist et al. (2011), and Shirk et al. (2012), see also Box 2.”

“New methods are needed to find innovative ways for legitimate and constructive ways of aggregating, evaluating, and synthesizing knowledge to inform scales beyond the local (Berkes et al. 2006).”

“…on the one hand, an opportunity for customary users to scrutinize science and, on the other hand, for science to learn about relationships and processes previously unknown (Moller et al. 2004; see also Prado et al. 2013 for complementarity between local and scientific knowledge of wildlife).”

“This ‘‘intersubjective’’ approach to collaboration across knowledge systems should be complemented by ‘‘communicative validity,’’ in which the validity of knowledge claims is tested in a dialogue with informants and peers (Kvale 1995).”

“Keywords Local knowledge Indigenous knowledge Complementarity Validation Ecosystem assessments Co-production of knowledge”

“In contrast, a parallel approach emphasizes complementarities while presupposing validation across knowledge systems (Agrawal 1995; Nadasdy 1999; Berkes 2008).”

“Lastly, co-production of knowledge entails engaging in mutual processes of knowledge generation at all stages of knowledge generation, such as for example an assessment, including validation (Berkes 2008; Pohl et al. 2010; Rist et al. 2011; Shirk et al. 2012).”

“Keywords Local knowledge Indigenous knowledge Complementarity Validation Ecosystem assessments Co-production of knowledge”

“…across knowledge systems, processes for validating knowledge need to recognize and respect differences in theoretical and methodological approaches to understanding the biophysical world as well as the underlying worldviews (Lyver et al. 2009; Brondizio et al. 2010; Bohensky and Maru 2011).”

“epistemological context can involve significant risks for indigenous peoples and local communities (Agrawal 2002).”

“Indicators were originally designed to span national to global scales but it has been repeatedly emphasized that a set of scalable indicators is needed, which could be used for the upscaling of observations from local to global scales as well as downscaling (Scholes et al. 2013).”

“MEB emphasizes that evaluation of knowledge occurs primarily within rather than across knowledge systems.”

“They include for instance the understanding of sea ice dynamic and climate change (Laidler 2006), population dynamics of fish and other wildlife (Mackinson 2001; Moller et al. 2004; Gagnon and Berteaux 2009; Prado et al. 2013), as well as land use change and farming practices (Brookfield et al.…”

“The focus on obtaining consensus, which is often assumed to be a prerequisite for these kinds of forums, may lead to the false impression that all participants share the ‘‘experts’’ views (Edmunds and Wollenberg 2001; Voß and Bornemann 2011).”

“Parallel approaches emphasizing complementarity are proposed by many scholars on indigenous and local knowledge, as well as are embedded in on-going cross-cultural practice across the world (Turnbull 1997; Berkes 2008; Moller et al. 2009; Rist et al. 2011; Haverkort et al. 2012).”

“They include for instance the understanding of sea ice dynamic and climate change (Laidler 2006), population dynamics of fish and other wildlife (Mackinson 2001; Moller et al. 2004; Gagnon and Berteaux 2009; Prado et al. 2013), as well as land use change and farming practices (Brookfield et al.…”

“…theory and practices for sustainable ecosystem management.2 Together with the natural and social sciences they can enhance our understanding of how to care for and strengthen the role of biodiversity and ecosystems for human well-being (Reid et al. 2006; Turnhout et al. 2012; Thaman et al. 2013).”

“Keywords Local knowledge Indigenous knowledge Complementarity Validation Ecosystem assessments Co-production of knowledge”

“One example is climate change in the tropics and the role of agrobiodiversity for adapting to variability and sustaining local livelihoods (Mijatović et al. 2013).”

“The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment developed a framework that allowed for the use of a wide range of indicators (Pereira et al. 2005) although these still lacked integration and were not scalable.”

“…(Laidler 2006), population dynamics of fish and other wildlife (Mackinson 2001; Moller et al. 2004; Gagnon and Berteaux 2009; Prado et al. 2013), as well as land use change and farming practices (Brookfield et al. 2003; Chalmers and Fabricius 2007; Brondizio 2008) (see more details in Table 1).”

“Keywords Local knowledge Indigenous knowledge Complementarity Validation Ecosystem assessments Co-production of knowledge”

“Evidence-based natural resource or conservation management is given a lot of attention in recent years, but sofar it is only building on western scientific knowledge systems, see for example www.conservationevidence.com and www.environmental evidence.org or Mascia et al. (2014).”

“There is great potential to find mechanisms for learning across ‘‘success stories’’ of synergies between knowledge systems, while still adjusting for contextual factors (Stephenson and Moller 2009; Rist et al. 2011; Danielsen et al. 2014, see also Table 1).”

“Parallel approaches emphasizing complementarity are proposed by many scholars on indigenous and local knowledge, as well as are embedded in on-going cross-cultural practice across the world (Turnbull 1997; Berkes 2008; Moller et al. 2009; Rist et al. 2011; Haverkort et al. 2012).”

“There is a great opportunity for contributing to the efforts of the IPBES to develop frameworks that can enable synergies between knowledge systems in its work (Turnhout et al. 2012; Sutherland et al. 2013), which would also benefit other initiative such as the SDGs and the goals of the CBD (CBD 2013a).”

“The focus on obtaining consensus, which is often assumed to be a prerequisite for these kinds of forums, may lead to the false impression that all participants share the ‘‘experts’’ views (Edmunds and Wollenberg 2001; Voß and Bornemann 2011).”

“This needs to be addressed explicitly, taking into account the distribution of costs, risks, and benefits of specific policy options across and between different stakeholder groups (Voß and Bornemann 2011; Spierenburg 2012).”

“For example, Fortmann and Ballard (2011) argue that that overly narrow understanding of what constitute valid scientific practice have led to the detrimental exclusion of knowledge produced by local scientific practices from official forest management and forest policy in the US.”

“…that there are power issues involved when connecting different branches of science with locally based knowledge systems (Agrawal 1995; Nadasdy 1999; Derkzen and Bock 2007), and that there are—despite similarities and overlaps—aspects of each knowledge system that cannot be fully translated into…”

“…process may help to leverage the power dynamics, maintain integrity of knowledge systems, generate new questions, and thus enable ecosystem assessments and knowledge generation that are salient, credible, and legitimate for knowledge holders at different scales (Cash et al. 2003; Reid et al. 2006).”

“There is great potential to find mechanisms for learning across ‘‘success stories’’ of synergies between knowledge systems, while still adjusting for contextual factors (Stephenson and Moller 2009; Rist et al. 2011; Danielsen et al. 2014, see also Table 1).”

“…and climate change (Laidler 2006), population dynamics of fish and other wildlife (Mackinson 2001; Moller et al. 2004; Gagnon and Berteaux 2009; Prado et al. 2013), as well as land use change and farming practices (Brookfield et al. 2003; Chalmers and Fabricius 2007; Brondizio 2008) (see more…”

“…across knowledge systems, processes for validating knowledge need to recognize and respect differences in theoretical and methodological approaches to understanding the biophysical world as well as the underlying worldviews (Lyver et al. 2009; Brondizio et al. 2010; Bohensky and Maru 2011).”

“People perceive and judge reality, truth, and knowledge in ways that may differ from the mainstream scientific lens [3].”

“…conservation’’ would become a major topic in international biodiversity conservation, with contributions such as those by Garnett et al. (2018), Tengo¨ et al. (2014, 2017) and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) (Dı´az et al. 2018) which…”