SDU-Video: “Conserving biodiversity is all about understanding humans and their institutions”

“Biodiversity conservation requires an understanding of social systems and their interactions with ecological systems”, concludes Canadian Professor Fikret Berkes in a lecture on “Social-Ecological Systems and Conservation” . It was held in Stockholm March 23, 2009, and deals with the fact that most of the world’s biodiversity is not in protected areas but on lands used by people.

– In involving people in conservation, attention must be paid to political and social objectives, such as livelihoods, and creating a local stake for conservation. It also requires maintaining cultural connections to the land, and at times restoring and cultivating new connections, says Fikret Berkes.

In this lecture he explains how traditional conservation and management systems, such as sacred groves and agro-forestry systems in the Western Ghats biodiversity ‘hotspot´ in southern India, can become an integral part of modern conservation strategies. Experience with two new indigenous-led protected areas in subarctic Canada is also used to illustrate how local and indigenous knowledge can be combined with science. He emphasises that indigenous rights and local livelihoods must be integrated into national and international conservation planning.

Leading thinker connecting social and ecological systems

Professor Fikret Berkes is a Canadian scientist, whose research interests centre around common property resources and community-based management. His books "Common Property Resources" (1989) and "Linking Social and Ecological Systems" (1998) have greatly influenced thinking of both social and natural scientists about how humans interact with nature. He was until 1996 Director of the Natural Resources Institute at the University of Manitoba in Canada, where he remains as Professor. His recent publications include the books, "Sacred Ecology" (Routledge, 2008), "Adaptive Co-Management", with Armitage and Doubleday (University of British Columbia Press, 2007), and "Navigating Social-Ecological Systems", with Colding and Folke (Cambridge University Press, 2003).