As discussed in section 3.2, because the threats exist at multiple levels, effective TEK conservation also needs to be carried out at multiple levels, by multiple actors simultaneously. The users of this typology need to include entities at various scales, from local to global. I have identified five user groups in particular.
A. Indigenous communities and their organisations
One key potential user of the typology is TEK holders – the indigenous communities.
This is because the internal motivation and efforts toward conservation from inside of a community are probably the most efficient and long lasting driving force for
based TEK conservation projects. This initiated or community-based conservation approach has been widely recognised and recommended in the literature in recent years (e.g. Berkes, 2002, 2004, 2007; Gavin et al., 2007; Leach et al., 1999; Ostrom, 1990; Xu and Melick, 2007). By applying the typology, a community should be able to identify and target the problems that threaten their knowledge and practices. This clarification can raise the awareness of TEK threats and better enable communities to search for resolutions. The typology, as a unified classification system can also enable TEK holders to communicate across communities and share information.
B. The academic and scientific community
The academic and scientific community has served as a key voice regarding the status of TEK, in both the academic literature and in the international political arena. For this diverse community, the typology may be particularly useful to facilitate cross-project and cross-region communication, and to use in constructing common TEK databases. As I discussed earlier, most of the current TEK research concentrates on specific locations and specific communities. However, indigenous populations are increasingly
confronting global challenges, which require rapid and cooperative conservation actions.
The implementation of the typology in various locations and projects can actively
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facilitate the sharing of information and data, and the formation of common databases.
The lack of comparable data and common databases has been a major obstacle to TEK research addressed by many researchers (e.g. Reyes-Garcia et al., 2005; Zent, 2001).
Common databases will also be very useful in providing baseline data for researchers prior to their undertaking of specialised investigations (Zent and Maffi, 2009).
C. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
To location-based NGOs, the typology will provide a tool for examining TEK threats in a location, which is useful for prioritising resources and funds for organisational planning.
By understanding local problems accurately, an NGO is more likely to optimise its function in a location. To international NGOs, the typology also offers a tool for comparable data analysis and data sharing.
D. Governmental agencies
For governments and their agencies, the typology provides a powerful tool for undertaking assessment of TEK status in the region or country and identifying the major TEK threats. It then enables the agencies to produce and implement conservation policies and measures, and guides the allocation of funds and other conservation
resources.
E. International policy organisations
TEK degradation is a global issue. The TEK system and TEK holders are living in an inter-connected world, which faces many common threats globally, such as climate change, natural resource degradation and global market influences. In this globalised era, international policy organisations such as CBD, UNDP, IUCN, UNESCO and UNEP, play an increasingly important role in guiding national policy making and allocating international funds. Thus, the implementation of the typology is critically important to these organisations. By applying the typology, these organisations will be able to draw a global picture of TEK status and TEK threats. This should make it easier to identify and prioritise the most important TEK conservation hotspots where international funds should be allocated. These organisations will also be enabled by the typology to advise better on the TEK conservation efforts of national governments.
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To conclude, the degradation of TEK across the globe has been reported both in the literature (n=152) and by the survey responses (n=137). According to the survey results, this trend is most significant in Africa and Asia, where all the responses claimed TEK degradation. Responses from North America, Europe and Oceania claimed overall loss but also reported a few cases of TEK gain. This finding fills a geographic gap in the literature, where very limited studies in Oceania and no studies in Europe have previously been reported.
The emphasis of this research is to explore the causes of TEK degradation and put these causes into a systematic analysis. As a result, this research develops a typology of TEK threats, in which multiple levels of direct and underlying threats are comprehensively listed. The direct threats are the human activities that directly cause TEK degradation. It includes six categories: 1) loss of the pathways of TEK transmission; 2) change of
traditional livelihood practices; 3) change of traditional religion and beliefs; 4) change of traditional environment and natural resources; 5) loss of traditional rights; and 6) loss of traditional institutions. Even though the survey and the literature identify these threats in different ratios, these threats require equal attention and conservation effort.
Underlying threats are the causal factors of direct threats. The underlying threats are categorised as: 1) government policy and legislation; 2) contact with other cultural groups; 3) influence of outside markets; 4) colonisation; 5) relocation; 6)
marginalisation by dominant societies; 7) war and military occupation; 8) indigenous population decline; 9) migration; and 10) economic development pressure. These underlying causes cover social, political and cultural domains and function as an interconnected web.
In real-world cases, many or all of these threats act simultaneously. The causal
relationships between threats are a complex system, in which multi-scale interactions exist and multiple organisations are involved. This system is determined by a dynamic and unbalanced power structure. In this power dynamic, as various TEK threat pathway analyses illustrate, TEK and its holders are often positioned powerlessly and passively.
This disadvantageous position makes indigenous communities and their TEK more vulnerable to outside influences. As a key finding of this research, government policy
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and legislation have been widely perceived and reported to be responsible for TEK loss globally. This reflects the unequal power relations between communities and the authorities.
The production of a TEK typology fills an important gap in the TEK research field. As a unified classification system, it may enable TEK holders to identify the problems that threaten their traditional knowledge and practices, and motivate their search for
solutions. It can facilitate academic and scientific communities to carry out cross-project and cross-region communication, and enable the production of comparable results despite their different disciplinary backgrounds and locations. The typology can also provide a tool for developing a global framework of TEK monitoring and conservation, and common databases for information sharing. It therefore may be able to guide government and international agencies to produce and implement TEK conservation measures, and to guide the allocation of fund and other resources towards TEK conservation.
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