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Exploring the Basic Ecological Unit: Ecosystem-Like Concepts in Traditional Societies

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Exploring the Basic Ecological Unit: Ecosystem-Like Concepts in Traditional Societies View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Publications of the IAS Fellows Ecosystems (1998) 1: 409–415 ECOSYSTEMS ௠ 1998 Springer-Verlag M INIREVIEWS Exploring the Basic Ecological Unit: Ecosystem-like Concepts in Traditional Societies Fikret Berkes,1* Mina Kislalioglu,2 Carl Folke,3 and Madhav Gadgil4 1Natural Resources Institute and 2c/o Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2N2, Canada; 3Department of Systems Ecology, Stockholm University, S-10691 Stockholm, and Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Box 50005, S-10405 Stockholm, Sweden; and 4Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India ABSTRACT Ancient conceptualizations of ecosystems exist in dictable and uncontrollable, and of ecosystem pro- several Amerindian, Asia-Pacific, European, and cesses as nonlinear, multiequilibrium, and full of African cultures. The rediscovery by scientists of surprises. Traditional knowledge may complement ecosystem-like concepts among traditional peoples scientific knowledge by providing practical experi- has been important in the appreciation of traditional ence in living within ecosystems and responding to ecological knowledge among ecologists, anthropolo- ecosystem change. However, the ‘‘language’’ of tra- gists, and interdisciplinary scholars. Two key charac- ditional ecology is different from the scientific and teristics of these systems are that (a) the unit of usually includes metaphorical imagery and spiritual nature is often defined in terms of a geographical expression, signifying differences in context, mo- boundary, such as a watershed, and (b) abiotic tive, and conceptual underpinnings. components, plants, animals, and humans within this unit are considered to be interlinked. Many Key words: traditional ecological knowledge; hu- traditional ecological knowledge systems are compat- man ecology; ecological anthropology; ecosystem; ible with the emerging view of ecosystems as unpre- watershed. INTRODUCTION existed in a number of ancient societies in various parts of the world and continue to exist in some In his history of the ecosystem concept, Golley contemporary non-Western cultures (Gadgil and (1993, p 1) identifies ‘‘an exact moment of birth’’ in Berkes 1991; Berkes and others 1995). We explore referring to the definition of Tansley (1935) and the ways in which some traditional (‘‘premodern’’) discusses some of the early ecosystem ideas pio- societies viewed physical and biological components neered in Europe in the first part of the 20th of the environment and the human population as century. He notes that the concept of holism, but being linked together in a web of relationships. We not specifically that of ecosystem, ‘‘was an extension are not interested in the ‘‘noble savage’’ (Buege of the Mother Earth idea in modern guise’’ (Golley 1996) but in possible insights that may be obtained 1993, p 3). In this minireview, we bring to the from the experience and adaptations of ancient attention of ecologists that ecosystem-like concepts societies. A review that integrates topics in ecology and Received 28 April 1998; accepted 9 July 1998. anthropology goes beyond the subject matter of *Corresponding author; e-mail: [email protected] most ecology journals. It is offered here in the spirit 409 410 F. Berkes and others of the invitation by the editors of Ecosystems to break always lakes because boundaries for terrestrial eco- out of long-accepted and conservative ways of systems were much less clear (Golley 1993). The thinking (Carpenter and Turner 1998). Our broader studies by Bormann and Likens (1979) established objective is to contribute to the search for cross- the practice of using watershed divides as ecological disciplinary insights for sustainability and ecosystem boundaries. There is evidence, however, that the management (Gunderson and others 1995; Colding basic idea of watershed management goes back at and Folke 1997; Berkes and Folke 1998; Folke and least to the ancient Greeks (Hamilton 1995) and Berkes 1998). The paper reviews some traditional appears in the conservation wisdom of many societ- ecosystem-like views, comparing them to the scien- ies, including the Swiss, Japanese, and Turks (Gadgil tific ecosystem concept and highlighting some of the and Berkes 1991). For example, Hamilton (1995) key similarities and differences. It notes some les- refers to a 16th-century Chinese print about ‘‘tree sons from ancient wisdom as may be relevant to the restoration for river conservation,’’ implying that shifting views of ecosystems in terms of their uncer- the Chinese knew about the relationship of forests, tainty and unpredictability, away from a mechanis- erosion, and water quality. Written records going tic, Newtonian concept and linear models (Holling back to the 16th century show that Swiss communi- 1986; Gunderson and others 1995; Holling and ties controlled watersheds and used watershed re- others 1998). As well, the paper links traditional sources in an integrated fashion (Netting 1981). ecosystem-like concepts and some popular views of Written records show that Sultan Mehmed II insti- ecosystem management, including the notions of tuted watershed conservation measures when the bioregionalism and ‘‘sense of place.’’ Ottoman Turks captured Constantinople in 1453. The Sultan’s edict included the prohibition of tree cutting (‘‘under the pain of death’’) and overgrazing TRADITIONAL ECOSYSTEM-LIKE CONCEPTS in the basin of the river supporting the city, and Many indigenous peoples have local words that measures were undertaken for riverbank stabiliza- usually get translated into English as land. But land, tion and revegetation (Kislalioglu and Berkes 1990). as understood by them, often carries other mean- Watershed units are commonly used also in tradi- ings. Among the indigenous peoples of the North tional ecological systems. One of the most common American Subarctic, land is more than a physical ways in which aboriginal groups identify them- landscape; it encompasses the living environment, selves is with reference to river systems, for ex- including humans. For example, the term used by ample, ‘‘The people of the Big River,’’ the Chisasibi the Dene groups of the Western Subarctic, such as Cree of Eastern James Bay, Quebec. This kind of use the Dogrib, Yellowknives, and Slavey, nde´ (ndeh), is does not necessarily denote an ecological under- usually translated as land. As Legat and others standing of watershed boundaries; it may merely (1995) point out, though, its meaning is closer to reflect the use of a river system as a canoe transpor- ecosystem because it conveys a sense of relations of tation corridor. Similarly, the watershed-based defi- living and nonliving things on the land. However, it nition of family hunting territories among the Cree differs from the scientific concept of ecosystem in may merely indicate that the height of land between that nde´ is based on the idea that everything in the adjacent river systems provides a convenient and environment has life and spirit. enforceable way of delimiting territorial boundaries. Similarly, Cree and related groups in the Eastern More fully developed traditional watershed-based and Central Subarctic use a word, ashkii in the case management systems are found in the Pacific North- of the Eastern James Bay Cree, and aski in the case west of North America and among a number of of the Anishnabe/Ojibwa (Berkes, field notes), which geographically and culturally diverse groups in Asia, is more properly translated as ecosystem rather than Africa, and the Asia-Pacific (Table 1). land because it refers to plants, animals, and hu- Among the Gitksan (Gitxsan) and Wet’sewet’en mans, as well as the physical environment. The of the Pacific Northwest, tribal chiefs describe their Western James Bay Cree consider that ‘‘the Indians land boundaries as ‘‘from mountaintop to moun- go with the land’’as part of ‘‘land’s dressing’’in the sense taintop’’ and orient themselves by two directional that the presence of humans makes the land complete axes within this watershed framework: vertically up (Preston and others 1995). Interestingly, in the history and down from valley bottom to mountaintop, and of ecology, land was often used as a synonym for horizontally, upstream and downstream (Tyler ecosystem, as in the ‘‘land ethic’’ of Aldo Leopold (1949). 1993). Detailed land-use maps of the kinship-based Many ecologists use the term ecosystem to refer to a house groups (wilps) of the Gitxsan show that there spatially explicit unit. In the prewar ecological is a close correspondence between watershed areas tradition, these bounded ecosystems were almost and wilps or clusters of wilps (Collier and Vegh Traditional Ecosystem Concepts 411 Table 1. Examples of Traditional Applications of the Ecosystem View System Country/Region Reference Watershed management of salmon rivers and associated Amerindians of the Pacific Williams and Hunn 1982 hunting and gathering areas by tribal groups Northwest Delta and lagoon management for fish culture (tambak in South and Southeast Asia Johannes and others 1983 Java), and the integrated cultivation of rice and fish Vanua (in Fiji), a named area of land and sea, seen as an Oceania, including Fiji, the Ruddle and Akimichi 1984; integrated whole with its human occupants Solomon Islands, ancient Baines 1989 Hawaii Family groups claiming individual watersheds (iworu), as The Ainu
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