Paper short abstract:

This presentation shows how in the time of the Anthropocene local environmental knowledge, its underlying perceptions of nature, and the resulting handling strategies of climate-related risks may be integrated into a adaptive governance approach.

Paper long abstract:

The negative consequences of climate change and environmental destruction are especially noticeable in the MPAs of the Coral Triangle, which is a biodiversity hotspot where over 120 million people depend directly on the use of local ecosystem services. However, many national and international initiatives for the management of protected areas, such as the Coral Triangle Imitative CCTI, largely respond with top-down approaches to existing and expected effects of environmental and climate change. These approaches often fail to reflect local realities, which are shaped by power structures, local frameworks of reference and the associated interpretations of natural and social change. Concerning that, the presentation addresses two questions: a) How do fisherfolks in the coral triangle perceive the socioecological and socioeconomic changes related to environmental destruction and degrading ecosystem services? b) how can local environmental knowledge and the associated local resource use strategies be integrated into sustainable fisheries resource management systems to reduce existing institutional barriers and counteract the inadequate participation of the population. I present two approaches to solving the problem: 1) the "socio-ecological system analysis" as an interdisciplinary bridge concept, and 2) the method of multimedia mapping, which offers the possibility to visualize multimedia data in participative (consultative to active) ways. Especially in combination, these methods can encourage the active participation of communities and integrating cultural meanings and local environmental knowledge into government strategies.