Paper short abstract:

Humanity has lived for a long time relaying local ecological knowledge (LEK); today's rigid blanket regulations are very recent. We need the courage and trust in local inhabitants to be adaptable and flexible again through the LEK to overcome current and future crises.

Paper long abstract:

Globalization has created unprecedented pressure to consume even more environmental resources. Because the changes were so fast and big, restrictions were first imposed locally, within the country, and later also globally. Regardless of restrictions, environmental conditions are getting progressively worse and species are disappearing. So, are these strict uniform regulations still the solution?

Uniform regulations do not have specific local characteristics; they apply, for example, in the same way throughout the country. Laws do not take into account regional specificities. For instance, in Estonia, some protected plant species are pretty common in Western Estonia, which are absent or very few in other parts of Estonia. Upon discovering some protected birds, strict conservation rules are immediately established based on existing knowledge of biology, without considering that birds also adapt and find new habitats near people.

However, it is instinctive for a person who lives with the rhythm of nature to keep plants, birds and wild animals. This wealth of species would not have been preserved to this day if people had not taken care of the species next to us in the past. Therefore, this local ecological knowledge (LEK) has been with us all along and has helped us. To avoid over-regulation in nature conservation today, it is rather necessary to introduce flexibility, adaptability and adaptability offered by LEK into nature conservation.