Local ecological knowledge (LEK) embedded in the harvesting, cultivation and consumption of seaweeds constitutes a fragile yet highly informative biocultural heritage. This paper investigates, through semi-structured interviews, observation and short consumer questionnaires carried out in 2023, four socio-ecological contexts, deliberately selected to span different phases of a LEK system rather than a single moment within it. On the coastline between Catania and Aci Trezza (Sicily, Italy), a cluster of edible red algae known as U’ Mauru was once foraged by specialist fishers; on Jeju Island (Republic of Korea), Sargassum fusiforme (Harvey) Setchell, locally called Tot, is still gathered by the Haenyeo community; in mainland Japan the same species, known as Hijiki, persists in the culinary lexicon but recedes from active cooking; and in Kwale County, Kenya, two women-led cooperatives have, since the mid-2000s, built an entirely new mariculture of introduced carrageenan-bearing red algae together with a nascent culinary and cosmetic repertoire. This study reads these four cases as points along a diachronic arc of genesis, resilience, dormancy and extinction of practised knowledge, an arc that is neither linear nor irreversible. Our results suggest that a key variable is the presence, strength, and gendering of what we term social containers: the institutional and community structures that give ecological knowledge meaning and make its transmission consequential. Where these containers are robust and identity-bearing, as in the Jeju Haenyeo cooperatives and the newly founded Kenyan women’s cooperatives, LEK is either resiliently reproduced or actively generated around a previously unused resource. Where they are weak (Japan) or have collapsed (Sicily), knowledge contracts to memory.
Understanding rural residents’ preferences and the factors associated with their stated financial support for modernization initiatives is important for achieving equitable and sustainable rural revitalization. Based on a survey of 1,373 rural residents in Yunnan Province, China, this study examines household willingness to pay (WTP) for rural modern living condition improvement (RMLCI) across four domains: infrastructure, public services, the living environment, and village appearance. We use the value-belief-norm model to analyze the psychological pathways associated with stated WTP. The results show that mean annual household WTP was CNY 116.335, and the relative predictive importance of the four attributes ranked as follows: village appearance, living environment, public services, and infrastructure. A sequential pathway was identified from the New Ecological Paradigm to WTP through awareness of consequences, ascription of responsibility, and personal norms. Biospheric values were positively associated with the New Ecological Paradigm, whereas altruistic values showed a small negative association and egoistic values showed a significant positive association. Mean WTP varied across demographic and socioeconomic groups, particularly by sex, age, and income. These findings support designing rural development policies that better reflect residents’ stated preferences, psychological characteristics, and financial capacity.
Human-wildlife conflict increasingly undermines biodiversity conservation and local livelihoods, particularly in low-income and war-affected regions. This study aimed to evaluate the extent and drivers of human-wildlife conflict, conservation challenges, community perceptions, and conflict-mitigation practices in and around Debre-Tserabi Monastery Forest, Ethiopia. Data were collected from 186 households between July 2023 and March 2024 using a multistage sampling approach. The study assessed conflict types and species involved, drivers of conflict, conservation challenges, local attitudes toward wildlife, and traditional mitigation strategies. Crop-raiding and livestock depredation were the most prevalent conflict types in the monastery forest. Northern geladas (Theropithecus gelada gelada) and spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) identified as the principal conflict species. Habitat fragmentation was identified by 32.3
The Q'eqchi' Maya of Guatemala and Belize maintain a rich and widely shared vocabulary for birds as well as an associated body of ethnographically documented knowledge about avian behavior. Drawing on comparative fieldwork in both regions, this article documents Q'eqchi' bird terminology and examines how birds function as prognosticators whose calls, appearances, and flight patterns are interpreted as meaningful signs. We analyze these communicative and predictive roles across six domains central to everyday and ritual life: hunting, agriculture, rain and drought, death, curing, and a broader range of favorable and unfavorable portents. Across these domains, specific species and vocalizations are understood to provide warnings, confirmations, and forecasts that guide decisions about work, travel, health, and ritual practice. Rather than treating birds solely as ecological indicators, Q'eqchi' interpretations situate avian signs within a cosmological framework in which humans attend to nonhuman messengers that mediate between present conditions and emerging futures. By tracing both continuity and regional variation in naming practices and interpretations, the article highlights the persistence and adaptive significance of avian prognostication in contemporary Q'eqchi' communities and contributes to comparative research on ethno-ornithology, semiotics, and Indigenous environmental knowledge.
In the Himalayan region, declining spring discharge has emerged as a critical water security problem driven by interactions between climate and anthropogenic factors. However, the literature lacks clear differentiation between climate-induced variability and human-induced alterations in the springshed system, resulting in a fragmented understanding of spring degradation. This study examines the key drivers, hydrological processes, and management responses related to spring depletion in the Tehri region of Uttarakhand. We conducted a systematic literature review to synthesize studies from Google Scholar and ScienceDirect, focusing on articles published between 2009 and 2025. We retrieved 553 articles and selected 21 studies after PRISMA-based screening. The selected studies were then analyzed under four thematic domains: (i) Climate-change impacts on spring hydrology and water resources, (ii) Hydrological and geospatial assessments of the springshed, (iii) Community-based springshed management and local knowledge systems, (iv) Policy, institutional frameworks, and governance. The findings show that spring depletion stems not only from climate change but also from the combined effects of rainfall variability, land-use change, deforestation, infrastructure development, and altered recharge zones. Key research gaps include a lack of long-term spring discharge data, limited understanding of springshed-scale processes, weak integration of climatic and land-use impacts, and insufficient study of forest dynamics and watershed-springshed distinctions. Major anthropogenic factors affecting spring flow include deforestation, infrastructure development, land-use change, and unsustainable diversion of spring water, which disrupt recharge and reduce spring discharge. Local communities manage the springshed through recharge interventions, including contour trenches and recharge pits, protection of recharge zones, regulation of water use, and community-based monitoring. Often integrated with traditional ecological knowledge, these approaches, when paired with local governance systems, provide an important pathway for sustainable springshed management. This review further emphasizes the need for a holistic springshed-based approach that integrates hydrological understanding, geospatial assessment, ecological processes, and indigenous knowledge systems. Future research should focus on long-term monitoring and interdisciplinary approaches to improve understanding of spring dynamics and support sustainable water management in Himalayan ecosystems.
