329
organize as a defense group in 2013; branching out of the Comcaac Traditional
Guard, these youths strongly relied on social media and external alliances to challenge these interventions. In addition, young artists, through music and poetry are
participating in many national festivals and venues to promote the protection of
their land and the sustainable development of their people. The reaction of Comcaac
youth against these threats should not pass unnoticed for it represents, in first
instance, a story of resilience in the face of social and environmental adversity. Yet,
perhaps more importantly, it sheds light on the plasticity that Comcaac forms of
social cohesion have in the production of new forms of environmental governance.
And it is in this context, that the Comcaac have valuable lessons to contribute to the
key conversations that compose this chapter.
Re-conceptualizing Comcaac Environmental Knowledge
The academic emphasis on (traditional) ecological knowledge has promoted international recognition of its potential applications in resource management practices
and sustainable development. It is not only relevant to understand how some local
communities have sustained resilient landscapes, but it is also essential for the successful stewardship of diverse socio-ecological systems (SES).
3
In the different
studied contexts, it is primordial to understand the social creation and transformation of environmental knowledge that will thus shed light on the vulnerability and
resilience that characterizes the different governance systems that communities’
transition from or maintain in the dryland regions. Reynolds et al. (2007) emphasize
the importance of system memory (local knowledge and social learning), as well as
system legacy (socio-environmental history and path dependence), and their implications for SES stewardship. While the Comcaac are known for their high survival
capacity and their adaptability to external change due to their vast traditional knowledge, they are in constant threat not only due to external pressures that are a menace
to their territory and their resources, but also by internal divisions that limit their
capacity to organize. And it is at the interphase that the role of scholars documenting
and disseminating Comcaac ecological knowledge during the last century should be
analyzed with a critical eye.
A plethora of researchers have documented Comcaac traditional knowledge
4
mostly through ethnobiological studies (Felger and Moser 1970, 1971, 1974a, b,
1985; Felger et al 2012; Malkin 1962; Moser 2014; Narchi et al. 2015; Hernández3 Socio-ecological systems understood as complex adaptive systems, where the relationship
between humans and nature is based on interconnections among system parts whose interlinkages
and their dynamics create new, so-called emerging properties with synergistic effects compared to
the original system elements (Berkes and Folke 1998) Linking Social and Ecological Systems.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
4 Traditional knowledge understood as the result of countless observations and empiric experiments by nature observers that has been transmitted orally or through writing, which has value of
its own, is contextual and historically variable (Berkes 2009).
18 Social Cohesion and Environmental Governance Among the Comcaac of Northern…
organize as a defense group in 2013; branching out of the Comcaac Traditional
Guard, these youths strongly relied on social media and external alliances to challenge these interventions. In addition, young artists, through music and poetry are
participating in many national festivals and venues to promote the protection of
their land and the sustainable development of their people. The reaction of Comcaac
youth against these threats should not pass unnoticed for it represents, in first
instance, a story of resilience in the face of social and environmental adversity. Yet,
perhaps more importantly, it sheds light on the plasticity that Comcaac forms of
social cohesion have in the production of new forms of environmental governance.
And it is in this context, that the Comcaac have valuable lessons to contribute to the
key conversations that compose this chapter.
Re-conceptualizing Comcaac Environmental Knowledge
The academic emphasis on (traditional) ecological knowledge has promoted international recognition of its potential applications in resource management practices
and sustainable development. It is not only relevant to understand how some local
communities have sustained resilient landscapes, but it is also essential for the successful stewardship of diverse socio-ecological systems (SES).
3
In the different
studied contexts, it is primordial to understand the social creation and transformation of environmental knowledge that will thus shed light on the vulnerability and
resilience that characterizes the different governance systems that communities’
transition from or maintain in the dryland regions. Reynolds et al. (2007) emphasize
the importance of system memory (local knowledge and social learning), as well as
system legacy (socio-environmental history and path dependence), and their implications for SES stewardship. While the Comcaac are known for their high survival
capacity and their adaptability to external change due to their vast traditional knowledge, they are in constant threat not only due to external pressures that are a menace
to their territory and their resources, but also by internal divisions that limit their
capacity to organize. And it is at the interphase that the role of scholars documenting
and disseminating Comcaac ecological knowledge during the last century should be
analyzed with a critical eye.
A plethora of researchers have documented Comcaac traditional knowledge
4
mostly through ethnobiological studies (Felger and Moser 1970, 1971, 1974a, b,
1985; Felger et al 2012; Malkin 1962; Moser 2014; Narchi et al. 2015; Hernández3 Socio-ecological systems understood as complex adaptive systems, where the relationship
between humans and nature is based on interconnections among system parts whose interlinkages
and their dynamics create new, so-called emerging properties with synergistic effects compared to
the original system elements (Berkes and Folke 1998) Linking Social and Ecological Systems.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
4 Traditional knowledge understood as the result of countless observations and empiric experiments by nature observers that has been transmitted orally or through writing, which has value of
its own, is contextual and historically variable (Berkes 2009).
18 Social Cohesion and Environmental Governance Among the Comcaac of Northern…