Being attentive to local traditions, knowledge, and beliefs provides significant benefits,
as the local people:
• are directly aware of the current status of the marine resource on which they
depend
• possess an inherent temporal knowledge of patterns within and changes to the
marine environment
• are valuable resources for developing monitoring and managing strategies.
It is also important to be aware of the challenges that accompany local knowledge and
the limitations of local knowledge’s usefulness, which may include:
• the local knowledge is contained in a verbal medium and is often unverified
• the attitudes of local people towards their resource may not include a
conservation outlook (which can discourage proper management plans)
• the local knowledge is exclusive to the area, with minimal overlap between
regions within small spatial proximities
• the variability of human and physical events from one shallow coastal water
environment to another may prevent the incorporation of an approach that was
deemed successful elsewhere
Regardless of the challenges traditional knowledge may present to a remote sensing
project, considerations to include this information must be made if greater utilization
and appropriate applications of satellite imagery to local management is to be achieved.
As the expert, remote-sensing scientists must develop effective and appropriate
communication strategies to collaborate with local communities whose livelihood
depends upon effective management of their marine resource.
5. Conclusions
Remote sensing alone will not solve the problems faced by coastal communities
struggling to secure a balance between marine resource exploitation and conservation.
The value of remote sensing lies in its ability to improve decisions and negotiations by
providing better information to various stakeholders so that more alternatives can be
generated and evaluated. Remote sensing has a role to play, and there is an urgent need
to strengthen the communication basis for applying remotely sensed information for
marine resource management plans in developing nations. The potential for remote
sensing to contribute to specialized plans, particularly in small island states, will not be
realized by simply gathering more satellite imagery or conducting more field surveys
for validation and algorithm development. Realization and utilization will come only
with on-site research that delivers appropriate products that have evolved through
numerous meetings and discussions with local community members, planners,
managers, government officials, and members of a local marine resource management
board. Successful communication of remotely sensed information, which has been
interpreted by the researcher in a fitting manner, and continuously discussed with local
management authorities, is possible. Research must become part of management–a
melding that demands an understanding of how the remote sensing processes work,
where they don’t, and how they can be interpreted, adapted, and communicated–a task
that challenges scientists to ‘design with culture’.
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as the local people:
• are directly aware of the current status of the marine resource on which they
depend
• possess an inherent temporal knowledge of patterns within and changes to the
marine environment
• are valuable resources for developing monitoring and managing strategies.
It is also important to be aware of the challenges that accompany local knowledge and
the limitations of local knowledge’s usefulness, which may include:
• the local knowledge is contained in a verbal medium and is often unverified
• the attitudes of local people towards their resource may not include a
conservation outlook (which can discourage proper management plans)
• the local knowledge is exclusive to the area, with minimal overlap between
regions within small spatial proximities
• the variability of human and physical events from one shallow coastal water
environment to another may prevent the incorporation of an approach that was
deemed successful elsewhere
Regardless of the challenges traditional knowledge may present to a remote sensing
project, considerations to include this information must be made if greater utilization
and appropriate applications of satellite imagery to local management is to be achieved.
As the expert, remote-sensing scientists must develop effective and appropriate
communication strategies to collaborate with local communities whose livelihood
depends upon effective management of their marine resource.
5. Conclusions
Remote sensing alone will not solve the problems faced by coastal communities
struggling to secure a balance between marine resource exploitation and conservation.
The value of remote sensing lies in its ability to improve decisions and negotiations by
providing better information to various stakeholders so that more alternatives can be
generated and evaluated. Remote sensing has a role to play, and there is an urgent need
to strengthen the communication basis for applying remotely sensed information for
marine resource management plans in developing nations. The potential for remote
sensing to contribute to specialized plans, particularly in small island states, will not be
realized by simply gathering more satellite imagery or conducting more field surveys
for validation and algorithm development. Realization and utilization will come only
with on-site research that delivers appropriate products that have evolved through
numerous meetings and discussions with local community members, planners,
managers, government officials, and members of a local marine resource management
board. Successful communication of remotely sensed information, which has been
interpreted by the researcher in a fitting manner, and continuously discussed with local
management authorities, is possible. Research must become part of management–a
melding that demands an understanding of how the remote sensing processes work,
where they don’t, and how they can be interpreted, adapted, and communicated–a task
that challenges scientists to ‘design with culture’.
274
Newman, LeDrew and Lim