Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-11T13:54:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao-Giovana Regina Zaniolo.pdf: 23602560 bytes, checksum: 5e5aefc6a3d68f1973e1774136f44827 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-08-24 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The environmental subjects related to the conservation and protection of the nature plows one of the great world challenges, because they affect the survival of the life about the earth and the relationships between social groups and societies, mainly in the tropical region that possess of the vast diversity of vegetable and animals species, like Amazonian. The appropriation of the resources natural, a lot of times disrespecting social and environmental costs, it can drive the super exploration certain species. From the colonization to the current days, the Amazonian manatee Trichechus inunguis has been hunted for commercial exploitation and subsistence people, that revealing the social and economic importance of the species for the development of the area, through the local cultural influence and of historical facts of the economy that determined the exploration intensity. This aquatic mammal, endemic of the Amazon area, it happens exclusively in fresh water, and set calm, with vegetation abundance alimentary base of this non ruminant herbivore. Besides the commercial exploitation and other factors the species have been classified by the IUCN as vulnerable . In spite of the protection strategies to the species, as creation of protected areas and prohibitive laws of exploration, the consumption and the commercialization of products and by-products are still effective in Amazonian. Thus, some subjects can be lifted up as: importance of the species for the population, local exploitation pressure, hunted strategies, sazonalidade and purpose, and attitudes of conservation of the species for the fishermen. The present study had as main objective to characterize the local knowledge on the Amazonian manatee for the fishermen inhabitants in the New Airão. In this case study, the methodological looked for to understand the processes of interaction of the human populations with the natural resources, based in the theoretical presuppositions of the ethnoecology. Through interviews semi - structured, direct observations; photographic registrations, maps and calendars of social recognition of the fishermen, the collected data were analyzed through cognition tables, in which the information mentioned in the interviews were compared with the information of the scientific literature. Many of these data of the knowledge of the fishermen were validated, giving credit the ethnoecology as cultural product, could subsidize and to complement the academic scientific knowledge. The fishermen have knowledge about the biology and ecology of the Amazonian manatee, describing alimentary habits, reproductive behavior, breathing behavior, and space and temporary notion of use of habitats for the species. The fishing strategies used by the fishermen are traditional, from the technique to the use of handmade equipments, with little introduction of instruments and modern equipments, the amount of fishermen, ally to the behavior of the species, they are factors that favor the survival of the Amazonian manatee population in the area of New Airão. The knowledge acquired by the fishermen integrated into the academic scientific knowledge can subsidize in the formulation of strategies of conservation of the species taking into account the environmental regional aspects of influence in the traditional ecological knowledge and in the patrimonial handling techniques of these fishermen. / As questões ambientais relacionadas à conservação e proteção da natureza são um dos grandes desafios mundiais, pois afetam a sobrevivência da vida sobre a terra e as relações entre grupos sociais e sociedades, principalmente nas regiões tropicais detentoras de uma vasta diversidade de espécies vegetais e animais, como a Amazônia. A apropriação dos recursos naturais, muitas vezes desconsiderando custos sociais e ambientais, pode conduzir a super exploração de determinadas espécies. Desde a colonização até os dias atuais, a história da pesca do peixe-boi amazônico Trichechus inunguis passou por diversas fases, revelando a importância social e econômica da espécie para o desenvolvimento da região, através da influência cultural local e de fatos históricos da economia que determinaram a intensidade de exploração. Este mamífero aquático, endêmico da região Amazônica, ocorre exclusivamente em águas doces, e ambientes calmos, com abundância de vegetação, base alimentar deste herbívoro não ruminante. Além da exploração comercial, outros fatores conduziram a espécie à vulnerabilidade de extinção. Apesar das estratégias de proteção à espécie, como criação de áreas protegidas e leis proibitivas de captura, o consumo e a comercialização de produtos e subprodutos ainda são vigentes na Amazônia. Assim, algumas questões podem ser levantadas como: importância da espécie para a população, local em que ocorre maior pressão de pesca, estratégias de pesca, sazonalidade e finalidade, e atitudes de conservação da espécie pelos pescadores. O presente estudo teve como objetivo principal caracterizar o conhecimento local (etnoconhecimento) sobre o peixe-boi Amazônico pelos pescadores moradores no Município Amazonense de Novo Airão. Neste estudo de caso, a abordagem metodológica buscou entender os processos de interação das populações humanas com os recursos naturais, embasado nos pressupostos teóricos da etnociência. Através de entrevistas semi- estruturadas, observações diretas; registros fotográficos, mapas e calendários de reconhecimento social dos pescadores, os dados coletados foram analisados através de tabelas de cognição, nas quais as informações citadas nas entrevistas foram comparadas com as informações da literatura científica. Muitos destes dados do conhecimento dos pescadores foram validados, dando crédito a etnociência como produto cultural, podendo subsidiar e complementar o conhecimento científico acadêmico. Os pescadores entrevistados detêm um vasto conhecimento sobre a biologia e ecologia do peixe-boi Amazônico, descrevendo hábitos alimentares, comportamento reprodutivo, comportamento respiratório, e noção espacial e temporal de uso de habitats pela espécie. As estratégias de pesca utilizadas pelos pescadores são tradicionais, desde a técnica ao uso de apetrechos artesanais, com pouca introdução de instrumentos e equipamentos modernos, a quantidade de pescadores de peixe-boi, aliado ao comportamento da espécie, são fatores que favorecem a sobrevivência da população de peixes-boi na região de Novo Airão. Estes conhecimentos adquiridos pelos pescadores integrados ao conhecimento científico acadêmico podem subsidiar na formulação de estratégias de conservação da espécie, levando em conta os aspectos regionais ambientais de influência no conhecimento tradicional e nas técnicas de manejo patrimoniais destes pescadores.

This study addresses a core problem that was uncovered in records from coastal management monitoring initiatives on the eastern coast of Tanzania associated with the application and use of coastal monitoring indicators developed by external development partners for the coastal zone. These records suggest that local communities, who are key actors in participatory monitoring of coastal and marine resources, face many challenges associated with adapting and applying the said frameworks of indicators and monitoring plans. These indicators tend to be scientifically abstracted and methodologically reified; given prevailing contextual and socio‐cultural realities amongst them. The research project addresses the following key research question: How can processes of abstraction, conceptualisation, and representation of TEK contribute to the development of coastal management indicators that are less reified, more contextually and culturally congruent, and which may potentially be used by resource users in the wider social learning process of detecting trends, threats, changes and conditions of mangrove and fisheries resources? In response to the contextual problem and the research question, the study employs processes of abstraction and experiential learning techniques to unlock knowledge that local communities have, as an input for underlabouring existing scientific indicators on the Eastern coast of Tanzania. The research is constituted as critical realist case study research, involving two communities on the eastern coast of Tanzania, namely the Moa and the Boma communities (in Mkinga coastal district). Overall, the study involved 37 participants in a series of interviews, focus group discussions, and experiential learning processes using visualised data, and an experiential learning intervention workshop, and follow‐ups over a period of 3 years. The study worked with mangroves and fisheries to provide focus to the case study research and to allow for in‐depth engagement with the assumptions and processes associated with indicators development and use. Through the above mentioned data generation processes, critical realist analysis, and experiential learning processes involving abstraction and representation of traditional ecological knowledge held by mangrove restorers and fishers in the study areas, the study uncovers possible challenges of adapting and applying scientific indicators in participatory monitoring of a mangrove ecosystem. Using ampliative modes of inference for data analysis (induction, abduction and retroduction) and a critical realist scientific explanatory framework known as DRRREI(C) (Resolution, Re‐description, Retrodiction, Elimination, Identification, & Correction) the study suggests a new approach that may lead to the development of a framework of indicators that are less reified, more congruent to users (coastal communities), and likely to attract a wider context‐based social learning which favours epistemological access between scientific institutions (universities inclusive), and local communities. It attempts to establish an interface between knowledge that scientific institutions produce and the potential knowledge that exists in local contexts (traditional ecological knowledge), and seeks to widen and improve knowledge sharing and experiential learning practices that may potentially benefit coastal and marine resources in the study area. As mentioned above, the knowledge and abstraction processes related to the indicators development focussed on the mangrove ecosystem and associated fisheries, as engaged in the two participating communities in the eastern coast of Tanzania. The specific findings are therefore limited by the case boundaries, but the methodological process could be replicated and used elsewhere. The study’s contributions are theoretical and methodological, but also social and practice‐centred. The study brings into view the need to consider the contextual relevance of adapted knowledge, the capacity or ability of beneficiaries to adapt and apply scientific models, frameworks or tools, and the potential of local knowledge as an input for enhancing or improving monitoring of mangroves and mangrove‐based fisheries. Finally, the study comes up with a framework of indicators which is regarded by the coastal communities involved in the study as being less reified, more contextually and culturally congruent, and which may potentially be used in detecting environmental trends, threats, changes and conditions of mangrove and fisheries resources, and attract wider social learning processes.

A pesca no estuário da Lagoa dos Patos é uma atividade em disputa. De um lado, as comunidades de pesca produzem seus territórios de pesca através dos seus respectivos Conhecimentos Ecológicos Tradicionais (CET) que embasam os diferentes modos de usos dos recursos pesqueiros, os sistemas de manejo de recursos pesqueiros tradicionais (MT). A atividade pesqueira no estuário da Lagoa dos Patos é anterior à colonização portuguesa sendo os CETs que embasam os MTs resultado de um hibridismo cultural entre indígenas, afro e luso-descendentes. De outro, o Estado Moderno implementa políticas públicas de manejo de recursos pesqueiros, sobretudo a partir da segunda metade da década de 1970, que resultam na implementação de um sistema de manejo de recursos pesqueiros moderno (MM), característico de um projeto colonial de dominação. Como resultado da implementação do MM, a pesca entra em colapso na primeira metade da década de 1970 e as indústrias pesqueiras decretam falência na década de 1980. Para solucionar a crise no setor pesqueiro, na segunda metade da década de 1990 cria-se o Fórum da Lagoa dos Patos (FLP) onde se formula a atual legislação que regulamenta a pesca no estuário da Lagoa dos Patos, a Instrução Normativa Conjunta de 2004 (INC 2004). A INC 2004 implementa um MM através da imposição de um calendário de pesca que se torna institucionalizado e, por isso, oficializado. O objetivo desta tese é descrever o processo de des-re territorialização das comunidades de pesca do estuário da Lagoa dos Patos gerado pelo Estado Moderno na implementação da INC 2004. Para atingir tal objetivo, foram utilizadas basicamente duas técnicas de pesquisa para coleta de dados do CET, que produz os territórios tradicionais, e dos conhecimentos, verdades e valores mobilizados na formulação da INC 2004: entrevistas e levantamento bibliográfico. A partir dos dados obtidos, foi necessário o desenvolvimento de uma proposta própria que se enquadra na perspectiva integradora de território: território como conhecimento. Segundo esta proposta, território é um espaço epistêmico produzido a partir do espaço. Com a tentativa de implementação da INC 2004, emerge um conflito ambiental territorial na produção de um espaço através do controle do uso de recursos pesqueiros no estuário da Lagoa dos Patos. O Estado Moderno, que exibe caráter colonial, opera estrategicamente sobre o espaço tentando forçar o curso da modernidade às comunidades de pesca na produção de um espaço epistêmico disciplinar. O resultado, se o Estado Moderno fosse bem sucedido em seu projeto de colonialismo cultural, seria um epistemicídio: a eliminação dos multiterritórios operados pelo CET com uma dinâmica multicalendárica em cada uma das comunidades de pesca artesanal do estuário e a sua substituição por um território operado por uma racionalidade ocidental com um ritmo mecânico através da imposição do Calendário Oficializado da INC 2004. As comunidades de pesca, por sua vez, resistem silenciosa e abertamente operando taticamente via CET na produção de espaços de R-existência. Surpreendentemente, em movimentos diagramáticos infinitos, ambos, Estado Moderno e comunidades de pesca, des-re-territorializam um ao outro. / Fishing in the estuary of Patos Lagoon is an activity in dispute. On the one hand, fishing communities produce their fishing territories through their respective Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), which grounds the different use modes of fishery resources, the traditional resource management systems (TM). The fishing activity in Patos Lagoon estuary is prior to the Portuguese colonization and the TEKs which ground TMs are a result of a cultural hybridity among indigenous, African and Portuguese descendants. On the other hand, especially from the second half of the 1970s, the modern State has been implementing policies for fishery management which have led to the establishment of a modern sciencebased resource management (SM), characteristic of a colonial project of domination. As a result, fishery collapsed in the first half of the 1970s and fishing industries filed bankruptcy in the 1980s. To solve the crisis in the fishery sector in the second half of the 1990s, Forum of Patos Lagoon (FLP) was created. It was at the Forum that the 2004 Normative Instruction (INC 2004), the current legislation which regulates fishing in the estuary of Patos Lagoon, was formulated. INC 2004 implements an SM by imposing a fishing calendar that becomes institutionalized and, therefore, officialized. The objective of this thesis is to describe the process of de-reterritorialization in the fishing communities of the estuary of the Patos Lagoon which was generated by the Modern State when it implemented INC 2004. To achieve this goal, data on TEK were obtained through open and semi-structured interviews and ethnoscientific bibliographic review. Data on knowledge, truths and values that support the formulation of INC 2004 were collected through open interviews held with researchers, who played a key role in mobilizing such intellectual resources and through bibliographic research on the four fisheries whose fishing periods are regulated by INC 2004. From the data obtained, it was necessary to develop our own proposal that fits the integrative perspective of territory: territory as knowledge. Under this proposal, the territory is an epistemic space originating from space. With the attempted implementation of INC 2004, an environmental territorial conflict has emerged in the production of space through the control of the use of fishery resources in the Patos Lagoon estuary. The Modern State, in a display of its colonial character, strategically operates upon space by trying to force the course of modernity on the fishing communities in the production of a disciplined epistemic space. The result, if the Modern State were successful in its project of cultural colonialism would be an epistemicide: the elimination of multi-territories operated by TEK with a multicalendaric dynamics in each of the artisanal fishing communities of the estuary and its replacement by a territory operated by Western rationality, with a mechanical rhythm through the imposition of the official calendar of INC 2004. Fishing communities, in turn, resist quietly and openly by operating tactically via TEK in the production of spaces of R-existence. Surprisingly, in diagrammatic infinite movements, both the Modern State and fishing communities de-reterritorialize one another.

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This study began focused on the use of traditional knowledge in promoting sustainable development in crisis conditions. Presented the question: How have successful community-level sustainable development efforts undertaken under crisis conditions drawn upon indigenous knowledge to achieve positive outcomes? The study is a cross case analysis. The three cases addressed in this study have explained some of the ways that indigenous knowledge has played significant positive roles in promoting sustainable development for communities living under crisis conditions in Palestine. Indigenous knowledge community based patterns indicated significant focus on strengths of local culture, social cohesion, the integration process, and special advantages for policy implementation from the community level as key components of sustainable development in crisis conditions. The study contributes to theory by analyzing common elements from the case studies and providing a set of testable propositions, grounded in those successful experiences that can be a starting point for building theory. Practically, the study has generated lessons that sustainable development policy implementers and decision makers can learn from when addressing sustainable development in different crisis conditions contexts.

Extensive research suggests that the collective behavior of humanity is on an unsustainable path. As the evidence mounts and more people awaken to this reality, increased attention is being dedicated to the pursuit of answers for a just and sustainable future. This dissertation grew from the premise that effectively moving towards sustainability requires change at all levels of the dominant Western culture, including deeply held worldviews. The worldviews of many indigenous cultures offer alternative values and beliefs that can contribute to addressing the root causes of problems related to sustainability. In the bioregion defined by the Pacific Salmon runs of North America there is a rich heritage and modern day presence of diverse indigenous cultures. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 indigenous leaders from within this bioregion to explore their mental models of sustainability. These interviews followed a general structure that covered: (a) the personal background and community affiliation of each interviewee; (b) the meaning of the concept of sustainability from their perspective; (c) visions of a sustainable future for their communities; and, (d) how to achieve such a future. A content analysis of the interviews was conducted and summarized into a narrative organized to correspond with the general interview structure. A process oftestimonial validity established that most participants found the narrative to be an accurate representation of their perspectives. Participant feedback led to several phrasing changes and other identified issues are discussed, including one participant's critique of the narrative's use of a first-person plural voice. Major themes from the interviews include the role of the human being as caretaker actively participating in the web of life, the importance of simultaneously restoring culture and ecology due to their interdependence, the need to educate and build awareness, and the importance of cooperation. Understanding who we are as a living species, including our profound connection with nature, along with a holistic and intergenerational perspective are suggested as prerequisite for balancing and aligning human modes of being with the larger patterns of life. The closing discussion addresses the importance of social action and going beyond a conceptual understanding to an embodiment of sustainability.

This study engages in an ethical examination of contemporary socio-ecological and economic issues which takes seriously the plight of Africa, African communities, indigenous knowledge and biodiversity. It studies the impact of bioprospecting, biopiracy and intellectual property rights regimes on the protection, use, access to, and conservation of biodiversity and indigenous knowledge in Africa. The study also examines the ways in which northern multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and their agents prospect and convert African resources (biological commons and indigenous knowledge) into their intellectual property as well as private property. It argues that the transfer of African biological commons and indigenous knowledge is exacerbated by economic globalisation and the neo-colonial mentality of conquest concealed under the guise of commerce. The study demonstrates through concrete case studies the tactics used by northern multinational corporations to claim these resources as their intellectual property rights and private property. It observes that the privatisation of biological commons and indigenous knowledge only brings about nominal or no benefits to African communities who have nurtured and continue to nurture them. It also observes that this privatisation results in fewer benefits for biodiversity as they lead to the promotion of monoculture, i.e. commercialisation of all things. To address the injustice and exploitative implications of bioprospecting, biopiracy and intellectual property rights, the study recommends the adoption and implementation of the African model law, the establishment of defensive intellectual property rights mechanisms, and the strategy of resistance and advocacy. It suggests that these measures ought to be grounded on the African normative principle of botho and the Christian ethical principle of justice. / Systematic Theology and Theological Ethics / D.Th.(Theological Ethics)

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The Tigray region in northern Ethiopia is a historic centre of agricultural production and home to many subsistence farmers that still use traditional farming systems and practise rain-fed agriculture. The region has been affected adversely by famines and periodic droughts for centuries and is vulnerable to climate change. Farmers are producing on small plots of often degraded land and through their own actions have depleted the natural resources they rely on, in particular soil, water and trees. This study sought to explore the environmental degradation of Tigray through both a literature review of its agricultural socio-political history and a lived experience in the village of Abraha We Atsebaha among farmers of the region. It uses a variety of methodologies and methods, including a literature review, grounded theory, narrative inquiry and ethnography, to expand on the factors that have contributed to the current degradation, the implications for traditional farming and the potential for land regeneration. The first journal article seeks to explore how Ethiopians have shaped their natural environment. In particular, it focuses on deforestation, soil degradation, the role of changing governance and land-ownership patterns, and the effects of climate change. The article demonstrates that traditional farming systems do not operate in isolation from their socio-political and environmental context. The second journal article provides an in-depth narrative inquiry conducted in Abraha We Atsebaha over a three-month period in 2014. This village is known for its indigenous farming knowledge, commitment to regeneration and innovation in conservation practices. Interviews were conducted with selected farmers and local leaders and informal discussions were carried out with government extension representatives using the ethno-ecological cosmos-corpus-praxis guidelines to enable an integrated exploration of the nature of traditional farming, the causative factors of environmental deterioration and the resultant communal response. In addition to written interview notes, observations and field notes were recorded daily. Photographs are used to give a real sense of the community and their work. It emerged during this process that underlying belief systems were exceptionally important in a context of traditional conservation. Both articles discuss the development work undertaken by government in the rural farming sector and the successes and challenges faced. They also show that elements of traditional farming, sustainability measures and environmental care were suspended in favour of short-term survival as a consequence of social, political and population stressors. This study provides learning points, gained from insights gleaned from the literature review and the lived experience, for improving development interventions in this region. This study did not explicitly explore the role of religion in conservation or the potential long-term effects of current government policies and initiatives. However, it contributes to the small pool of literature on the region focused on traditional farming systems by providing a comprehensive overview of the drivers of degradation (historical and current) and offers a unique, “soft” experiential narration of a village in northern Ethiopia that allows insight into farmer experiences, pressures and adaptation efforts. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die Tigray-streek in die noorde van Ethiopië is ’n historiese sentrum van landbouproduksie en die tuiste van menige bestaansboer wat nog op tradisionele boerderystelsels en reënbesproeiing staatmaak. Die streek het eeue lank onder hongersnood en periodieke droogtes gebuk gegaan en is kwesbaar vir klimaatsverandering. Boere bewerk klein stukke, dikwels afgetakelde, grond en het deur hul eie optrede die natuurlike hulpbronne waarop hulle staatmaak – veral die grond, water en bome – uitgeput. Hierdie studie was daarop toegespits om ’n beter begrip te vorm van die omgewingsaftakeling in Tigray. Vir hierdie doel is ’n literatuurstudie van die sosiopolitieke landbougeskiedenis van die gebied onderneem, en is die lewe in die dorp Abraha We Atsebaha tussen boere van die streek ervaar. Die navorsing het van ’n verskeidenheid metodologieë en metodes, waaronder ’n literatuuroorsig, gegronde teorie, narratiewe ondersoek en etnografie, gebruik gemaak om lig te werp op die faktore wat tot die huidige aftakeling bygedra het, die implikasies vir tradisionele boerdery, en die potensiaal vir grondvernuwing. Die eerste tydskrifartikel verken hoe Ethiopiërs hul natuurlike omgewing gevorm het. Dit konsentreer veral op ontbossing, grondaftakeling, die rol van veranderende staatsbestuurs- en grondbesitpatrone, en die uitwerking van klimaatsverandering. Die artikel toon dat tradisionele boerderystelsels nie afsonderlik van hul sosiopolitieke en omgewingskonteks funksioneer nie. Die tweede tydskrifartikel beskryf ’n narratiewe diepte-ondersoek wat oor ’n drie maande lange tydperk in 2014 in Abraha We Atsebaha onderneem is. Hierdie dorp is bekend vir sy inheemse landboukennis, toewyding aan vernuwing, en innoverende bewaringspraktyke. Onderhoude is met ’n uitgesoekte groep boere en plaaslike leiers gevoer, en voorligtingsbeamptes van die staat is by informele gesprekke betrek. Die etno-ekologiese cosmos-corpus-praxis-riglyne is gebruik om ’n geïntegreerde studie te onderneem van die aard van tradisionele boerdery, die oorsaaklike faktore van omgewingsaftakeling, en die gevolglike gemeenskapsreaksie. Benewens skriftelike aantekeninge gedurende die onderhoude, is waarnemings en veldnotas ook daagliks opgeteken. Foto’s word gebruik om die gemeenskap en hul werk getrou uit te beeld. Gedurende hierdie proses het aan die lig gekom dat onderliggende oortuigingstelsels besonder belangrik is in ’n tradisionele bewaringskonteks. Albei artikels bespreek die ontwikkelingswerk wat die regering in die landelike boerderysektor onderneem, sowel as die suksesse en uitdagings daarvan. Dit toon ook dat elemente van tradisionele boerdery, volhoubaarheidsmaatreëls en omgewingsorg as gevolg van maatskaplike, politieke en bevolkingsfaktore laat vaar is ten gunste van korttermynoorlewing. Die insigte wat uit die literatuuroorsig sowel as die lewenservaring in die bestudeerde gemeenskap spruit, bied lesse vir die verbetering van ontwikkelingsintervensies in die streek. Die studie het nie uitdruklik die rol van godsdiens in bewaring of die potensiële langtermynuitwerking van huidige staatsbeleide en -inisiatiewe ondersoek nie. Tog dra dit by tot die klein hoeveelheid beskikbare literatuur oor tradisionele boerderystelsels in die streek deur ’n omvattende oorsig te bied van die (historiese en huidige) snellers van aftakeling, en vertel dit ’n unieke, ‘sagte’ ervaringsverhaal oor ’n dorp in die noorde van Ethiopië om sodoende insig in landbou-ervarings, -druk en -aanpassingspogings te bied.

Depuis les années 90, les Projets Intégrés de Conservation et Développement ont été présentés comme des modèles fonctionnels de développement durable pour un site spécifique dans une perspective de réalisation. Le but est d’intégrer les objectifs biologiques de la conservation aux objectifs sociaux et économiques du développement. Ces projets, qui répondent à de multiples dénominations et stratégies, sont implantés dans des contextes naturellement hétérogènes et dynamiques, où l’aménagement du territoire ne doit pas être un outil de planification étatique, désigné et imposé dans une logique conservationniste. Les aires protégées représentent une certaine vision du rapport entre l’être humain et la nature, apparue dans le contexte nord-américain avec la création des premiers grands parcs nationaux en 1870. Aujourd'hui, la forte volonté d'impliquer la population se heurte avec la difficulté de concilier la gestion de ces espaces avec les pratiques, les nécessités et les intérêts locaux. Le parc naturel Obô, qui occupe 30% du territoire de São Tomé et Principe, doit affronter la difficile intégration entre les représentations de la nature et les usages locaux avec les objectifs globaux des politiques conservationnistes, ainsi qu’avec les intérêts touristiques et économiques des investisseurs locaux et étrangers. Les représentations sociales de la nature, établissant une forme de connaissance pratique, déterminent la vision du monde et la relation qu'un certain groupe social peut avoir avec le territoire. Ainsi, chaque communauté possède ses propres mécanismes d'adaptation au milieu basés sur ce système représentationnel. Dans le cas des communautés sãotoméennes, la nature présente un caractère spirituel (associé à des croyances, des rites et des pratiques médicales traditionnelles) et utilitaire (la nature, à travers l'agriculture, la récolte ou la chasse, répond au besoin de subsistance). L’objectif de ce projet de thèse est donc de mieux comprendre la synergie existante entre savoir endogène et gestion de la biodiversité pour adapter l’aménagement du territoire à la réalité des populations qui y vivent. / Since the beginning of the 1990s, Integrated Conservation and Development Projects have offered a functional model of sustainable development for specific sites within the perspective of particular projects. Their goal has been to integrate biological aspects of conservation to the social and economic aspects of development. Protected areas represent a particular vision of the relationship between man and nature, appeared in the American context with the creation of the first national parks. Currently, the wish to involve the population in the creation of protected areas faces the challenge of reconciling the management of these spaces with the local practices, needs and interests. Obô Natural Park, which occupies 30% of the territory of Sao Tome and Principe, follows the difficult process of integrating both local uses and representations of nature to the global objectives of conservationist policies while considering the touristic and economic interests of local and foreign investors. Social representations of nature, understood as a form of practical knowledge, determine the vision of the world and the relationship that a particular social group may have with its territory. Thus, based on this system, each community has its own mechanisms of environmental adaptation. In the case of the Saotomean communities, nature presents a strong spiritual (associated with beliefs, rituals and traditional medical practices) and utilitarian character (nature provides, through farming, collecting or hunting, all you need to live). The aim of this thesis is to understand the synergies between endogenous knowledge and management of biodiversity to adapt the land management process to the reality of the people who live in the particular territory of Sao Tome and Principe.