Lake Winnipeg and the issue of its declining health are at the heart of this research. At stake is not only the integrity of this ecosystem but also the substantial commercial fishery that depends upon it. Finding a solution to this problem involves a complex mixture of social, economic and ecological considerations. In response to such multi-faceted questions there is an increasing awareness for the role of public participation in decision-making. In recognition of this, there is a move away from top-down governance to one that acknowledges the need for innovative approaches to governance as well as the role for the participation of non-state actors in decision-making. This type of participatory governance decentralizes power in order to permit citizens the opportunity to bring to bear their knowledge in the quest for sustainable solutions. One such source of knowledge is local knowledge. Accordingly, this research explores the local knowledge about Lake Winnipeg held by its commercial fishers and how that knowledge is included in the Lake’s governance. This goal is pursued through the examination of four specific objectives that are: 1) to establish the sorts of local knowledge that fishers hold and the ways in which they gained this knowledge; 2) to identify what informal and formal governance processes already exist for participation of the fishers in the governance of Lake Winnipeg; 3) to determine by what means and to what extent this local knowledge has been shared in governance processes about the Lake; 4) to identify opportunities for the incorporation of the fishers’ local knowledge into the governance of the Lake. A qualitative approach was used to address the goals of the research and included literature review, a focus group with fishers, and interviews with fishers and government personnel. Analysis revealed that the commercial fishers possess local knowledge extending across a broad range of topics from hydrology, ecology, weather, water quality and fish diet, habitat, behaviour and morphology. This knowledge was gained primarily through personal observation, but also from other fishers, scientists, and the media. The more formal participatory processes in which the fishers became engaged have been limited to issues relating to the fishery. These formal processes included the Lake Winnipeg Fisheries Management Advisory Board, the Manitoba Commercial Inland Fishers Federation, and the Lake Winnipeg Quota Entitlement Review Task Force. In addition to these formal processes there was also a less formal network of contact between fishers and those in government and science. This network has involved fishers sharing their local knowledge about the fishery and. to a lesser degree, about the Lake’s environment more generally. Taken together, these various processes have supplied, with variable success, some opportunities for fishers to share their local knowledge and influence fishery related decisions. However, the extent of their participation has been significantly impaired by a number of critical factors. Of these, the most detrimental barrier identified was a lack of meaningfulness and transparency in the key process, the Advisory Board. This, in turn, resulted in frustration, mistrust of government, and ultimately, withdrawal from that process. Reflecting on these problems, fishers made a number of recommendations including the creation of a co-management board and the use of interviews and surveys, public meetings, and collaborative research as ways to ensure that their knowledge is shared and that their concerns and recommendations are considered in meaningful ways that influence fishery and Lake-related decisions.

Lake Winnipeg and the issue of its declining health are at the heart of this research. At stake is not only the integrity of this ecosystem but also the substantial commercial fishery that depends upon it. Finding a solution to this problem involves a complex mixture of social, economic and ecological considerations. In response to such multi-faceted questions there is an increasing awareness for the role of public participation in decision-making. In recognition of this, there is a move away from top-down governance to one that acknowledges the need for innovative approaches to governance as well as the role for the participation of non-state actors in decision-making. This type of participatory governance decentralizes power in order to permit citizens the opportunity to bring to bear their knowledge in the quest for sustainable solutions. One such source of knowledge is local knowledge. Accordingly, this research explores the local knowledge about Lake Winnipeg held by its commercial fishers and how that knowledge is included in the Lake’s governance. This goal is pursued through the examination of four specific objectives that are: 1) to establish the sorts of local knowledge that fishers hold and the ways in which they gained this knowledge; 2) to identify what informal and formal governance processes already exist for participation of the fishers in the governance of Lake Winnipeg; 3) to determine by what means and to what extent this local knowledge has been shared in governance processes about the Lake; 4) to identify opportunities for the incorporation of the fishers’ local knowledge into the governance of the Lake. A qualitative approach was used to address the goals of the research and included literature review, a focus group with fishers, and interviews with fishers and government personnel. Analysis revealed that the commercial fishers possess local knowledge extending across a broad range of topics from hydrology, ecology, weather, water quality and fish diet, habitat, behaviour and morphology. This knowledge was gained primarily through personal observation, but also from other fishers, scientists, and the media. The more formal participatory processes in which the fishers became engaged have been limited to issues relating to the fishery. These formal processes included the Lake Winnipeg Fisheries Management Advisory Board, the Manitoba Commercial Inland Fishers Federation, and the Lake Winnipeg Quota Entitlement Review Task Force. In addition to these formal processes there was also a less formal network of contact between fishers and those in government and science. This network has involved fishers sharing their local knowledge about the fishery and. to a lesser degree, about the Lake’s environment more generally. Taken together, these various processes have supplied, with variable success, some opportunities for fishers to share their local knowledge and influence fishery related decisions. However, the extent of their participation has been significantly impaired by a number of critical factors. Of these, the most detrimental barrier identified was a lack of meaningfulness and transparency in the key process, the Advisory Board. This, in turn, resulted in frustration, mistrust of government, and ultimately, withdrawal from that process. Reflecting on these problems, fishers made a number of recommendations including the creation of a co-management board and the use of interviews and surveys, public meetings, and collaborative research as ways to ensure that their knowledge is shared and that their concerns and recommendations are considered in meaningful ways that influence fishery and Lake-related decisions.

Woodland caribou are listed as a threatened species in Saskatchewan. The need for contemporary data is paramount for conservation of this species. There has been a dramatic increase in the number of threats to woodland caribou: forestry and logging, road development and expansion, mineral exploration and other long term changes to the landscape. Despite previous research effort, the current distribution and critical habitat of woodland caribou in north-central Saskatchewan is still poorly understood. Drawing upon the knowledge of a selected target group, interviews have been conducted to attain local and traditional knowledge on woodland caribou. Local knowledge has been used to identify key information about woodland caribou critical habitat and ecology in the north central region and more remote areas. Through the objectives of this research we have been able to identify current and historical abundance patterns; adult and calf biology; predator prey interactions; human activity on the landscape and potential effect on woodland caribou ecology; and weather/fire patterns and the potential effect on woodland caribou distribution. The significance of this type of research is critical in understanding woodland caribou biology in northern and remote areas. In addition, this project recognizes contributions and involvement of Aboriginal peoples in academic and government research initiatives.

Woodland caribou are listed as a threatened species in Saskatchewan. The need for contemporary data is paramount for conservation of this species. There has been a dramatic increase in the number of threats to woodland caribou: forestry and logging, road development and expansion, mineral exploration and other long term changes to the landscape. Despite previous research effort, the current distribution and critical habitat of woodland caribou in north-central Saskatchewan is still poorly understood. Drawing upon the knowledge of a selected target group, interviews have been conducted to attain local and traditional knowledge on woodland caribou. Local knowledge has been used to identify key information about woodland caribou critical habitat and ecology in the north central region and more remote areas. Through the objectives of this research we have been able to identify current and historical abundance patterns; adult and calf biology; predator prey interactions; human activity on the landscape and potential effect on woodland caribou ecology; and weather/fire patterns and the potential effect on woodland caribou distribution. The significance of this type of research is critical in understanding woodland caribou biology in northern and remote areas. In addition, this project recognizes contributions and involvement of Aboriginal peoples in academic and government research initiatives.

In 2003, the Israeli government announced plans to transfer a large army base from the centre of the country to the Negev (al-Naqab in Arabic), 8 kilometers downwind from the Ramat Hovav industrial zone and national hazardous waste treatment site. Since its creation in 1975, Ramat Hovav has been a major centre for bio-chemical production, hazardous waste treatment and consequently, pollution. For decades, Bedouin residents from Wadi Naam had been living adjacent to the industrial zone, their concerns and protests remaining unheard. However, when the health of Israeli soldiers serving at the prospective site was at stake, local environmental disputes shifted into the national spotlight. The decision to move the army base was a catalyst for a prolonged struggle over conflicting interpretations of environmental health risks. Using a narrative-based case study methodology, this research examines both the local environmental knowledge and the organizational strategies that inform the contested environmental illness struggles that took place at the Ramat Hovav industrial zone between 1997 and 2011. It illustrates how environmental organizations, policymakers, and industrial representatives, through protracted challenges and counter-challenges, found an interim approach for addressing pollution, thereby clearing the way for the construction of the army base. It also illuminates the differential treatment of contested environmental illness by state, municipal, and organizational actors when the subjects at risk are Jewish Israeli youth, as opposed to Bedouin residents, thus uncovering institutionalized environmental discrimination toward the Bedouin of Wadi Naam that is symptomatic of prejudicial public policies dating back to the establishment of the state. The first formal study of contested environmental illness in the Middle East, this case contributes broader insight into the institutional dynamics of environmental injustice, the relationship between local knowledge and political pressure, and the organizational tactics underlying environmental risk management.

This thesis analyses the social dimensions of the risk of animal biopharming (the genetic modification of animals to produce pharmaceuticals) in New Zealand, in the context of a wider discussion of the social nature of risk. In doing so, it offers a different conception of risk and risk assessment than is currently used within the government policy of New Zealand. Current policy has focused on technical evaluations of risk, in which the technology being analysed is not assessed within the social context it will enter and risk is compartmentalised into quantifiable and standardised data. This approach both serves to legitimate "experts" as the true judge of risk, and also isolates members of the wider public to the realm of "ethical" discussion and participation. Such policy, I argue, does not lend itself to good decision-making, as risk management procedures, built on the back of risk assessment, often prove to be impractical when entering complex and ambiguous social environments. Likewise, this form of risk assessment often fails to account for risk that could be identified by those with in-depth knowledge of the environment, both social and physical, that the technology will enter. This thesis pilots aspects of an alternative approach, which aims to elicit information about the relevant environment. It demonstrates how one might identify and interview those with what is termed here as "local knowledge", and how that knowledge can make a significant contribution to risk identification and assessment and the identification of social implications. The thesis concludes not only that local knowledge can contribute practically to risk assessment, but also that the concepts of risk and expertise must be widened to include social and contextual behaviour and knowledge.

Geração após geração, o saber molhar a terra em Mirorós (BA) desempenha na caatinga uma agricultura produtiva e diversificada. No entanto, sobre influência de profundas mudanças sociais ocorridas no fim do século XX, o conhecimento local foi desarticulado e hoje está em vias de desaparecimento. O conhecimento desenvolvido através da oralidade e do convívio social diz respeito às técnicas locais de manipulação da água para a produção de víveres, à divisão do recurso natural e à organização dada a partir da atividade camponesa. Este trabalho pretende o reconhecimento de um saber resguardado pela população de Mirorós, situada entre os municípios de Gentio do Ouro e Ibipeba, na zona central do Estado da Bahia. Inicia-se com a apresentação do contexto espacial, das particularidades do semiárido e do bioma caatinga, e do espaço onde se encontra o saber, nas margens do Rio Verde, que nasce nas serras da Chapada Diamantina e deságua no Rio São Francisco. O saber molhar o sertão tido como patrimônio imaterial é então descrito como um conjunto de técnicas, obras, condutas e conhecimentos sobre o espaço natural e sua produtividade, desempenhado localmente até a década de 1980. O recorte temporal refere-se à desarticulação do saber, com a construção da Barragem Manoel Novaes, em 1983 e a inauguração do Perímetro Irrigado Mirorós, em 1996, obras executadas pela Companhia de Desenvolvimento dos Vales do São Francisco e Parnaíba (Codevasf). As ações governamentais reordenaram o espaço, o acesso aos recursos naturais e privilegiaram técnicas importadas de produção agrícola. Tendo a história oral como metodologia, a memória dos sertanejos irrigantes possibilita o entendimento do saber local e também alcança as transformações dadas com a implantação de políticas públicas. Dessa maneira, busca-se evocar o conhecimento tradicional na realidade cultural e ambiental contemporânea e o modelo desempenhado pela política pública nas últimas décadas. / Generation after generation, the knowledge about irrigation in Mirorós (BA) transforms the savanna in a place with diverse and productive agriculture. However, under the influence of profound social changes in the late twentieth century, local knowledge was dismantled and is now disappearing. The knowledge developed through oral and social life concerning local manipulation techniques of water for the production of food, the division of natural resource and people organization. This work aims to recognize the knowledge kept by Mirorós population, situated between the towns Gentio do Ouro and Ibipeba, in the central part of the state of Bahia. It begins with the presentation of spatial context, the particularities of semiarid savanna and biome, and the space where the know, on the banks of the river Verde, which rises in the mountains of the Chapada Diamantina and empties into the river São Francisco. Knowing wet the backcountry considered intangible heritage is then described as a set of technical articles, conduct and knowledge about the natural environment and its productivity, played locally until the 1980s. The time frame refers to the disarticulation of knowledge, with the construction of the dam Manoel Novaes in 1983 and the inauguration of the Irrigated Place Mirorós in 1996, works executed by the Company for the Development of the Valley of the São Francisco and Parnaíba (Codevasf). Government actions reordered the space, access to the natural resources and favored techniques imported for agricultural production. Since the oral history methodology, the memory of local irrigators enables understanding of local knowledge and also achieves the transformations in hand with the implementation of public policies. Thus, seek to evoke the traditional knowledge in contemporary cultural and environmental reality and model played by public policy in recent decades.

The technological revolution of the XX century led to big transformations in global culture, society and economy, but it did not reach equally to all. While science is today one of the main engines of industry, agriculture, and production of goods, billions of people in small communities still relay on local forms of knowledge, technologies and techniques to carry out their economic activities. This thesis aims to analyze the role of Local Knowledge and the Appropriate Technologies derived by said knowledge applied to the fish farms of peasants in the local Sustainable Development in the Vale do Jamari region, in the state of Rondônia, in Brazil. To achieve our goal, we initiate with a theoretical discussion that will provide tools for the analysis of the empirical data. Firstly, we discuss the concept of Sustainable Development, pointing its limitations and providing a perspective of an analysis of this type of development that favors the resources, interests and culture of a local community. Secondly, we bring the discussion over the accumulated knowledge of man over its environment and the conditions that it inhabits; the concept of Local Knowledge, its characteristics, its importance, limitations and its role in the contemporary world post-Green Revolution. The third moment of our theoretical discussion is dedicated to the movement of alternative technology and the concept of Appropriate Technology, its characteristics and the importance of the concept to the analysis of technologies that are apt to work in specific contexts in a way to be valid to its users. In the sequence, we present the method used for the empirical research, in which a case study was carried out. The case selected was of the peasant fish farms in the Vale do Jamari, region comprised of 9 municipalities in the center of the state of Rondônia, in the western amazon, in Brazil. Said region was colonized by rural workers migrating from other parts of the country between the 1960-1980s, resulting in great impact to the natural environment. The region presented in the last 8 years high rates of growth, partially due to small fish farmers acting with low technology and little access to technical assistance. Secondary data was selected through document research and primary data was collected from observation, photographs, field journals, technical visitations, participation in industry related events, open and semi-structured interviews carried out between mayjune, october-december 2016. The data gathered, upon careful analysis, pointed out that in the case of the peasant fish farmers of the Vale do Jamari: the existence of techniques and technologies developed through Local Knowledge and which are used in multiple situations in substitution, complementation or supplying the absence of technical/scientific knowledge and tools; that such local techniques and technologies can be said to be Appropriate Technologies; that there is disbelief on behalf of technical assistants of the validity of said technologies; that there is a lack of trust and there is a deficient communication between technical assistants and farmers; that such techniques and technologies developed by the fish farmers are compatible with a food production style of low environmental impact, coherent with the locally available resources and which create social and economic benefits to the local community; and, finally, that Local Knowledge, in the absence of conventional technologies appropriate to the found conditions, served as the base to the development of local technologies, appropriate and capable of guaranteeing the activity of fish farming for peasants in the Vale do Jamari.

Agricultural adaptation to climate change is notoriously context specific. Recently updated projections for the Northeastern US forecast increasingly severe and erratic precipitation events which pose significant risks to every sector of agricultural production in the region. Vegetable and berry farmers are among the most vulnerable to the risks of severe precipitation and drought due to the intensive soil and crop management strategies which characterize of this kind of production. To successfully adapt to a changing climate, these farmers need information which is tailored for the unique challenges of vegetable and berry production, framed at the level of climate impacts, and delivered through the familiar lexicon used by farmers in the region. My approach is grounded by partnerships with farmer networks to inform both the relevance of this information and my outreach strategy for sharing results. This research presents complimentary quantitative and qualitative data sets on adaptive management, and highlights the insight of farmers voices on innovative and promising solutions for managing climate related risks. The goal of the project was to create usable information for producers through a Farmer First approach which privileges the voices and experiences of farmers in determining the information and resources they need. As part of a broader project, this thesis analyzed the results of a regional survey of vegetable and berry growers conducted over the winter months of 2017-2018. The first chapter reviews theoretical foundations for academic study of agricultural management and climate change, with a focus on information usability. The second chapter applies theories of adaptation and resilience to identify agroecological principles for adapting farm management to water extremes and innovative practices emerging in the region. The third chapter uses a regression modelling approach to explore how adaptive management practices vary across site specific characteristics. Our analysis identifies trends and principles for adapting to water excess and water deficits on diversified vegetable and berry farms in the Northeast. The research findings highlight how site characteristics influence the selection of adaptive management practices on farms in the Northeast.

Ongoing and potential developments with regards to solid waste management have raised concerns about well being in African cities. There is also growing concern among environmental managers, scientists, and the public that the pace and scale of human activities may lead to adverse environmental and health impacts. These concerns have been worsened by two factors: (1.) That all attempts so far made at dealing with the present situation of solid waste handling in African cities have either failed or only met with moderate success; and, (2.) There is significant economic, spiritual and cultural value placed on the city's development in Africa, therefore, a deterioration in its environment spells further difficulties for improving conditions of development. To date however, very little research has been conducted on the role local knowledge has to play in managing urban solid waste in the context of African cities. This study is a contribution on this topic, using case study cities of Accra and Kumasi in Ghana, West Africa where it was found that local knowledge plays a role not only in the day-to-day decision making of the actors involved, but also in the management of solid waste activities through, the employment of appropriate technology, the creation of awareness around local waste practices, education, adherence to norms and beliefs, and also in stopping littering and encouraging proper waste practices.