It is usually the case that scientists examine either ecological systems or social systems, yet the need for an interdisciplinary approach to the problems of environmental management and sustainable development is becoming increasingly obvious. Developed under the auspices of the Beijer Institute in Stockholm, this new book analyses social and ecological linkages in selected ecosystems using an international and interdisciplinary case study approach. The chapters provide detailed information on a variety of management practices for dealing with environmental change. Taken as a whole, the book will contribute to the greater understanding of essential social responses to changes in ecosystems, including the generation, accumulation and transmission of ecological knowledge, structure and dynamics of institutions, and the cultural values underlying these responses. A set of new (or rediscovered) principles for sustainable ecosystem management is also presented. Linking Social and Ecological Systems will be of value to natural and social scientists interested in sustainability.

Indigenous People - Traditional Practices and Modern Development provides a comprehensive overview of indigenous people, their traditional knowledge, and contemporary advancement in a variety of areas. It also discusses the need to preserve indigenous peoples' traditional knowledge in the present context and how to document and restore it. Additionally, it offers baseline data for developing plans for sustainable development and good governance. This book is a useful resource for academics, researchers, students, government agencies, non-governmental groups, and policymakers.components of the Earth. Only indigenous and native pillars can save us globally. Therefore, at any cost, the world must start a new era with indigenous people and their traditional knowledge. This book is a microscopic aspect of an anthropological study of the evolution, culture, rituals, traditional practices, and modern development of indigenous populations, globally speaking. It also enlightens the readers about the varied means of their livelihood and their social organization, religion, art, and music through three broad sections. The book will be quite useful for students, researchers, intellectuals, and general readers throughout the world. I wish for a grand success that will be a source of inspiration in many ways and a life-changing fount in the contemporary world.

In this study of the Biase, a small ethnic group living in Nigeria's Cross River State, David Uru Iyam attempts to resolve a long-standing controversy among development theorists: must Third World peoples adopt Western attitudes, practices, and technologies to improve their standard of living or are indigenous beliefs, technologies, and strategies better suited to local conditions? The Biase today face social and economic pressures that seriously strain their ability to cope with the realities of modern Nigeria. Iyam, an anthropologist and a Biase, examines the relationship between culture and development as played out in projects in local communities. Western technologies and beliefs alone cannot ensure economic growth and modernization, Iyam shows, and should not necessarily be imposed on poor rural groups who may not be prepared to incorporate them; neither, however, is it possible to recover indigenous coping strategies given the complexities of the postcolonial world. A successful development strategy, Iyam argues, needs to strengthen local managerial capacity, and he offers suggestions as to how this can be done in a range of cultural and social settings.

This study is a contribution towards exploring alternative but sustainable education policies for pastoralist societies and sets out to explore how pastoralist IKSs (Indigenous Knowledge Systems) can be integrated or used as an entry point to provide formal schooling to pastoralist communities in Kenya. Pastoralists constitute the majority of the socially and economically vulnerable groups in the country. Children, among pastoralist communities, face detrimental hardships that compromise their growth and development. One of these hardships is the imposition of an education and development paradigm that is irrelevant to their existence and which compounds their problems. This study therefore sought to explore how, through better government policies, the indigenous knowledge (IK) of pastoralists could be integrated into the curriculum of formal schooling. Specifically, the study discusses the following issues: Gaps in policies for schooling provision for pastoralist groups, with particular reference to the content of the curriculum and methods of delivery; Aspects of pastoralist IKS that can be integrated into the context of national education policy to enrich their schooling within; and General recommendations regarding the use of participatory and social engineering approaches in designing education and development policies affecting pastoralist communities in Kenya.