Title page

Purpose

Background

Framework for Analysis and Application

Goals and Structure
Plenary Session
Welcome Reception

Session I

Session II

Session III

Session IV

Session V

Participants Notes

References Cited

Conference Session II:
Friday, 26 September
1:00-5:00 p.m.
School of Management
Room B74

Knowledge and Policy interactions in conservation:
Because of the diverse interests of the various organizations which operate in the Sangha trinational region, systems of knowledge through which the parties understand ecological, economic, historical, and cultural phenomena are distinct and sometimes divergent. Conservation organizations, often directed and staffed by biologists and ecologists, strive to understand forest processes from the perspective of natural science. Development practitioners and anthropologists seek to understand the conditions of human life within the forest, and the relationships between human society and the forest ecosystem. African forest residents understand their environment according to their own knowledge systems. One of the primary goals of this conference is to address the complex interface of natural science, social science, and indigenous knowledge, to foster an understanding of forest systems that takes multiple approaches into account.

Through case studies from the trinational region, participant presentations will chronicle:

  • the collection and analysis of natural science data, and their policy implications;
  • the collection and analysis of social science data, and their policy implications; and
  • indigenous cognitive, cosmological, and property systems as they compare to and interact with western scientific knowledge systems in the policy process.

Where possible, participants will analyze the articulation of these knowledge forms, and their different roles in the various conservation agencies functioning today. Through this portion of the conference, dialogue will be established between academic scholars and field practitioners of conservation and development.

How have natural science, social science and indigenous knowledge been (differentially) influential in the creation and implementation of conservation policies? Do these forms of knowledge interact with one another optimally? Or are they in opposition to one another?

Introduction:
David WATTS, Department of Anthropology, Yale University

Invited Presenters:
Roger FOTSO (Natural Science/ transnational ecological monitoring) and Zephenin MOGBA, Mark FREUDENBERGER (Social Science/ participatory methods and migration) Daou JOIRIS (Indigenous Knowledge/ indigenous property relations)

Invited Discussants:
Serge BAHUCHET,Edmond DOUNIAS, Sarah ELKAN, Diane DORAN, Jean
Paul GONZALEZ, Barry HEWLETT.

Moderator:
Eric WORBY, Social/Cultural Anthropology, Yale University