Integrating science and local knowledge to strengthen biosphere reserve management

This chapter examines how the voices, interests and knowledge of Indigenous and local communities can be recognized and included in planning and decision-making in biosphere reserves. It offers a discussion of different types of knowledge, describes what is meant by knowledge integration, and identifies common challenges in knowledge integration. The chapter then considers how the biosphere reserve model can serve as a platform for knowledge integration, drawing on experiences in Australia, Croatia, Lebanon, and Vietnam. These experiences suggest that the challenges are significant, but also that biosphere reserves can serve as sites to co-develop strategies for knowledge integration that can improve the overall management of biosphere reserves and, by sharing these experiences, the global protected area estate more generally