Cybercartography as a transdisciplinary approach to solve complex environmental problems: A case study of the Kumeyaay Peoples of Baja California and the conservation of oak trees

Abstract

Abstract From a historical perspective, natural resource management and conservation have been based on quantitative and disciplinary science. This old approach often tended to ignore local communities and their traditional ways of valuing and using land. In turn, policies derived from traditional conservation approaches have often been labelled as anti-humanist. The social dimension was relegated to second place in decisions regarding the management of natural resources. The reason behind these approaches could be linked with the epistemological perspective from which a complex problem like an environmental one is tackled. Addressing a problem from a uni-disciplinary position does not allow for the understanding of a complex issue and lends to over-simplification of the environmental problems. By comparison, a holistic approach allows for the understanding of environmental complexity and enables the use and incorporation of different perspectives, methods, formal and informal knowledge, reflections, uncertainty, cultural expressions and so on. The tendency of modern conservation is to use participatory approaches and transdisciplinary frameworks in order to integrate a diversity of knowledge to solve complex environmental problems. The transdisciplinary framework of Cybercartography allowed us to create solutions for an environmental problem affecting the Kumeyaay Peoples in Baja California, Mexico: the destruction of oak trees by woodborers and debarking beetles. Based on this framework we implemented a participatory research project in which the Kumeyaay Peoples shared their traditional knowledge with biologists and biologists shared their technical knowledge with the community. The combination of knowledge produced a cybercarographic atlas that incorporated both technical and traditional knowledge of all the species of woodborer and debarking beetles in the oak forests, and documented their impact within the Kumeyaay territory. The atlas content includes specific information on the species of insects, traditional and modern management strategies to deal with woodborers and debarking beetles and multimedia data detailing all stages of the process. This atlas enabled the Kumeyaay to make decisions regarding the management of the pests and oak woods. Moreover, the participatory method facilitated the creation of solutions and the atlas creation process itself empowered the Kumeyaay, and strengthened their identification of insects, their management of the woods and the diseases, and the general management of other natural resources. Nevertheless, we need to go further in the development of more complex atlases to enhance the management and conservation of the natural resources of the Kumeyaay Peoples, to create a strong community-based group to manage the Kumeyaay territory, and to establish a knowledge exchange process with other Yuman Peoples.