Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
http://hdl.handle.net/1942/44285
Title: | Wildlife in Vernacular as a Means for an Inclusive Environmental Sector and Community Engagement in South Africa | Authors: | PHAKA, Fortunate | Issue Date: | 2024 | Publisher: | ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD | Source: | Environmental communication, | Status: | Early view | Abstract: | South Africa has contrasts between integrative environmental law and pre-democratic social exclusion in the environmental sector. Communicating wildlife in vernacular, sharing wildlife knowledge in vernacular languages and consideration of wildlife according to vernacular contexts, contributes to inclusive environmental management. This wildlife in vernacular approach is based on seven years of mixed methods research which culminates in this paper on reflections of the possibilities attendant to communicating wildlife in vernacular languages. Firstly, community-level research and knowledge-sharing sessions resulted in the creation of an IsiZulu language field guide for frogs compiled specifically for the Zululand community. Subsequently, online surveys, conversational interviews, literature reviews, and DNA barcoding were used to expand on the studies of Indigenous cultural perspectives on herptiles (frogs and reptiles). Through this work, perspectives that are generally excluded from environmental decision making are revealed and capacity building for environmental management becomes linguistically accessible. This article discusses the untapped potential of often overlooked wildlife (frogs and reptiles) in marginalized vernacular languages and ways to achieve the largely unrealized environmental policy ambitions of being inclusive of all forms of knowledge, considerate of all perceptions of wildlife and affording everyone an opportunity to participate in environmental management regardless of their socioeconomic background.KEY POLICY HIGHLIGHTS Marginalized Indigenous cultural perspectives have conservation value.South African legislation provides for inclusion of cultural practices in environmental management.Communicating wildlife in vernacular increases social inclusion and community engagement in environmental management. | Notes: | Phaka, FM (corresponding author), North West Univ, Unit Environm Sci & Management, African Amphibian Conservat Res Grp, Private Bag X6001, ZA-2520 Potchefstroom, South Africa.; Phaka, FM (corresponding author), South African Inst Aquat Biodivers, Makhanda, South Africa.; Phaka, FM (corresponding author), Hasselt Univ, Ctr Environm Sci, Res Grp Zool Biodivers & Toxicol, Diepenbeek, Belgium. mafetap@gmail.com |
Keywords: | Environmental communication;ethnoherpetology;integrative conservation planning;indigenous knowledge systems;sustainable development goals | Document URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/1942/44285 | ISSN: | 1752-4032 | e-ISSN: | 1752-4040 | DOI: | 10.1080/17524032.2024.2395889 | ISI #: | 001300319600001 | Rights: | 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis GroupThis is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided theoriginal work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been publishedallow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent. | Category: | A1 | Type: | Journal Contribution |
Appears in Collections: | Research publications |
Files in This Item:
File | Description | Size | Format | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Wildlife in Vernacular as a Means for an Inclusive Environmental Sector and Community Engagement in South Africa.pdf | Early view | 723.64 kB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
Items in DSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.