Better understanding of the importance and role of local and indigenous communities’ s knowledge and engagement

Local and indigenous communities hold significant knowledge and understandings of both the consequences of land degradation and on solutions to overcome/reverse land degradation. The importance of these communities’ knowledge is not well accepted and not well included in restoration decision making, planning and implementation or in policy documents which aim to avoid, reduce and reverse land degradation. Traditional knowledge and practices, developed from centuries of connections to, close associations with and understandings of land and water can provide solutions to improve the state of degradation and enhance restoration of landscapes. However, such solutions which can operate at local levels are, more often than not, unrecognised or included and considered when seeking viable solutions. Judy Fisher