Bi-cultural Ecology Research Education Plan

The aims of this project are to work with the Waorani Nation in the north eastern Ecuadorian Amazon, a region recognized as a biodiversity hotspot, to develop bi-cultural ecology curriculum for secondary school students. 

In 67 interviewees I conducted in 16 communities during the summer of 2009, the majority of Waorani said they are noticing that resources were becoming scarce and they are concerned by this. The majority think this scarcity is caused by overhunting by non-Waorani, and by Waorani use of rifles and sale of meat.  Furthermore, the majority are concerned that Waorani youth are forgetting their culture and know less about the forest. Several are concerned the next generation will be less interested in living sustainably in their forests and may decide instead to move to the cities and sell the resources.  However, all value western education and want their children to go to university.

Considering the overwhelming support for education, a key first step towards sustainable development for the Waorani and their forest could be to develop and implement ecology curriculum that lays the foundation for all Waorani to assess, understand and actively manage their natural resources under conditions of scarcity.

I propose to pilot an in situ ecology course in a Waorani community that:

1. places emphasis on student directed scientific inquiry to address community resource and sustainability concerns, and
2. aims to redefine the current rigid formal schooling structure to incorporate traditional methods of transmitting cultural knowledge according to community objectives.

The course will be offered in the High School of Keweri-ono, a Waorani community located in the Rio Shiripuno, starting September 1, 2010 and finishing July 30, 2011.

There is a lot of interest among the Waorani in developing field guides for reptiles, amphibians, fish, birds, mammals and arthropods in the Waorani territory that can be used as teaching materials in Waorani schools. We would like to help the students conduct research which could contribute to these guides, as well as research which could contribute to baseline data for long term monitoring.

~Ciara Wirth

Map of Waorani Territory (Territorio Waorani), the Yasuni National Park (Parque Nacional Yasuni), and the Intangible Zone (Zona Intangible Tagaeri-Taromenane).  The location of Keweriono is highlighted by a red circle

PURPOSE

The prospects of future sustainable resource use in Waorani Territory are largely contingent on the education received by Waorani youth. 

 Formal Schooling as a Threat

Formal schooling has been a nexus for most major social transformations in Waorani Territory.  To give their children formal schooling, families have become sedentary and communities have become more populous.  Early in the introduction of formal schooling, pupils were taught how to lead “civilized” lives, and their families were encouraged to work for petroleum companies to make the money needed to buy the commercial items implied by a civilized lifestyle. Under this new system of education, youth sit inside a classroom for six hours a day and memorize facts and theory instead of instead of trekking in the forests with their families and learning by observing and doing.

      This model of formal schooling disconnects pupils from their natural environment and severs the chain of traditional knowledge being passed on to the next generation.  As a result, many youth now are missing the in depth firsthand knowledge of the forests as well as the inherited knowledge from their elders.  This change in experience and knowledge could render Waorani youth less able to: perceive resource scarcity, determine the drivers of scarcity; monitor the efficacy of any resource management actions aimed at promoting sustainable use.  Disconnected both culturally and physically from the forests, Waorani youth may be less interested in living in the forest and in maintaining forest diversity.

Waorani secondary school students marching in an end of the year school ceremony

Education as an Asset

While education is currently diminishing cultural integrity, it is also the greatest possibility for stemming the negative effects of acculturation and facilitating sustainable resource management in Waorani Territory.  Considering the overwhelming Waorani support for formal schooling, a key first step towards sustainability for the Waorani could be to develop and implement an ecology curriculum that lays the foundation for all Waorani to assess, understand, and actively manage their natural resources under their present conditions of limited resources. 

      The formal schooling system could be reformed so that the value of local knowledge is emphasized and reinforced in class.  Scientific inquiry could be used to compliment traditional knowledge in order to understand and adapt to conditions of resource scarcity.  Instructors could encourage Waorani to conduct research within their territory that would be relevant and useful for informing resource use decisions.  For example, students could learn how to apply their observations in the field to answer ecological questions such as sustainable levels of harvest. 

      If education reform is attempted and has community buy in, the results of scientific investigations could work to promote the community consensus needed to realize collective action.  Essentially, an education program that provides the understanding and tools to inform and begin to answer important questions about resource scarcity has the potential to be the platform on which consensus can be built to address these concerns. 

Waorani youth looking through Matthew Herrings binoculars

Bicultural Ecology Education Pilot Project

Parents in the Association of Keweri-ono say they value western education and want their children to go to university, but they also value their culture and want youth to learn it and carry it on.  The Association of Keweri-ono is also concerned about maintaining the biodiversity of their forests and they have established an area of conservation near the Waorani Eco-lodge as well as prohibited the sale of meat in an effort to start addressing these concerns. 

Considering the overwhelming support for education, we think that a key first step towards sustainable development for the Waorani and their forest is to develop and implement ecology curriculum that lays the foundation for all Waorani to assess, understand and actively manage their natural resources under conditions of scarcity. The community of Keweri-ono has chosen collaborate with Tropic and Ciara Wirth to pilot an in situ ecology course in their secondary school that:

1. places emphasis on student directed scientific inquiry to address community resource and sustainability concerns, and
2. aims to redefine the current rigid formal schooling structure to incorporate traditional methods of transmitting cultural knowledge according to community objectives.

Bebanka teaching her granddaughter to weave a chigra

THE PROJECT

Ciara Wirth will collaborate with approximately 25 secondary school Waorani students (students are 16-23 years of age) and their families in the community of Keweri-ono to teach a yearlong ecology research course and refine a culturally sensitive ecology curriculum.  The students will provide feedback and input at all steps of the process, and the community determines how they want traditional ecological knowledge taught in the context of contemporary ecology.

Inspired by the Organization of Tropical Studies (OTS) education model, they have invited professional experts in the field to aid the students on the first stages of their research projects. Depending on the time availability of the visiting experts, each visit could be anywhere from 3 days to a week or more. 

Student Learning Objectives:

  I.  Student Led Scientific Inquiry: To guide Waorani youth through the process of scientific inquiry and aid in their own experimentation utilizing the scientific method.

1.  Be able to articulate interests and concerns into a testable research question.

2.  Be able to design and develop methodology to test the question

3.  Be able to collect and enter data relevant to the question that can be analyzed

a.   Take organized and pertinent field notes

b.   Gain some familiarity with Excel and organize data to prepare for analysis.

4.  Begin to analyze the data using basic statistics

5.  Be able to interpret the results of their analysis and to discuss the application and relevance of their results

6.  Be able to present and explain their research project and their results

a.  in a manner that is engaging and understandable to their peers, their families and their community.

b.  in a professional setting.

7.  Learn how to structure and write a professional research paper.

  I. Two-way Knowledge Transfer: To reconnect the transmission of knowledge from elders and parents to children and youth, and facilitate the transmission of knowledge from children and youth to elders and parents. 

1.  Students can determine the natural resource questions considered important and relevant to the community. 

2.  Students can communicate what they have learned to their elders and community.

3.  This emphasis on reconnecting communication between elders and youth should allow Waorani youth to regain pride in their traditional ecological knowledge.

The Desired Long-term Consequences of This Project are to:

1.  Foster pride in, and respect for, Waorani traditional knowledge

2.  Empower Waorani to conduct research within their territory critical for informing community resource use decisions.

a.  Citizen science – start with teaching the students, and students train the members of the community, and the members of the community can be invited back to teach the next group of students, as well as conduct their own research.

3.  Initiate community level dialogue on what constitutes appropriate resource use and what should be done if these agreements are violated

4.  Prompt community level dialogue on the social structures necessary to initiate resource management.

PROJECT SUSTAINABITLIY

This project will be realized with close coordination with TROPIC Journeys in Nature (www.tropiceco.com), an award winning sustainable ecotourism company that has been working with the community of Keweriono for 14 years.  Tropic will help secure funding for the continuation of this course for years to come, however continuation hinges on community interest and buy-in.  Three months worth of consultation leads us to believe there is more than enough community interest to keep this project going.

HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED

Donate/Sponsor a Book

We are trying to build up a community library and will be constantly updating a book wish-list.    The Association would greatly appreciate your donation of one of these books to the community library.

This will be the first library in Waorani territory with a comprehensive collection of texts and videos published about the Waorani.  We would also like to add a complete set of relevant Neotropical field guides. As students identify other topics of interest we will locate appropriate texts and add them to the wish-list

Sponsor Lab Equipment

We will start this pilot project with limited equipment and hope that we can acquire sufficient funds through grants and donations to complete the lab.  We will also compile and continuously update an equipment wish list and we would appreciate any donations you can make to the lab.

Donate to the General Education Fund

We would like to be able to take the students on field trips to other parts of Waorani territory to conduct their experiments in regions with differing topographies, as well as to allow them to exchange with the secondary school students in other communities. Through these exchanges they can gain practice explaining their work to their peers and teaching what they have learned.  They can also learn from peers who are more familiar with Waorani culture, as well as from elders they are not able to interact with frequently due to geographical distance.  Donations to this fund will be used to cover various travel costs for students and visiting faculty, as well as miscellaneous project expenses related to travel and infrastructure. All expenditures will be catalogued and transparent upon request.   

Volunteer Tourism Opportunities

If you enjoy a hands-on experience, the students can train you to collect data for one of their projects occurring during your visit to the Waornai Eco-Lodge.  This exchange will give the students practice explaining their project and your interest in the project will help validate the worth of their work.  Some examples of possible ongoing class projects are included below:

Waorani Ecotoursim

• Students can interview ecotourists to see what species they want to see, what would make them come back, what they liked, what they didn´t etc. etc., with a view to the Waorani establishing further ecotourism venture.
• Student can measure the impacts of ecotourists on the environment with a view to minimizing them in the future.

Camera Trap

• What kinds of animals are found in the Waorani Conservation area? Are any animal populations increasing over time after the hunting prohibition?

Waorani Hunting

• What does the community hunt now? Where do they hunt?  How did they decide to hunt there? What decisions do they make when they select animals to hunt? What weapons do they use to hunt and why?
• Does the community perceive changes in prey abundance? In which species? How has abundance change? Why do they think abundance changed? How do they think populations can be boosted and restored? What do they think they should do personally?  What do they think the community should do?

Population Monitoring of Species

• What is the current baseline population data for species of cultural and consumptive value in their community?
• Which primates species increase in abundance with increasing distance from communities?  
• Transects at varying distances from communities.

Water contamination - Identifying indicator species

• What indicator species could be studied to reliably and inexpensively assess water quality?
• Does water quality effect germination and growth of ….. plant species?  
• Using pots (incl. replication with controls and varying levels of treatment), irrigate with contaminated water (e.g. soap, detergent, fuel). 

Community resource monitoring methods preference

• How do the students think the community should use the results of the monitoring data? 
• How does the community think the research results should be used?  
• What could a Waorani resource management structure look like today?

Traditional ecological knowledge - Documenting within the community

• The community decides what should be documented and how it can be documented to serve their needs

Developing Community Guide Books

• Start developing guide books for birds, reptiles, amphibians, mammals, and fish found in the region. These books will contain both western and traditional ecological knowledge about the species and will be printed for use by the Waorani communities, especially in primary and secondary schools.
• What are the breeding habitat requirements of Hoatzin
• Compare habitat characteristics where colonies occur to randomly selected non-Hoatzin colony sites.
• What are the most important Toucan feeding tree species?
• Stratify sampling of forest based on vegetation type and identify every tree species Toucans are recorded feeding in.
• How do climatic conditions affect the activity and behavior of ….. reptile species?
• Stratify surveying based on different conditions.
• Which frog species are restricted to wetlands?
• Sample a range of wetland and non-wetland habitats.

• Start developing guide books for plants utilized by the Waorani. These will also be printed for use by the Waorani communities, especially in primary and secondary schools.
• Photograph, collect, and process insects found in and around the community. The community will decide where to store their collection. Any new species found can be named by the students.

Project Coordinators

Ciara Wirth

ciara.f.wirth@gmail.com

During the summers of 2008-2010 (spanning 7 months in total) Ciara Wirth collaborated with 3 Waorani communities in the Ecuadorian Amazon to realize community resource maps (using PGIS methods) and she conducted interviews in 16 Waorani communities regarding individual objectives for culture retention, education/formal schooling outcomes, natural resource use, and territory defense. 

She has decided to coordinate this project because she thinks education reform is critical if Waorani are going to be able to fulfill their objectives of maintaining their culture and the biodiversity of their forests, as well as preparing for university.  It is critical that this reform occurs soon because there are few elders left.

With a double bachelors degree in Biology and Environmental Sciences and Policy from Duke University, Ciara has gained practical expertise with a breadth of field methods – mist netting, bird banding, turtle tagging, small mammal trapping, horizontal and vertical vegetation profiles, canopy cover profiles, and plot surveys and line transects for birds, insects, plants, and small mammals – many of which she proposes to use as part of this education platform. While she is not an expert in taxonomy, she has some experience identifying insect orders, Neotropical plant families, and bird species.  Although her most recent work has been focused in the Neotropics, she has studied ecology and conservation projects in the United States – California and North Carolina – and around the globe – Carriacou of Greneda, Trinidad, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, South Africa, Rwanda, Tanzania, Baja Mexico, Costa Rica, Ecuador. This breadth of experience should help inform this current project.

Matthew Herring

mherring@murraywildlife.com.au

Matthew Herring is a wildlife ecologist based in Australia with over 13 years experience working at the landscape scale. He has worked on a broad range of ecological research projects, such as the breeding habitat requirements of brolgas, the role of mistletoe as a keystone resource, prioritizing environmental flows in wetlands on farms, and the response of woodland birds to Eucalypt plantations. He has been employed by the Institute for Land Water and Society at Charles Sturt University, the Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries (Forests), and is Director of Murray Wildlife Pty Ltd, an independent consultancy specializing in wetland ecology, conservation and community education. After graduating from Charles Sturt University with first class honors in 2001, Matthew has worked closely with more than 3000 landholders, applying a community wildlife survey and engagement model across 3 million hectares in the Murray River region. Together with various other landscape-scale projects, he has established and surveyed more than 1000 biodiversity study sites across 650 farms and public reserves. He has published more than 30 papers, books and booklets, mostly as the lead author. He has also reviewed papers and books for Ecological Management and Restoration and Australian Zoologist. He has conducted more than 230 conference presentations, seminars, field days, forums and workshops pertaining to biodiversity, ecology and conservation. He spent 3 months in Ecuador in 2009 with a view to establishing a long term sustainable development project with the Waorani.

Matthew is planning on collaborating on the bi-cultural ecology education project in Keweri-ono for two months in 2010 and a month in 2011.  He can focus on birds and reptiles