| Abstract: |
| Worldwide, local farming, herding, forest and fishing producers and their
communities demonstrate deep expertise in ecoagriculture management, and are responsible for conserving millions of hectares of natural habitat within and beyond public protected areas. Recognition of this expertise is growing, but the global community needs to take further action to appreciate and learn from the ecoagriculture knowledge and innovation demonstrated by grassroots practitioners worldwide. A high degree of incompatibility remains between the holistic management approaches employed by communities to sustain inter-linked livelihood objectives, and the institutional environment within which they are constrained to operate. This chapter addresses priority actions required at the local, national and international levels to support, build upon and mobilize community-based ‘ecoagriculture’ expertise by respecting and building upon the existing knowledge base from the ‘bottom-up’, valuing and engaging local communities as true, equitable partners in decision-making processes |
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