Traditional ecological knowledge of farmers about soil and weather in the valley "Grosses Walsertal" and in Western Styria about the interaction between poeple and their environment

Agriculture and forestry strongly depend on the perception, interpretation and the reaction of the local resource managers to eco-systematic processes. Soil and weather are the central conditions in determining the location of agriculture and forestry. Perception, interpretation and reaction of farmers to soil and climate are in close connection with specific local experience. The local knowledge of farmers concerning ecological systems has been only rarely a subject of research in industrialized countries. This research project should improve the understanding of the local systems of knowledge and experience and therefore of the interactive human-environment relation. This is especially important for organic farming where the manipulation of the agroecosystems through external input is limited due to the standards and principles. It is the aim of the research project to make available the local knowledge of farmers and other local experts about soil and weather in the study areas. By using qualitative and quantitative methods of ethnobiology in the selected regions, the research should be able to answer the following questions: · which type of knowledge about soil and weather is available, · to which values and attitudes is it connected, · how does it influence the behavior of local people in their management of natural resources, · within which institutional network / context does it exist, · which dynamics is the local system of knowledge (points 1-4) exposed to, · which differences and congruencies exist between local knowledge/behavior and scientific knowledge. Finally, local knowledge will be assessed regarding its potential for the sustainable use of natural resources, and the possible areas of its integration into regional concepts of land-use will be identified.