Linking sustainable practices throughout Europe
► CONECT-E, a participatory online platform that documents and share traditional ecological knowledge in Spain
Rural topic(s): Local ecological knowledge, Herbs and health in rural areas
Type: Innovative experience
Date of writing: February 24, 2022
Summary:
CONECT-E (Compartiendo el CONocimiento ECológico Tradicional) which means “Sharing Traditional Ecological Knowledge” was created in 2017 in order to boost holders’ knowledge participation. It is a “Wiki-like online platform that plays a double role in the documentation and sharing of TEK in Spain”. (V. Reyes-García et al. 2021)
Although it includes the information collected in the mentioned inventory , its main difference is its participatory approach: “CONECT-e […]contributes to TEK documentation by allowing citizens’ to report their knowledge of wild and domesticated species. Registered users can contribute text (e.g., local names, uses, and management techniques), photos, and other materials (e.g., references). Users can also comment on information already published in the platform. To maintain the place-based nature of TEK, all information is geo-referenced. A team of experts validates information entered in the platform. Given that, in Spain, traditional knowledge holders are typically aged people with limited skills in the use of information and communication technologies, CONECT-e developed a school program to train students in documenting information provided by their elders and recording it in the platform. (V. Reyes-García et al. 2021).
In 2021, more than 900 users were registered and contributed to the documentation of 2930 wild plant species and 634 crop landraces, their description and main uses freely available but protected with a copyleft license.
It may also include references to Animals, Ecosystems management & Climate change knowledge -still depending on funding – but it already has the potential to become a complete open digital library on Traditional Agroecological Knowledge.
Notes:
Bibliography: Calvet-Mir, L.; Benyei, P.; Aceituno-Mata, L.; Pardo-de-Santayana, M.; López-García, D.; Carrascosa-García, M.; Perdomo-Molina, A.; Reyes-García, V. The Contribution of Traditional Agroecological Knowledge as a Digital Commons to Agroecological Transitions: The Case of the CONECT-e Platform
. Sustainability 2018, 10, 3214. doi.org/10.3390/su10093214
Reyes-García, Victoria & Benyei, Petra & Aceituno-Mata, Laura & Gras, Airy & Molina, Maria & Tardío, Javier & Pardo de Santayana, Manuel. (2021). Documenting and protecting traditional knowledge in the era of open science: Insights from two Spanish initiatives. Journal of ethnopharmacology. 278. 114295. 10.1016/j.jep.2021.114295. www.researchgate.net/publication/352223035_Documenting_and_protecting_traditional_knowledge_in_the_era_of_open_science_Insights_from_two_Spanish_initiative
Informations:
Scale of intervention : National
Keywords: traditional knowledge, safeguard of knowledge, Farmers Ecological Knowledge, biodiversity conservation, Biodiversity, local variety, medicinal and aromatic plants
Places: Spain
Actors: researcher/academic, inhabitants, rural population