Local Ecological Knowledge and the Sustainable Co-Management of Sierra Nevada’s Social-Ecological System

Local ecological knowledge systems have been the basis of Sierra Nevada’sSierra Nevadasocial-ecological systemSocial-ecological system, which has co-evolved over more than ten centuries until nowadays, based on the knowledge, practices, and innovations deriving from the relationship between people and the ecosystems on which they depend. In Sierra NevadaSierra Nevada, this co-evolution is greatly influenced by the traditional water managementTraditional water management system, generating a “cultural landscapeCultural landscape.” However, during the twentieth-century Sierra NevadaSierra Nevada’s social-ecological systemSocial-ecological system was affected by diverse drivers of changeDrivers of change such as climateClimatechangeClimate change, rural exodus, land-use change, and conservationConservation government policies, which are threatening its stability and the transmission of the related local ecological knowledge. Local ecological knowledge on water management, traditional agricultural systems, and knowledge related to grazing and cattle raising should be included in the co-managementAdaptive co-management of the territory and representatives of this knowledge should be involved and collaborate with administration and researchers developing adaptive plants to reduce negative impacts of global changeGlobal change.