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ChaPTER 5
Lesson 5 - Returning information to the families and communities creates bonds with the system The structuring of SiMUR allows, for example, Mr. Joca (fictitious name) to receive regular reports on the number of turtles that he has consumed and the number of bags of manioc flour he produced in the past six months (or other time scales), among other types of data. This same process takes place at the community level through reports delivered to local leadership. This return of data to the place where it was generated creates a sense of belonging and collaboration with the system and helps to make families more aware of their own importance in the generation of knowledge about the region where they live. The real appreciation of traditional knowledge occurs when this knowledge generates benefits for the families who possess the knowledge. The focus of SiMUR is to compile this knowledge and make it available for use by members of the communities. Lesson 6 – From the field protocols to the database Some monitoring systems have their compromised efficiency because they do not have an effective strategy for managing data and information. The volume of data generated in long-term systems is substantial. In five years, for example, at least 62,800 records were compiled into the SiMUR database, considering natural resources, agricultural products and fauna of conservation intesrest. This corresponds to at least 12,560 new records each year. Maintaining the proper management of such a large volume of data is a constant challenge. A fundamental aspect of SiMUR is the development of simple and relatively complete interview protocols for the purpose of monitoring. These protocols are fully integrated into a database based on a simpe relational database model. Much of the work of SiMUR is devoted to the management and maintenance of this database. Thus, in designing of a long-term and largescale system, the development of a strategy for information management including costs involved in this aspect of monitoring, is of fundamental importance.
Documentos técnicos FVA 1 / FVA Technical Papers 1 - 2014
Lesson 7 - From knowledge to decision-making It is necessary to increase the speed and efficiency at which the data and information generated by SiMUR is communicated to users. At the moment, the management of SiMUR data takes too long to ensure that the data is of sufficient quality for analyses. The process for managing and ensuring data quality, in the end, reduces the time available for data analysis and reduces availability of the data to users. It is also important to use the opportunities that already available to discuss the management of natural resources, such as council meetings managers and community meetings. Creation of new spaces and opportunites to discuss resource use at the scale of individual communities could also be an interesting and strategic activity. Lesson 8 – Broadening the scope of SiMUR users and beneficiaries The main beneficiaries of SiMUR are the local residents, managers of conservation units and FVA researchers. However, SiMUR is also a rare example of a high quality database on the patterns of natural resource use that could potentially be accessed by other users who come forward as partners of the system. External researchers are among the potential users/ beneficiaries. As our ability to analyse the SiMUR database does not usually match our ability to generate data during SiMUR surveys, researchers could potentially play an important role by performing analyses and publishing results. It is important to clarify, however, that SiMUR data belong to the group of actors that generate it and that any use of it must be linked to prior and informed consent given by the community and endorsed by the boards of conservation units. The technicians involved in SiMUR’s management are discussing the implementation of a policy about information access that would facilitate the process of analysis by collaborating researchers and that ensures transparency and ethical use of these data.