EWA - The Ethno-ornithology World Archive

鸟类激励着人们，他们的文化和信仰。与其他野生动物相比，这些声音响亮、色彩斑斓、魅力十足的动物更能激发人类的想象力。与鸟类有关的神话、故事和宗教习俗在许多文化中都根深蒂固，从向喜鹊敬礼到在青藏高原的宗教葬礼中依靠秃鹫。与此同时，鸟类为社区和与它们共享的环境提供了必要的服务。鸟类可以作为传粉者或种子传播者，但也吃农田害虫，造福人类。不同种类鸟类的存在和数量也可以作为它们栖息的自然环境状况的指标。由于人们对鸟类的兴趣，志愿观鸟者比志愿记录其他生物命运的人要多得多。通过数千名志愿者参与的“公民科学”方法，我们能够以其他动植物无法想象的方式监测全国范围内鸟类分布和数量的变化。因此，鸟类在保护和生物多样性研究中具有重要意义。鸟类的环境和文化意义可以结合在一起，为社区及其文化服务，帮助保护研究，保护文化和生物多样性。许多人对鸟类的了解不是基于科学，而是基于对它们周围世界的文化理解。这方面的知识大部分没有文献记载，但其有效性不亚于科学知识。能够分享这些知识可以给社区带来灵感，让他们意识到他们的知识和鸟类是重要的。它可以增强那些在世界上没有发言权的人的权能，使他们的地方或传统知识的价值得到全球社区的认可和重视。但是，获得这种认可的机会很少，传统和地方生态知识（TEK和LEK）在互联网上也不存在。个别社区已经与当地的保护组织接触，并参与社区保护项目。一种分享当地知识和信息的方式对于成功的社区参与和建立当地对自然项目的自豪感至关重要。互联网被认为是在全球范围内接触全球受众和分享信息的最强大手段。它的潜力在不断增长。EWA项目直接与我们的项目合作伙伴国际鸟盟（Birdlife International）合作，该组织是世界上最大的保护合作组织，在126个国家拥有合作伙伴，特别是其当地赋权计划（Local Empowerment Programme），旨在通过创建一个开放的鸟类文化知识数据库，将当地社区和研究人员团体联系起来，个人、社区和研究人员都可以免费访问。我们将与社区和当地组织合作，帮助保护当地故事、神话或鸟类名称等中丰富的文化多样性。通过鼓励个人、社区领袖或地方组织提交故事、歌曲录音或艺术品或文化文物照片等数据，我们将建立一个档案，帮助展示许多社区固有的丰富文化和自然遗产。通过将文化和生物信息联系起来，特别是通过基于网络的《活着的鸟类手册》（山猫版项目合作伙伴），我们将实现保护主义者和当地居民之间更大程度的融合，包括更好地了解包括土著社区在内的所有利益相关者的文化，并促进对与自然关系密切的人们的文化多样性的庆祝。就项目伙伴关系而言，该项目是及时的，但也很紧急，因为TEK和LEK是口头传播的，往往由老年人持有，并且每天都在下降。

Birds inspire people, their cultures and faiths. More than any other wild animals, these vocal, colourful and charismatic creatures fuel human imagination. Myths, stories and religious practices connected to birds are engrained in many cultures, from saluting magpies to relying on vultures in religious burial practices of the Tibetan plateau. At the same time, birds provide essential services to communities and the environment they share with them. Birds may act as pollinators or seed dispersers, but also eat farmland pests, benefiting humans.The presence and abundance of different kinds of birds can also act as an indicator for the state of the natural environment that they inhabit. Because of their interest to people, there are many more volunteer birdwatchers than their are volunteers to document the fortunes of any other creatures. Through 'Citizen Science' approaches involving thousands of volunteers, we are therefore able to monitor changes in bird distributions and numbers on a national scale in ways that would be inconceivable for other animals or plants. Birds are therefore of great importance to conservation and biodiversity research. The environmental and cultural significance of birds can be integrated together to serve communities and their cultures, aid conservation research, and preserve both cultural and biological diversity.Many people possess knowledge of birds that is not rooted in scientific, but in cultural understanding of the world around them. This knowledge is largely undocumented, but is no less valid than scientific knowledge. Being able to share that knowledge can bring inspiration to communities in the realisations that their knowledge, and birds, are important. It can be empowering for people who otherwise might not have a voice in the world, to have the value of their local or traditional knowledge recognised and valued by a global community. But opportunities for such recognition are few, and for Traditional and Local Ecological Knowledge (TEK and LEK), do not exist on the Internet. Individual communities already engage with local conservation organisations and get involved in community conservation projects. A means of sharing the local lore and information can be crucial for successful community involvement, and to build local pride in nature projects.The Internet is recognised as the most powerful means to access a global audience and share information on a global scale. Its potential is constantly growing. Working directly with our Project Partner, Birdlife International, the largest conservation collaborative in the world with partners in 126 countries, and especially its Local Empowerment Programme, the EWA project aims to connect local communities and groups of researchers by creating an open database of cultural knowledge about birds, free to access by individuals, communities and researchers. We will work with communities, as well as local organisations to help preserve the rich cultural diversity present in local stories, myths, or names of birds etc. By encouraging individuals, community leaders or local organisations to submit data such as stories, recordings of songs, or photographs of works of art or cultural artefacts, we will build an archive that will help to bring out the rich cultural and natural heritage inherent in many communities.By linking cultural and biological information, especially through the web-based Handbook of Birds Alive (Lynx Edicions Project Partner) we will achieve a greater integration between conservationists and local people on-the-ground, including greater understanding of the cultures of all stakeholders, including indigenous communities, and to promote the celebration of the cultural diversity of people living in a close relationship with nature. The project is timely in relation to the project partnership, but it is also urgent because TEK and LEK, which is transmitted orally, tends to be held by ageing people and declines daily.