Exploring how ‘indigenous’ knowledge about wildlife and fire regimes can be aggregated using CyberTracker co-creating datadriven landscape management supporting Rewilding.
Sicily holds huge potential for rewilding actions. However, two essential factors are lacking: (1) a qualitative, up to date, open access database for wildlife populations and (2) ‘pro-Rewilding’culture practiced by the public, researchers and decision makers supporting rewilding in the long-term. The method and tool ‘CyberTracker’ might hold an impactful response to those needs: it is a software application and methodology used for field data collection and management in wildlife conservation, and cultural heritage documentation valuing local tracker’s skills and knowledge. The involved citizen scientists – hunters, shepherds and forestry service, heavily marginalized, but with great skills and knowledge about wildlife, tracking and fire regimes of the territory – represent the keeper of Sicily’s ‘indigenous’ knowledge. The specific objectives of ‘Sicily’s Indigenous CyberTrackers’ are (1) the establishment of the CyberTracker database customized for Sicily (2) the integration of marginalized target groups and valorization of their indigenous knowledge (3) and the creation of dialogue with researchers and decision makers on eye level.
