Ethnobiology's Contributions to Sustainability Science

Abstract

Progress toward the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is insufficient at a global scale. A thorough and interdisciplinary understanding of barriers and levers to sustainability, including synergies and trade-offs between SDGs, is utterly important but still limited. Ethnobiology is often advocated as a key discipline to address this research gap. We conducted a systematic literature review to explore (i) the visibility of ethnobiology within sustainability science, (ii) how ethnobiology understands the notion of sustainability, (iii) if ethnobiology literature on sustainability issues engages differently with nonacademic knowledge and people compared to other types of ethnobiology research, and (iv) which SDGs are addressed (explicitly or implicitly) by ethnobiology. Our study reveals a minimal overlap between sustainability science and ethnobiology literature. The articles reviewed never mention the SDGs explicitly, but often address them implicitly. Reviewed ethnobiological articles addressed themes of relevance to almost all SDGs, especially the linkages between SDGs 1–3 and 15, but always implicitly. Biodiversity's understanding (SDG 15) provides the basis for culture and Indigenous and local knowledge and ensures communities’ food security (SDG 2), health and well-being (SDG 3), and prosperity (SDG 1). We found that ethnobiology does not examine sustainability through the lens of the global sustainability agenda, and that knowledge coproduction processes are rarely reported. While ethnobiology demonstrates its relevance to address SDGs and contribute to transformative change, this potential is not fully realized because of a persisting decoupling between place-based research and global sustainability frameworks.