Fund of Knowledge and Experience

Every society is the outcome of its history. Over millennia and generations, humans have developed techniques to adapt to their natural environment and have established rules to regulate relations among individuals and groups. The fund of knowledge and experience refers to the understanding people have of their natural and social environments and to technology they have developed to exploit the resources their culture defines as relevant. The study of people in different places and at different times reveals the great diversity of strategies adopted to confront the challenges of an uncertain environment. Technologies, economies, political organizations and institutions, and social arrangements have varied through time and across space. These varying cultural histories have shaped the way people perceive and interact with their environment. Recognizing these long-term determinants is essential to predicting potential responses to current environmental changes. It is also a reminder that humans have always defined and perceived nature in cultural terms.



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