Co-designing climate services to integrate traditional ecological knowledge

The document examines the integration of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) into climate services through the Tandem framework, using a case study of coffee and cacao farmers in Bali, Indonesia. It highlights the challenges of bridging technical meteorological data from the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency (BMKG) with local practices, such as the Sasih lunar calendar. The study argues that for climate adaptation to be effective, TEK must be treated as an equally legitimate knowledge system rather than just a data source for extraction. The implementation of the School of Climate and Living Tradition (SaLT) demonstrated that aligning scientific forecasts with TEK increases the legitimacy of technical information among farmers and empowers local communities.

• Coffee and cacao farmers in Bali face significant adaptation challenges as declining rainfall reduces crop quality and yields, rendering traditional seasonal calendars and past observations less reliable due to shifts in the timing and length of seasons.
• There is a fundamental tension between technical climate service providers and local farmers regarding the legitimacy of knowledge; technical experts often view TEK as ineffective in a changing climate, while farmers may distrust scientific information that does not align with their worldviews.
• The use of the Tandem framework and the subsequent School of Climate and Living Tradition (SaLT) enabled the integration of the Sasih (traditional Balinese lunar calendar) with BMKG's meteorological data, which increased the legitimacy of technical forecasts among farmers.
• The co-design process demonstrated that recognizing the validity of traditional knowledge systems is empowering for indigenous populations and is essential for building trust between service providers and users.
• A primary challenge in integrating TEK is the prevailing tendency in literature and practice to treat it merely as a data source to be extracted for formal science, rather than as a legitimate 'way of knowing' equal to technical knowledge.

APA

Biskupska, N., & Salamanca, A. (2020). Co-designing climate services to integrate traditional ecological knowledge. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/co-designing-climate-services-to-integrate-traditional-ecological-knowledge-a-case-study-from-bali-indonesia.pdf

Chicago

Biskupska, Natalia, and Albert Salamanca. Co-designing climate services to integrate traditional ecological knowledge. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2020. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/co-designing-climate-services-to-integrate-traditional-ecological-knowledge-a-case-study-from-bali-indonesia.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Biskupska |first1=Natalia |last2=Salamanca |first2=Albert |title=Co-designing climate services to integrate traditional ecological knowledge |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=October 2020 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/co-designing-climate-services-to-integrate-traditional-ecological-knowledge-a-case-study-from-bali-indonesia.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{biskupska2020codesigning, author = {Biskupska, Natalia and Salamanca, Albert}, title = {{Co-designing climate services to integrate traditional ecological knowledge}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2020}, month = oct, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/co-designing-climate-services-to-integrate-traditional-ecological-knowledge-a-case-study-from-bali-indonesia.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }