methods of collecting the information are also different (Walters et al., 1998).
A significant amount of information can and should come from the
community. The ‘indigenous or local knowledge’ of resource users and other
community members (including women and elders) is critical information for
planning and management. As will be discussed, there are a number of tools
and methods available that involve the extensive participation of local
community members in gathering and analysing information and for obtaining
indigenous or local knowledge. The combination of scientific and local
knowledge can complement each other and greatly enhance the comanagement
planning and management programme. The collection of
information may take several weeks to several months depending upon the
scope and scale of information needs. All the information collected should be
kept in a small reference library so that it is available to all participants in the
co-management programme.
Some of the data to be used in the community profile should have been
collected during the preliminary community profile conducted in the
community entry and integration phase (see Chapter 6, Section 6.2.4).