Julia Prakofjewa

Local ecological knowledge is an essential element of the Alpine biocultural diversity and is often linked to minority languages. However, its continuity does not necessarily correspond to the persistence of these languages. This study investigates how knowledge of wild plants (and mushrooms) is transmitted and transformed among three minority-language communities in the Italian Alps: Cimbrian, Mòcheno, and Ladin speakers. Ethnobotanical data were collected through structured interviews between 2022 and 2025 and compared with historical records from the 1980s documenting the use of wild plants for food, medicinal purposes, and herbal teas. The results reveal a marked decline in traditional plant-related practices despite the continued use and institutional support of minority languages. Plants once central to household herbal repertoires, such as Achillea millefolium L., Artemisia absinthium L., and Sambucus nigra L. which are now marginal or abandoned. However, a limited set of herbal teas remains culturally significant. Conversely, mushroom foraging and the gathering of wild fruits remain comparatively resilient, supported mainly by communal land-use institutions ( usi civici ) that foster ecological engagement and intergenerational learning. Overall, the study highlights a paradox of biocultural resilience: linguistic vitality alone does not safeguard embodied ecological knowledge. Sustaining Alpine cultural and environmental heritage, therefore, requires integrated approaches that address language, environment, governance, and socio-economic change together.

Many global biodiversity datasets overlook or misrepresent the knowledge of Indigenous Peoples, Local Communities, and Afro-Descendants (IPLCAD). We propose minimum data and metadata standards for a global data infrastructure on biodiversity knowledge and use, co-designed with IPLCAD, including information on language, community attribution and consent, to ensure data traceability and ethical use. This initiative integrates ancestral and academic sciences to advance inclusive biodiversity governance, addressing historical inequities for global sustainability.

Hybrid knowledge systems are central to community negotiations of environmental, social, and epistemic pressures. In multilingual borderland areas, interac

Extreme climate events like droughts and floods are creating urgent challenges for sectors such as Agriculture or water management. Effective adaptation requires stakeholder collaboration, supported by stakeholder analysis (SA) methods, which are still evolving in environmental management. We briefly reviewed examples of recent existing systematic evidence syntheses on SA across different domains. This highlighted several SA challenges, including the lack of transparent, common methods—particularly for climate-induced extreme events—and weak links between SA results and policy or practice. We then present a case study that illustrates these challenges and suggests ways to address them. Cooperating with a local network organisation, the Living Lab Schouwen-Duiveland (LAB), we conducted a case study on the island of Schouwen-Duiveland (NL), which is trying to adapt to drought. Applying a novel stakeholder analysis method, the “Rings of involvement”, which enables the visualisation of stakeholders’ levels of affectedness regarding the issue, we were able to identify and categorise the stakeholder network in a systematic manner. We identified stakeholder groups, such as “Implementers”, who are not yet in the network but likely hold key practical knowledge to address local-regional climate adaptation. This calls for a better institutionalisation of and a more dynamic approach to SA in the local climate change adaptation practices. Based on our case study, we suggest that future studies could explore under which conditions a network organisation (such as the LAB) acts as a dynamic platform for facilitating stakeholder knowledge co-production.

Humanity might be in the midst of an epidemic of plant blindness (Parsley 2020; Jose et al. 2019; Krosnick et al. 2018). Plant blindness refers to the tendency of humans to perceive plants as one indistinguishable green background without differentiating any species or attributing any importance to plants. Yet, our food security depends on plants (Sõukand et al. 2021) and, even more, on our knowledge of how to use plants. To retain the knowledge accumulated through the generations, an urgent increase in interest in plants is needed. The method proposed here is based on our “Herbarium and Poetry workshop,” which took place in Venice (Italy) during the ONA Short Film Festival (2021). This method merges biodiversity learning and creative writing: in the first stage, participants take part in collecting and displaying dried herbarium specimens; second, they custom their sample by writing a “Little Elfje,” a short poem of 11 words that aims to describe their feeling for the natural elements. This practice was applied during an outdoor nature and adventure film festival, but it can be easily adapted to diverse purposes, including research, awareness raising, and connection to the local environment.

Human migration has driven transformative shifts in agricultural systems by reshaping how communities relate biologically and culturally to the land. Migration demands the reconfiguration of preexisting human–environment relationships, a process central to agricultural history. Understanding adaptation strategies is essential for land studies as it highlights the impact of cultural persistence on agricultural practices and the potential challenges in integrating migrant rural knowledge with local ecological systems. In the late 19th century, a significant migration wave occurred from the Veneto region in northeastern Italy to southern Brazil, significantly impacting Brazilian agri-food production. This study investigates the biocultural adaptation strategies employed by the first Veneto communities in their new Brazilian environment. Data for this research were derived from the letters sent by Veneto migrants from Brazil in the initial wave of Italian migration (1877–1894). Utilising Critical Discourse Analysis and Sentiment Analysis of migrants’ letters, we explored the Veneto settlers’ perceptions of the Brazilian landscape, agri-food production practices, and culinary traditions. Our findings show that the Brazilian environment was perceived as predominantly negative, particularly in the wilderness areas. The initial Venetian migrant settlement exhibited no genuine biocultural adaptation strategies. Instead, they deliberately resisted Brazilian influences, striving to reproduce Veneto’s agricultural model verbatim in their new surroundings. The study also opens a new trajectory in historical ethnobiology, thus suggesting new potential applications of the analysis of migrants’ letters.

Background: Bees have been important to people in Europe in many ways. Honey was the only sweetener available for a long time. The introduction of frame hives allowed for the collection of various hive products and better production of honey and wax. Only a few ethnomedicinal studies on apitherapy have been published in Europe, highlighting hive products that are collected, sold, or used by beekeepers. The aim of this article is to provide a general overview of apitherapy practiced by beekeepers in different corners of Europe, namely Estonia, Ukraine, and Italy. Methods: We analyzed material from field studies conducted in three selected countries. From 2020 to 2024, we interviewed 17 beekeepers in each country. The average beekeeper interviewed was 55 years old, had approximately 45 beehives and approximately 22 years of experience, and did beekeeping as a part-time job. We also made observations at regional fairs and markets, as well as noted products originating from beekeeping in shops and pharmacies. Results: The most well-known and popular apitherapy products in all three countries were honey, pollen, propolis, and royal jelly. Due to the increasing market demand for health-promoting products, beekeepers have started to enhance their products by mixing beekeeping products into honey, making tinctures, performing bee sting treatments, etc. However, strict regulations prohibit beekeepers from labeling their products with health-promoting information. In addition, a completely new trend has emerged: apitherapy tourism. However, Italian beekeepers did not collect or use specific products made in Ukraine and Estonia, such as dead bee tincture, honeycomb moth larva tincture, and drone brood homogenates, and did not make honey moonshine. Conclusions: The development of apitherapy in Europe has depended on the development of beehive types, the advancement of beekeeping technology, and new knowledge about the health-giving properties of beekeeping products (promoted in the literature and by institutions). As beekeeping is closely related to market demand, apitherapy tourism has emerged as a completely new economic branch and apitherapy is becoming increasingly important in providing relief from mental health issues. However, this requires an entirely new approach from beekeepers and clients using apitherapy.