BEKIS in Gleaning: Biodiversity and Ecological Knowledge Integration for Sustainability in Gleaning

Gleaning is an integral part of Filipino coastal communities' way of life, yet its role and value is often overlooked. The practice provides supplemental income and nourishment when catches are declining due to overfishing and unsustainable practices. Gleaning has become increasingly popular, with most studies focused on its economic, social, and ecological aspects. The team of BEKIS in Gleaning aims to reconnect local communities to their knowledge and cultural practices, discuss responses and effects of local biodiversity, and renegotiate climate change adaptations from diverse perspectives.

In many coastal communities, fishing strategies range from artisanal subsistence, small-scale to large-scale commercial fishing, but one fishing strategy’s role and value are often overlooked: Gleaning. In the Philippines, the practice of gleaning or locally known as “panginhas”, “panghihibas” or “pamumulot” has been integral to many coastal communities' way of life.

Over the years, the need for gleaning as supplemental to other forms of fishing and increasing participation of men has been observed. The previous studies on the importance of coastal gleaning have been focused on its economic values, food security and nutrition, coastal resource management, and gender. There have been minimal to no studies on the transmission of its local ecological knowledge. Most studies have focused on the impact of gleaning on invertebrate populations, structural habitat destruction, and changes in ecological community structures and relationships.

This residency project examines the relationship of local ecological knowledge and biodiversity using the framework of Biocultural Diversity to reconnect local communities to their knowledge and cultural practices under threat.