Local soil knowledge: A tool for sustainable land management

Local soil knowledge is an important source of information when designing sustainable land management strategies. Local people's insights, perceptions, and management strategies are often attuned to local soil conditions and can offer guidance for realistic land management. This article reviews the existing literature on local soil knowledge and suggests ways it can be used more effectively in sustainable land management. I discuss three genres of local soil knowledge writing: the ethnographical literature, nomenclature descriptions, and more utilitarian writing. I then offer suggestions for future local soil knowledge studies, broadening local soil knowledge to include the knowledge of physical processes, linking soil knowledge with socioeconomic context, and integrating local with scientific knowledge through the use of participatory methodologies for future research. These suggestions will highlight how local soil knowledge can be an effective tool in sustainable land management.