Insights and Applications Local Soil Knowledge: A Tool for Sustainable Land Management

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Abstract
Local soil knowledge is an important source of information when designing sustain able land management strategies. Local people's insights, perceptions, and manage ment 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 ethno graphical literature, nomenclature descriptions, and more utilitarian writing. I then offer suggestions for future local soil knowledge studies, broadening local soil know ledge 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 high light how local soil knowledge can be an effective tool in sustainable land manage ment.