Socio‐Ecological Learning in the Context of Riparian Vegetation Management: Insights From a Historical Analysis of Community Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices in the Rwizi Catchment, Uganda

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ABSTRACT Lived experiences from past environmental events can promote societal learning from ecological systems, known as Socio‐Ecological Learning (SEL). SEL occurs when new Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAP) develop from these experiences. However, research has rarely documented SEL through a historical KAP perspective. This study uses Social Ecological Systems Theory and Social Learning Theory to evaluate SEL in riparian vegetation management, focusing on a historical KAP analysis in the Rwizi catchment. Participatory Rural Appraisal protocols were developed to stimulate discussions among participants about what has been learned from 1992 to 2022. Village transect walks and historical timelines were used to collect data from study participants. The findings reveal complex interactions in the Rwizi catchment, marked by causality, feedback, nonlinearity, heterogeneity, and cross‐scale dynamics. The knowledge of participants about riparian vegetation has evolved over time, shaped by various events stemming from unsustainable human activities. Attitudes have shifted from viewing riparian zones as unlimited to viewing them as finite and vulnerable. Although they understand sustainable management practices, they have hardly applied them on a community‐wide scale. Lessons show complex, interdependent interactions in socio‐ecological systems, as riparian vegetation pressures from community‐resource interactions reveal causality, feedbacks, heterogeneity, nonlinearity, and cross‐scale dynamics. Over time, SEL in riparian management has been achieved, seen in knowledge sharing, attitude change, and sustainable practices among Rwizi catchment communities.

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