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NATURE CONSERVATION AND TRADITIONAL ECOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE 139 plough-fields (Agnoletti 2007; M. Biró et al. 2013; Forejt et al. 2017). Partly owing to the abandonment of traditional land use, Western Europe has areas whence traditional ecological knowledge has practically completely disappeared (Rotherham 2007: 100; É.Biró et al. 2014). It can also be stated in general that, based on their long-term cooperation, the relationship between human beings and the landscape is gradually changing, getting weaker and weaker even in rural settlements throughout the world (Buijs et al. 2006). The latter situation is particularly perilous because it leads to the dissipation of the sense of responsibility even among those who live with natural values (Anderson 2005; Ewaso Lions, http 2). Research of traditional ecological knowledge and its application in nature conservation In the past decades, a new possibility and a new challenge have emerged worldwide to enhance the efficiency of the management of nature conservation: taking into consideration the traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) of the biosphere and the ecological processes, and applying it in both strategic and practical decisions, as this knowledge also constitutes part of natural and cultural diversity (Berkes et al. 2000:1251; Hernändez-Morcillo et al. 2014; Sutherland et al. 2014; Schmeller — Bridgewater 2016). Traditional ecological knowledge forms part of traditional knowledge of nature, as defined by Hungarian ethnographic literature (Hoppäl 1982: 271). Its most widely accepted definition is that of Fikret Berkes (Berkes 2008: 3): “It is knowledge, practical experience, and a set of beliefs about the relationships among living beings (including humans), and between beings and their environment, which emerges in processes of adaptation and is transmitted through generations as part of their culture.” Zs. Molnar et al. (2008: 14-27) added the following to this definition: “In Hungary, in the middle of Europe, where science and urban knowledge have long been influencing the knowledge and value system of the peasantry, we use the following definition: it is personal knowledge, experience, beliefs about the surrounding naturalagrarian landscape, its flora and fauna and about the influence of human activity on the landscape and its biome; it is based on several decades of personal natural, agricultural experiences but also incorporates collective elements of centuries-old knowledge; it is basically independent of science and is also connected to the rites of social life.” It is an important feature of TEK that certain of its elements (its beliefs and worldview) remain almost unchanged, while several components of practical knowledge change dynamically with the incessant change of the environment, being enlarged with newer and newer elements of knowledge (Menzier — Butler 2006: 1-17). TEK basically consists of four organically related parts: — general knowledge (facts and knowledge of the animate and inanimate natural environment), — practical experience (of landscape use, agricultural practice and experience), — beliefs (worldview and value system),
