How is indegenous knowledge utilised to address scientific issues

[wandile kallipa]

I have this question to ask with regards to the lack of the utilisation of indegenous knowledge to address scientific issues. It appears to me that women and men of science are living in a different planet than the one all human being are living in. I would be happy to know if there are any steps taken in this direction in other areas of the globe. In South Africa a process has been started to work this out.

[d green]

check out some of the work that uses indigenous knowledge to inform climate change work. Arctic communities are the furthest along working with western scientists, although there are many other groups (including Australians) that are working on this now. check, for example, sharingknowledge.net.au

best wishes
donna

[MikeShanahan]

Hi Donna and Wandile

Are you familiar with the work of my colleagues at IIED's climate change group? They and their partners at the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies and the Ring alliance held a workshop on community based adaptation to climate change earlier this year in Dhaka - see: http://www.bcas.net/2nd-cba/index.html. This included both modern technological fixes and traditional approaches to community resilience to climate-related risks.
All the best
Mike

[Dionisia Tabureguci]

Hello! I find your topic interesting because it relates to some efforts being put by various groups in my region in the Pacific islands, South Seas, to preserve indigenous knowledge. I believe the efforts are focused on preservation and protection of the knowledge as the indigenous communities have not quite grasped the value of this asset. I don't believe the scientific community is blind to the potentials in indigenous knowledge. I think for scientists, it is a matter of carefully and maybe quietly choosing the commercially valuable indigenous knowledge, which can be developed and exploited for commercial purposes and I think this can be noticed in pharmeceutical products. We have had experience here in our region where indigenouos herbs, plants, fruits and even DNAs have been taken away and scientifically developed for commercial purposes (the DNA one caused a major uproar!) and while this exercise can turn into the development of national wealth, it is not often the case as the multinational corporations and the powerful countries are always the ones that ultimately benefit. In my region, we have yet to quantify what scientific values there may be in our indigenous knowledge.

Incidentally, while this is so in many indigenous societies of the world, there is a new trend now called "Information Democracy" which is more of a digital project by the Information management people. This trend requires that all information of the world be made available for all but I do know that some indigenous societies in our region (the Maoris of New Zealand, Aborigines of Australia) had expressed strong concerns because there are indigenous information that are reserved for special purposes within the indigenous setting and are never meant to be shared for all and sundry.

So I believe Western science know the value in indigenous knowledge and how to extract this value for monetary gain. The question is: do we know this?
If we do know, then why are we not empowering ourselves to manage our knowledge and prevent exploitation and unnecessary invasion?

[Vasemaca Rarabici]

Here in the pacific, a classic example is the managing of marine resources. Today, these small island nations are leading the way in the world of marine conservation. Coastal communities are binding together to manage their marine resources in a sustainable way. Interestingly, they don’t need legal binding laws and policies from the western world to teach them how to do this. In fact it has been part and parcel of their traditional knowledge and custom for as long as they can remember. One such custom is the simple concept of ‘taboo areas’. This means that villagers can evoke to declare certain areas of their marine areas as a ‘no-take zone’ for certain periods such as when a chief dies (as a sign of mourning for aboutn 100 nites) before it is declared open .... And as expected, marine resources replenish itself during the "taboo" period .. so there is a lot of fish to catch for everyone. This simple concept is being adapted for modern use with Conservationists referring to it as Marine Protected Areas (MPA’s). Pilot projects have shown that marine resources in ‘taboo areas’ tend to increase five to six fold, providing a sustainable livelihood and economic well-being for its people. But while the communities have the traditional knowledge, they need the support of national governments department and non-government organisation partners like the Foundation of the South Pacific International (FSPI), WWF, Conservation International, the LMMA network etc .. to provide management support. This is necessary to improve the traditional knowledge of the communities or modify them or evaluate them in the light of what they are achieving.

Makes sense?????

Va

[Gabriela Michelotti]

Dear Wandile,
In Brazil we seem to have the opposite problem. A lot of research is being done based on indigenous knowledge, but we haven't been able to approve satisfactory bioethic legislation to protect indigenous communities' rights to royalties for their knowledge.

[Cobi Smith]

I think participatory plant breeding is a good use of indigenous knowledge for economic and scientific benefits.

Have you come across the scidev.net brief on global legislation on indigenous knowledge?

[wandile kallipa]

Hi! Cobi,

I am aware of the legislation. The question that remains is that of the available capacity to implement on the ground. Dishonesty has become the order of the day by those who are entrusted to help indegenous people to improve their livelihoods through their knowledge. If you want me to comment further about this, please feel free to engage me.

Regards

Wandile

[Dionisia Tabureguci]

While we are on this topic, is anyone aware of a country that has formulated comprehensive legislation to protect indigenous population and usage of their knowledge? I would say the use and exploitation of indigenous knowledge will become the basis of future scientific endeavours, whether it is research in medicine, cosmetics, environment, etc...it is very obvious the world and Western Science are moving that way. The indigenous population should also move from the mindset of taking their knowledge for granted to the undertsanding that in time, such knowledge will become commercial commodities and will be exploited. Therefore, there must be firm decision made by indigenous populations on whether they will consolidate and manage their knowledge for the greater good of all or whether they will hand over the reins to the commercial world. I would be interested to know if an indigenous group has managed to make a comprehensive decision, whether its formula has worked and how it has worked, what sort of benefits have been achieved and how these benefits have been used by the indigenous population .

[Dr. Chandra Mohan Nautiyal]

In India, we organised a children's science programme that involved close to half a million students. They had to dig out indigenous S&T practices.

In the course, we came across many such pices of ancient wisdom and knowledge. The biggest problem is that lack of technology in those times didn't allow efforts to standardise or verify them which we can do now. They were largely observations or time- tested practices. With time, many incorrect practices/ myths also ot mixed up presenting a confusing and misleading picture now. Most of them pertain to agriculture, medicine (local herbs as medicine), health (yoga- now universally appreciated), weather change etc.

There have been some efforts to test those practices, even leading to ridicule at times. But much more needes be done.

CM Nautiyal

[Calestous Juma]

This traditional knowledge portal managed by the Convention on Biological Diversity might be of value:
http://www.cbd.int/tk/default.shtml

[Calestous Juma]

Another useful resource on how to link indigenous knowledge with science is India's National Innovation Foundation: http://www.nifindia.org/

[Dr. Chandra Mohan Nautiyal]

Thank you Calestous. This organisation headed by CSIR DG and Prof. Gupta of IIM-A has done remarkable work on this.

CMN