Showing papers on "Traditional knowledge published in 2000"

Rediscovery of traditional ecological knowledge as adaptive management

Abstract: Indigenous groups offer alternative knowledge and perspectives based on their own locally developed practices of resource use. We surveyed the international literature to focus on the role of Traditional Ecological Knowledge in monitoring, responding to, and managing ecosystem processes and functions, with special attention to ecological resilience. Case studies revealed that there exists a diversity of local or traditional practices for ecosystem management. These include multiple species management, resource rotation, succession management, landscape patchiness management, and other ways of responding to and managing pulses and ecological surprises. Social mechanisms behind these traditional practices include a number of adaptations for the generation, accumulation, and transmission of knowledge; the use of local institutions to provide leaders/stewards and rules for social regulation; mechanisms for cultural internalization of traditional practices; and the development of appropriate world views and cultural values. Some traditional knowledge and management systems were characterized by the use of local ecological knowledge to interpret and respond to feedbacks from the environment to guide the direction of resource management. These traditional systems had certain similarities to adaptive management with its emphasis on feedback learning, and its treatment of uncertainty and unpredictability intrinsic to all ecosystems.

Protecting Indigenous Knowledge and Heritage: A Global Challenge

Abstract: Part I: The Lodge of Indigenous Knowledge in Modern Thought 1. Eurocentrism and the European Ethnographic Tradition Assumptions About the Natural World Assumptions About Human Nature Assumptive Quandaries The Ethnographic Tradition 2. What is Indigenous Knowledge? Decolonizing the Eurocentric Need for Definitions Entering Uncharted Territory Locating Indigenous Knowledge Traditional Ecological Knowledge The Transmission of Indigenous Knowledge Part II: Towards an Understanding of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to Their Knowledge and Heritage 3. The Concept of Indigenous Heritage Rights International Definition of Indigenous Indigenous Knowledge and Heritage Sacred Ecologies and Legal Corollaries Interconnected Rights Indigenous Knowledge as Intellectual Property Indigenous Legal Systems 4. The Importance of Language for Indigenous Knowledge Indigenous Languages and the Natural World The Eurocentric Illusion of Benign Translatability Consequences of the Eurocentric Illusion 5. Decolonizing Cognitive Imperialism in Education The School System Cognitive Clashes Decolonizing the System Educational Contexts 6. Religious Paradoxes Divine Order and Secular Law Correcting False Translations Freedom from Missionaries Sacred Healing Sites Tourism, Vandalism, and Problems of Privacy Right to Harvest and Use Ceremonial Materials in Religious Practices Indigenous Burial Grounds Return and Reburial of Ancesters' Remains and Artifacts 7. Paradigmatic Thought in Eurocentric Science Medical Research and "Biopiracy" Genetic Diversity in Agricultural Biotechnology 8. Ethical Issues in Research Eliminating the Eurocentric Bias in Research RCAP Ethical Guidelines for Research in Canada Canadian Research Councils Policy Statement of Ethical Conduct on Research on Human Subjects Breaches of Confidentiality of Sacred Knowledge Community Control of Research Professional Organizations and Ethics 9. Indigenous Heritage and Eurocentric Intellectual and Cultural Property Rights Culture Versus Nature Recovery of Sacred and Ceremonial Objects Authenticity Communal Rights to Traditional Designs in Modern Artworks Cultural Appropriation Exhibitions Issues in the Performing Arts Advertising Use of Indigenous Peoples and Arts Part III: Exising Legal Regimes and Indigenous Knowledge and Heritage 10. The International Intellectual and Cultural Property Regime UN Human Rights Conventions and Covenants The International Intellectual Property Regime Technology, "Know-how", and Trade Secrets International Trade and Aid Measures Protection of Folklore Special International Instruments Concerned with Indigenous Peoples 11. The Canadian Constitutional Regime Interpreting the Constitution of Canada Indigenous Knowledge and Heritage as an Aboriginal Right 12. The Canadian Legislative Regime Federal Cultural Property Law Federal Intellectual Property Law Federal Common Law Provincial Law Part IV: The Need for Legal and Policy Reforms to Protect Indigenous Knowledge and Heritage 13. Rethinking Intellectual and Cultural Property Moral Rights Personality or Publicity Rights Patents, Trademarks, and Passing Off The Commodification of Culture 14. Current International Reforms United Nations Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples (1995-2004) Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (1994) Protecting Traditional Ecological Knowledge 15. Enhancing Indigenous Knowledge and Heritage in National Law National Protection Strategies Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits The Importance of Indigenous Use and Management of Ecosystems Present Status of Ecologically Related Knowledge Effective Protection of Knowledge and Practices 16. Canadian Policy Considerations National Protection Strategies Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples Operational Principles Canadian Reforms International Reforms Part V: Conclusion Acronyms References Acts, Regulations, and Guidelines Legal Cases Index

Traditional ecological knowledge and wisdom of aboriginal peoples in british columbia

Abstract: This paper discusses the characteristics and application of Traditional Eco- logical Knowledge and Wisdom (TEKW) of aboriginal peoples in British Columbia, Canada. Examples are provided from various groups, most notably, the Secwepemc (Shuswap) Interior Salish and Kwakwaka'wakw and Nuu-Chah-Nulth peoples of the Northwest Coast, covering a range of features comprising TEKW: knowledge of ecological principles, such as succession and interrelatedness of all components of the environment; use of ecological indicators; adaptive strategies for monitoring, enhancing, and sustainably harvesting re- sources; effective systems of knowledge acquisition and transfer; respectful and interactive attitudes and philosophies; close identification with ancestral lands; and beliefs that rec- ognize the power and spirituality of nature. These characteristics, taken in totality, have enabled many groups of aboriginal peoples to live sustainably within their local environ- ments for many thousands of years. In order for TEKW to be incorporated appropriately into current ecosystem-based management strategies, the complete context of TEKW, in- cluding its philosophical bases, must be recognized and respected. A case study of ecological and cultural knowledge of the traditional root vegetables yellow avalanche lily (Erythronium grandiflorum) and balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata) illustrates ways in which these components can be integrated.

Indigenous Knowledges in Global Contexts: Multiple Readings of Our World.

Abstract: Updating Aboriginal traditions of knowledge / Marlene Brant Castellano -- Heart knowledge, blood memory, and the voice of the land: implications of research among Hawaiian elders / Leilani Holmes -- Indigenous knowledge : lessons from the elders- a Kenyan case study / Njoki Nathani Wane -- African development : the relevance and implications of 'indigenousness' / George J. Sefa Dei -- Oral Narratives as a site of resistance : indigenous knowledge, colonialism, and western discourse / Elizabeth McIsaac --The retention of knowledge of folkways as a basis for resistance / Patience Elabor-Idemudia -- Indigenous nations and the human genome diversity project / Sandra S. Awang -- Toward indigenous wholeness : feminist praxis in transformative learning on health and the environment / Dorothy Goldin Rosenberg -- Native studies and the academy / Joseph Couture -- Toward an embodied pedagogy : exploring health and the body through Chinese medicine / Roxana Ng -- Not so strange bedfellows : indigenous knowledge, literature studies, and African development / Handel Kashope Wright -- Breaking the educational silence : For Seven Generations, an information legacy of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples / Budd L. Hall -- Ayurveda : mother of indigenous health knowledge / Farah M. Shroff -- Partnership in practice : some reflections on the Aboriginal healing and wellness strategy / Suzanne Dudziak -- Peace research and African development : an indigenous African perspective / Thomas Mark Turay -- Mpambo, the African multiversity: a philosophy to rekindle the African spirit / Paul Wangoola.

Traditional ecological knowledge: the third alternative (commentary)

Abstract: Contemporary Western attitudes concerning the management of natural re- sources, treatment of nonhuman animals, and the natural world emerge from traditions derived from Western European philosophy, i.e., they assume that humans are autonomous from, and in control of, the natural world. A different approach is presented by Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) of indigenous peoples of North America. Although spiritually oriented, TEK converges on Western scientific approaches. TEK is based on close obser- vation of nature and natural phenomena; however, it is combined with a concept of com- munity membership that differs from that of Western political and social thought. TEK is strongly tied to specific physical localities; therefore, all aspects of the physical space can be considered part of the community, including animals, plants, and landforms. As a con- sequence, native worldviews can be considered to be spatially oriented, in contrast to the temporal orientation of Western political and historical thought. TEK also emphasizes the idea that individual plants and animals exist on their own terms. This sense of place and concern for individuals leads to two basic TEK concepts: (1) all things are connected, which is conceptually related to Western community ecology, and (2) all things are related, which changes the emphasis from the human to the ecological community as the focus of theories concerning nature. Connectedness and relatedness are involved in the clan systems of many indigenous peoples, where nonhuman organisms are recognized as relatives whom the humans are obliged to treat with respect and honor. Convergence of TEK and Western science suggests that there may be areas in which TEK can contribute insights, or possibly even new concepts, to Western science. TEK is inherently multidisciplinary in that it links the human and the nonhuman, and is the basis not only for indigenous concepts of nature, but also for concepts of indigenous politics and ethics. This multidisciplinary aspect sug- gests that TEK may be useful in resolving conflicts involving a variety of stakeholders and interest groups in controversies over natural resource use, animal rights, and conservation. TEK may also have implications for human behavior and obligations toward other forms of life that are often unrecognized, or at least not emphasized, in Western science. We present examples from community and behavioral ecology where a TEK-based approach yielded unexpected and nonintuitive insights into natural phenomena. Understanding of TEK may be useful in helping scientists respond to the changing public perceptions of science, and new cultural pressures in our society.

Ethnobotany and its role in drug development

Abstract: The botanical collections of early explorers and the later ethnobotany have played important roles in the development of new drugs for many centuries. In the middle of the last century interest in this approach had declined dramatically, but has risen again during its last decade, and new foci have developed. The systematic evaluation of indigenous pharmacopoeias in order to contribute to improved health care in marginalized regions has been placed on the agenda of international and national organizations and of NGOs. In this paper the results of various projects on Mexican Indian ethnobotany and some of the subsequent pharmacological and phytochemical studies are summarized. Medicinal plants are an important element of indigenous medical systems in Mexico. This study uses the medicinal plants in four indigenous groups of Mexican Indians-Maya, Nahua, Zapotec and Mixe-as an example. The relative importance of a medicinal plant within a culture is documented using a quantitative method and the data are compared intra- and interculturally. While the species used by the indigenous groups vary, the data indicate that there exist well-defined criteria specific for each culture, which lead to the selection of a plant as a medicine. For example, a large number of species are used for gastrointestinal illnesses by two or more of the indigenous groups. At least in this case, the multiple transfers of species and their uses within -Mexico seems to be an important reason for the widespread use of a species. Some of the data we gathered in order to evaluate the indigenous claims are also discussed, focusing on the transcription factor NF-kappaB as a molecular target. This led to the identification of sesquiterpene lactones such as parthenolide as potent and relatively specific inhibitors of this transcription factor.

The role of Mongolian nomadic pastoralists' ecological knowledge in rangeland management.

Abstract: Past stereotypes of indigenous pastoralists as ignorant and environmentally destructive are being revised as ecological and social science research advances. As yet, little documentation of pastoralists' ecological knowledge exists, and even less is known about how this knowledge is, or can be, applied to resource management. This paper outlines the ecological knowledge of Mongolian nomadic pastoralists and its role in rangeland management, showing how herders' knowledge is reflected in pasture use norms and attitudes toward pasture privatization, as well as herding practices. The paper explores the potentially contradictory roles of pastoralists' ecological knowledge and perceptions in the current management context.

Diversity of plant uses in two Caiçara communities from the Atlantic Forest coast, Brazil

Abstract: Caicaras are native inhabitants of the Atlantic coast on southeastern Brazil, whose subsistence is based especially on agriculture and artisanal fishing. Because of their knowledge about the environment acquired through generations, Caicara people can play an important role in Atlantic Forest conservation. An ethnobotanical study was conducted within two Caicara communities (Ponta do Almada and Camburi beach, Sao Paulo State, Brazil), focusing on plant uses. In 102 interviews, 227 plant ethnospecies were quoted, mainly for food, medicine, handicraft and construction of houses and canoes. People from studied communities depend on the native vegetation for more than a half of the species known and used. Using diversity indices, plant uses are compared between studied communities and between gender and age categories within each community. We found quantitative differences in the knowledge about plants between gender categories for each kind of use (medicinal, food and handicrafts). Older and younger informants also have different knowledge about plants for handicraft and medicine, but not for edible plants.

Perceiving the environment in Finnish Lapland

Abstract: We contrast two understandings of traditional knowledge: as enframed in the discourse of modernity (MTK), and as generated in the practices of locality (LTK). Where `indigenous knowledge' is opposed to science, it always appears in the guise of MTK. This modernist understanding rests on a genealogical model of transmission that separates the acquisition of knowledge from environmentally situated practice. For local people, by contrast, traditional knowledge is inseparable from the practices of inhabiting the land that both bring places into being and constitute persons as of those places. To illustrate the meaning of LTK, we describe how Saami people in northernmost Finland perceive their environment, focusing on their experiences of the weather. These are shown to be embedded in life-histories, dependent on tasks of travel, multisensory, crucial to spatial orientation and the co-ordination of activities, and seasonally periodic. To regard people's knowledge of the weather as an aspect of tradition means ...

Losing knowledge about plant use in the Sierra de Manantlan Biosphere Reserve, Mexico

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to document relationships between knowledge of plant use and indicators of modernization in Mexico. The model we are testing envisions increasing loss of plant use knowledge with increasing modernization indicated by loss of indigenous language and acquisition of nontraditional community services such as literacy and quality of housing. As predicted, we demonstrate that empirical knowledge about plant use is both more diverse and more evenly shared by people speaking an indigenous language—the Huastec—than by mestizo and Spanish-speaking indigenous populations in the Sierra de Manantlan. Our analyses also indicate that the adoption of modern community services by eight rural communities in the Sierra de Manantlan of western Mexico has had notable effects eroding traditional knowledge about useful plants in some but not all communities. From this we suggest that even though traditional knowledge about plants probably suffered a decline that accompanied loss of the indigenous language in Manantlan, traditional knowledge may be able to survive the modernization process today where such knowledge has an important role in subsistence.

Masons, Tricksters and Cartographers: Comparative Studies in the Sociology of Scientific and Indigenous Knowledge

Abstract: 1. Introduction: From Rationality to Messiness: Rethinking Technoscientific Knowledge 2. "On With the Motley": The Contingent Assemblage of Knowledge Spaces 3. Talk, Templates and Tradition: How the Masons Built Chartres Cathedral Without Plans 4. Tricksters and Cartographers: Maps, Science and the State in the Making of a Modern Scientific Knowledge Space 5. Pacific Navigation: An Alternative Scientific Tradition 6. Making Malaria Curable: Extending a Knowledge Space to Create a Vaccine 7. Messiness and Order in Turbulence Research 8. Conclusion: Rationality, Relativism and the Politics of Knowledge

Traditional knowledge of indigenous and local communities: international debate and policy initiatives

Abstract: This paper reviews international law and policy regarding the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities that are defining the role of traditional and indigenous knowledge in the management and conservation of biodiversity. The most influential forums occur within the United Nations system, particularly the Working Group on Indigenous Populations and the Convention on Biological Diversity. We discuss the “soft-law” context of declarations, regional agreements, ethical guidelines, research protocols, and policy frameworks, which reinforce indigenous entitlements. The elaboration of these rights will increasingly impinge upon scientific research by regulating access to the knowledge and resources of indigenous and local communities, and by requiring that policy and management be made with their full participation. Scientists should respond by following these developments, institutionalizing this participation at all levels of scientific activity, and respecting the value of indigenous knowledge.

The Global Political Economy of Intellectual Property Rights: The New Enclosures?

Abstract: Introduction 1. On Institutions and (Intellectual) Property 2. Developing Intellectual Property 3. The TRIPs Agreement and Beyond 4. Intellectual Property in the New Millennium 5. The Challenge of Openness? Conclusion: Reification, Hypocrisy and Political Economy

Locality in the History of Science: Colonial Science, Technoscience, and Indigenous Knowledge

Abstract: ions. When an historian studies a particular locality,4 by definition one would expect that locality to become the \"center\" of his or her interest. Yet positivist colonial historians of, say, science in New Spain were, in reality, often writing the larger social and intellectual history of Europe, and not the history of Mexico,5 seeking out local \"traces\" of European ideas and intellectual movements.6 \"'Europe\"' says Dipesh Chakrabarty, \"remains the sovereign theoretical subject of all histories, including the ones we call 'Indian,' Chinese,' Kenyan,' and so on.\"7 When historians sought richer, deeper, \"thicker\" accounts of science in non-European localities,8 they soon became dissatisfied with analyses in which every standard of truth and rationality was set in Europe, and in which the very meaning of \"rationality,\" \"enlightenment,\" progress,\" and \"useful knowledge\" had been defined on that distant continent. Thus, little by little, historians of local science sloughed off a paradigm of Knorr-Cetina, Epistemic Cultures: How the Sciences Make Knowledge (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1999). 3For example, Bruno Latour's writings have made a particularly useful contribution, both by insisting on eliminating the \"great divide\" between science and traditional modes of thought, and by locating the power of modern science in its distinctive international network of institutions. The workings of that network create the conditions that make legible and commensurable (for the center) all the observations, measurements, representations, and texts produced in the various peripheries. See especially Bruno Latour, Science in Action: How to Follow Scientists and Engineers Through Society (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1987). 4In this paper I shall use the terms \"local\" and \"locality\" flexibly to indicate \"places\" in which science is accomplished. A locality may be a region, country, city, or even a single institution, incorporating social, cultural, political, and economic factors and relationships, and including both centers and peripheries. I In fact, Mexican historians have been somewhat less Eurocentric than historians of science in many other colonial localities. Nevertheless, atthe first Mexican colloquium in the field (September, 1963), thirty-four of the sixty-one papers presented were part of a symposium on the European Enlightenment in Latin America. Enrique Beltrdn, ed., Memorias del Primer Coloquio Mexicano de Historia de la Ciencia, 2 vols. (Mexico City: Sociedad Mexicana de Historia Natural, 1964). The history of Mexican science has a venerable and distinguished disciplinary history with antecedents in the nineteenth century. See Enrique Beltrnn, \"Fuentes mexicanas de la historia de la ciencia,\" Anales de las Sociedad Mexicana de Historia de la Ciencia y de la Tecnologia, 1970, 2:57-112; Juan Jose Saldafia, \"Marcos conceptuales de la historia de las ciencias en Latino America: Positivismo y economicismo,\" El Perfil de la ciencia en America (Mexico City: Sociedad Latinoamericana deHistoria de las Ciencias y la Tecnologia, 1986); and Elias Trabulse, \"Aproximaciones historiogrnficas a la ciencia mexicana,\" Memorias del Primer Congreso Mexicano de Historia de la Ciencia y de la Tecnologia (Mexico City: Sociedad de Historia de la Ciencia y de la Tecnologia, 1989), vol. 1, pp. 5 1-69. 6 See for example, Roland D. Hussey, \"Traces of French Enlightenment in Colonial Hispanic America,\" in Latin America nd the Enlightenment, ed.Arthur P. Whitaker, 2nd ed. (Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press, 1961), pp. 23-51. This book, originally published in 1942, uncovered useful material but remains a classic example of a project in European history focused on Latin America, and is one that helped set the agenda for writing colonial science history. All six of the distinguished contributing scholars were apparently English speaking and based outside Latin America. 7Dipesh Chakrabarty, \"Postcoloniality and the Artifice of History: Who Speaks for 'Indian' Pasts?\" Representations, 1992, 32:1-26. 8 Clifford Geertz referred to the study of local cases as \"thick description,\" without which more general cultural meanings and power relationships cannot be understood. Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays (New York: Basic Books, 1973). LOCALITY IN THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE 223 cultural deficit, replacing it with a paradigm of cultural difference. Within the \"big picture\" Europe was progressively \"decentered,\"9 and in a very real sense, science was also decentered. PERIPHERAL CENTERS AND CENTRAL PERIPHERIES Because modern science arose principally in one geographic locale,'0 historians of science had taken the wheel as the metaphor for its international structure: its center was in Europe (displaced this century to the mid-Atlantic), with the rest of the world revolving around. But the metaphor of the wheel is exceedingly misleading. From the time of its cosmopolitan birth in the correspondence of Marin Mersenne (15881648) and Henry Oldenburg (1618-1677) and in institutions like the much neglected Casa de la Contratacion in Seville (1539?), the Florentine Accademia del Cimento (1657), and the Royal Society of London (1660), modern science is better understood, both metaphorically and actually, as a polycentric ommunications network.\" During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that network was fully institutionalized, which represented a revolution in knowledge making more significant for both science and society than the theoretical advances of the seventeenth century traditionally known as the Scientific Revolution. Thus, from the very beginnings of the scientific movement, Centrality or peripherality was not primarily a matter of geographical location, but the combined effect of social, scientific, and-not the least-power relations. . .. Scientists, like other people, bore identities, they belonged somewhere, and they were loyal to something. Even more importantly, the daily activities of scientists were carried out in a framework ofinstitutions, agendas, career opportunities, working language, financial support and patronage systems.'2 This is to suggest that the idea of science having a European center and a global periphery perpetrated a confusing, and ultimately spurious, understanding of the relations of science and place. Then and now, Europe had major centers, minor centers, and peripheries; cities like London, indeed, had central institutions and peripheral institutions. Of course, progressively other localities developed scientific enters and peripheries. Furthermore, within Europe and without, centers rose and fell. 9Andrew Cunningham and Perry Williams, \"Decentring the 'Big Picture': The Origins of Modem Science and the Modem Origins of Science,\" British Journal of the History of Science, 1993, 26:407-32. 10 \"Modem science\" as distinguished by its institutions, procedures, and technologies. It See Latour, Science in Action (cit. n. 3), pp. 215-57, and Steven Shapin and Simon Schaffer, Leviathan and the Air-Pump (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1985). Sverker Sorlin has given a clear description of early processes of scientific nternationalization: \"National and International Aspects of Cross-Boundary Science: Scientific Travel in the 18th Century,\" inDenationalizing Science: The Contexts of International Scientific Practice, eds. Elizabeth Crawford, Terry Shinn, and Sverker Sorlin (Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1993), pp. 43-72. See also Lorraine Daston, \"The Ideal and Reality of the Republic of Letters in the Enlightenment,\" Science in Context, 1991, 4:367-86; and for the role of the Casa de la Contrataci6n, see David Turnbull, \"Cartography and Science in Early Modern Europe: Mapping the Construction of Knowledge Spaces,\" Imago Mundi, 1996, 48:7-14, and J. Pulido Rubio, El Piloto mayor de la Casa de Contrataci6n de Sevilla (Sevilla: Escuelade Estudios Hispano-Americanos, 1950). 12 Sorlin, \"National and International\" (cit. n. 11), p. 45. 224 DAVID WADE CHAMBERS AND RICHARD GILLESPIE And whenever a scientific center arose within a locality, both science and the locality were changed by the event.'3 Eurocentric explanations of the growth of science received a great boost with the appearance of historian George Basalla's widely known model describing \"the introduction fmodem science into any non-European ation.\"' 4 The model predicted that localities peripheral to the European center would progressively \"receive\" the ideas of Western science, slowly establishing their own scientific organizations and personnel, perhaps producing along the way a few \"heroes of colonial science.\"\"5 In the final stage, after the colony had accomplished \"seven tasks,\" a broad and \"independent\" institutional support base for science would have been established, thus allowing the given locality to compete scientifically in the world of nations. 16 The seven tasks, which are rarely discussed in the critical iterature, included such activities as \"overcoming\" and eventually \"eradicating\" recalcitrant local \"philosophical and religious beliefs,\" founding scientific societies \"patterned after\" the major European organizations, and importing European technologies. This unrelenting Eurocentrism was only one of the many reasons that he Basalla model was finally rejected by most historians.'7 COLONIAL TO NATIONAL TRAJECTORIES Basalla's model was initially attractive b cause it showed-in fact, seemed to prescribe-the straight and narrow path to national scientific development. Each locality was to rise in invariant sequence from a colonial to a national stage, from scientific dependency to autonomy. Colonial science was, in effect, considered a scientific adolescence that might eventually grow with the new nation-states into the maturity that Europe had long since achieved. In countries like Australia, where European settlers predominated, the predictive capacity of the model might, at first glance, seem reliable. In just a little ove

New meanings for old knowledge: the people's biodiversity registers program

Abstract: The program of People's Biodiversity Registers (PBR) is an attempt to pro- mote folk ecological knowledge and wisdom in two ways: by devising more formal means for their maintenance, and by creating new contexts for their continued practice. PBRs document folk ecological knowledge and practices involving the use of natural resources, with the help of local educational institutions and NGOs working in collaboration with local, decentralized institutions of governance. During 1996-1998, 52 such documents were prepared from village clusters distributed in eight states and union territories representing a wide spectrum of ecological and social regimes of India. They reveal a picture of generally declining productivity and diversity of living resources outside of intensively managed ecosystems. There are, however, notable exceptions; two of our case studies provide ex- amples of self-organized systems of management that have successfully protected, and indeed promoted, restoration of forest and wildlife resources. The PBRs also indicate a widespread erosion of practical ecological knowledge and of traditions of sustainable use and conservation. This is linked to the fact that those most intimately dependent on and knowledgeable about biodiversity belong to the economically and politically most disad- vantaged segments of the society. In consequence, conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity are not a high priority among the development aspirations held by the people. Nevertheless, people are concerned about degradation of the base of living resources and offer a number of concrete suggestions on their management. In fact, in a few cases, the PBR exercises have encouraged people to put such measures for more prudent use of local biodiversity resources into practice. The process of preparation of PBRs, as well as the resultant documents, could serve a significant role in promoting more sustainable, flexible, participatory systems of management and in ensuring a better flow of benefits from economic use of the living resources to the local communities.

Differential utilization and Ethnobotany of trees in Kitulanghalo forest reserve and surrounding communal lands, eastern Tanzania

Abstract: This study documents the utilization aspects and distribution of ethnobotanical knowledge of the local people of Morogoro, Tanzania, as a first step towards sustainable utilization and conservation of tropical woodlands. A total of 133 arborescent species in 31 families was identified of which 69% had a variety of uses. These uses were classified into 12 categories and major uses were charcoal, firewood, medicine, and poles. Most tree species have occasional uses, but a few are exceptionally useful and thus their levels of utilization may far exceed their regeneration and production. The questionnaire survey indicated that 62% of the respondents agreed that traditional medical services were more available than modern services. Utilization surveys indicated that wooden poles are the building material used in 98% of the dwellings and storage structures, wild foods were useful for food security especially during drought years, and high quality timber trees have been depleted in the forest because of earlier exploitation by pit-sawing. The distribution of ethnobotanical knowledge indicated that much of the relevant ethnobotanical and utilization information was held by more aged members of the society and hence there is a clear need to capture this knowledge before it is lost. This study has shown that resources are defined by use and culture, and some components of ethnobotanical knowledge have potential for the sustainable management of miombo woodlands.

Development as Experiment: Science and State Building in Late Colonial and Postcolonial Africa, 1930-1970

Abstract: This paper explores the continuous role that science has played in the establishment of a colonial and post-colonial "development regime" in Africa. Examining development schemes that flourished between 1930 and 1970, the paper shows how African agrarian societies became objects of both state intervention and expert knowledge. In pursuing large scale social engineering and social experiments, these schemes constituted a particular--colonial?--way of managing the African environment and of crafting knowledge on African societies. In constructing development ideologies and practices in the late colonial and post independence periods, they also played an important part in the construction of the African state. Their approaches shaped the future of tropical medicine, agriculture, and development studies. Ironically, they also created the preconditions for later interest in the values of indigenous knowledge.

Indigenous knowledge for development : opportunities and challenges

Abstract: and could help improve aid effectiveness in poverty reduction. This paper introduces indigenous knowledge (IK) as a significant resource which could contribute to the increased efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability of the development process. IK is defined as the basis for community-level decision making in areas pertaining to food security, human and animal health, education, natural resource management and other vital economic and social activities. Several good practice cases will demonstrate the value added by IK to development in the productive as well as social sectors. An overview of the World Bank's Indigenous Knowledge for Development Program describes the objectives, some of the achievements and the challenges ahead. Further cases will demonstrate how some of these challenges can be met. In conclusion, the paper argues that the harnessing of IK empowers local communities and could help improve aid effectiveness in poverty reduction.

Nature and empire : science and the colonial enterprise

Abstract: Surveying Africa, Asia and the Americas, this new collection looks at the roles of science, medicine and technology during five centuries of colonialism. This thought-provoking history examines the many intersections of science, politics and culture during colonialism, including the relation between racism and medical science, "exploration" and its potential for wealth, and the perceived differences between indigenous knowledge and European science. Sixteen chapters focus on such topics as intellectual property rights and biodiversity, "acclimatizing" the world, and science and development. Bringing together contributions from around the globe, "Colonialism and Science" forges a new path for readers interested in science and society during the modern era.

Environmental Narratives and the Need for Multiple Perspectives to Restore Degraded Landscapes in Australia

Abstract: This article examines environmental narratives for their potential to contribute to the restoration of ecosystem health in areas recently degraded by agricultural activities, including Australian rural landscapes. Environmental narratives encompass oral environmental histories and other anecdotal sources of knowledge and perceptions that are bounded by the narrator's experiences, observations, and attachment to place. They are analogous to indigenous knowledge. Environmental narratives can make a significant contribution to ecological restoration. We argue that restoration ecologists should acknowledge the rigor of ecological knowledge gained through detailed observation of landscapes over lengthy time periods by nonscientists. Accordingly, we advocate a view of knowledge that permits multiple perspectives: local, indigenous, and scientific. Ecological restoration in fragmented agricultural landscapes is as much a cultural as a biophysical process. It requires an understanding of and respect for cultural attributes of landscapes, including the beliefs, values, and perceptions people hold about their local environment, such as a sense of loss felt for particular landscape components, features, or functions. Recent work in Australia shows environmental narratives emerging as a practical means of integrating these biophysical and cultural aspects in ecological restoration.

Bridging the Gap: The Role of Spatial Information Technologies in the Integration of Traditional Environmental Knowledge and Western Science

Abstract: Agenda 21 dedicates a whole chapter to the role and importance of information for sustainable development. Among the provisions on harnessing the potential of information and communication technologies (ICT) one paragraph addresses the need for a strengthening of the capacity for traditional information. Local communities and resource users should benefit from mechanisms that provide them with the know-how they need to manage their environment and resources sustainably, applying traditional and indigenous knowledge and approaches. This paper will examine how this objective is being implemented through the use of spatial information systems (including GPS and Remote Sensing), which collect, manipulate and distribute data on a variety of environmental factors, in order to inform and encourage sustainable resource management practices. Some initiatives have adopted grassroots and participatory approaches, whereby local communities map their territories and resources with the help of information technologies. This paper will review a sample of these projects and analyze how they can generate synergies between traditional knowledge and modern science.

Traditional knowledge and pest management in the Guatemalan highlands

Abstract: Adoption of integrated pest management(IPM) practices in the Guatemalan highlands has beenlimited by the failure of researchers andextensionists to promote genuine farmer participationin their efforts. Some attempts have been made toredress this failure in the diffusion-adoptionprocess, but farmers are still largely excluded fromthe research process. Understanding farmers'agricultural knowledge must be an early step toward amore participatory research process. With this inmind, we conducted a semi-structured survey of 75Cakchiquel Maya farmers in Patzun, Guatemala, tobegin documenting their pest control practices. Theirresponses revealed that their understanding ofbiological and curative pest control is limited.However, their broad knowledge of cultural preventivepest control practices could explain why they hadfaced few pest problems in their traditionalmilpa (intercrop of corn, beans, and other edibleplants). The majority of these preventive practicesare probably efficient and environmentallyinnocuous.

Interspecific relationships affecting endangered species recognized by o'odham and comcaac cultures

Abstract: Because certain indigenous peoples have lived in the same habitats for cen- turies, their languages often encode traditional ecological knowledge about interactions between plant and animal species that occur in those habitats This local knowledge is sometimes complementary to more broadly derived knowledge accrued by academically trained field ecologists In this analysis of recent ethnoecological studies from the Sonoran Desert, it is clear that O'odham and Comca'ac foragers recognize, name, and interpret ecological interactions among locally occurring species, regardless of whether these species directly benefit them economically It is demostrated how their knowledge of ecological interactions involving threatened species may offer Western-trained scientists and resource managers hypotheses to test, and to apply to endangered species recovery efforts It is proposed that endangered species recovery teams include local para-ecologists from in- digenous communities to aid in the integration of knowledge bases derived from various cultural perspectives