Knowledge for Development

Indigenous knowledge systems

Indigenous knowledge initially defined as the knowledge held by indigenous communities (people) has been expanded as follows: 'The sum total of the knowledge and skills which people in a particular geographic area possess and which enable them to get the most out of their environment. Most of this knowledge and these skills have been passed from earlier generations but individual men and women in each new generation adapt and add to this body of knowledge in a constant adjustment to changing circumstances and environmental conditions. They in turn pass on the body of knowledge intact to the next generation, in an effort to provide them with survival strategies.IK Monitor 6(2) July 1998.' This dossier brings the issue of the need to integrate farmers? knowledge into the wider knowledge system as the concept of indigenous knowledge evolves in response to the changing conditions including exposure to more formal knowledge systems.

A recent study by UK researchers at the University of East Anglia, School of Environmental Sciences, found that a number of threatened species in the developing world are entirely dependent on human agriculture for their survival and that many species, rather than just using farmland to supplement their natural habitat, would actually be driven to extinction without it. Conserving biodiversity by supporting or mimicking traditional farming methods has long been a feature in Europe, but it has rarely been applied in developing countries. Where local communities are threatened by industrial agriculture, which often results in people being thrown off their traditional lands, conservation may be able to provide a win-win solution, helping to safeguard farming livelihoods for local people and for wildlife. In other cases, local communities could receive economic or development benefits in return for continuing valuable farming practices that benefit wildlife. (Physorg, 5/12/2011) 12/01/2012
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Oduor Ong’wen, the Kenya country director for the Southern and Eastern African Trade Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI), explains how Africa has lagged in the advancement and implementation of IP rights, with dire consequence for many communities that could have benefitted immensely from indigenous crops and plants and derived products from natural resources and traditional recipes, if well protected by law. He concludes in his detailed review on the IP regime in Africa: “Genetic technologies move knowledge from the public to the private domain. Therefore, increasing amounts of know-how, which would have been available freely for further innovation and product development, is either unavailable, if exclusive licenses were granted, or must be purchased. While research and development in all countries is affected by these changes, African countries suffer most, for four reasons. First, located in the periphery of research and development networks, their chance to obtain exclusive licenses first is very low. Second, transnational corporation have long entered the so-called ‘knowledge economy’ by creating huge patent portfolios for the sale and exchange of licenses and by creating knowledge monopolies and cross-licensing networks in which emerging industries in Africa can hardly participate. Third, while identifying and purchasing the necessary licenses is difficult and costly for any industry, African countries are particularly handicapped because they frequently have not the same informational and financial resources. Lastly, the increasing costs of patent filings and litigations required for new product developments pose a growing barrier to any research and development efforts in poor countries.” (Source: Pambazuka News, November 2010) 22/03/2011
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A new study conducted by Mauricio Bellon, Programme Director at Bioversity International, and colleagues, throws light on the ways that smallholder famers will be able to obtain seeds that will cope with climate change. The team surveyed Mexican maize farmers in four different agro-ecological zones to find out where the farmers got their seed and then modelled how variation in regional climate might affect their environment. For all communities except those in the highlands, predicted future maize environments are already represented within the 10-km radial zones, indicating that in the future farmers will have easy access to adapted planting material. Farmers in the highlands are the most vulnerable and probably will need to acquire seed from outside their traditional geographical ranges. This change in seed sources probably will entail important information costs and the development of new seed and associated social networks, including improved linkages between traditional and formal seed systems and more effective and efficient seed-supply chains. The approach pioneered in this research, of integrating information about seed systems with fine-scale examination of predicted climate shifts, is important because it has the potential to be applied in other regions and countries. (Bioversity International, 19/8/2011; CCAFS, 1/9/2011) 27/09/2011
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Figure 1: The cunani plant Knowledge, in all its forms, is a means to the attainment of economic self-determination and self-reliance. Every aspect of human activity in terms of the use of knowledge is becoming a vital component of socio-economic and political interaction. This has prompted many a commentator to proclaim that we have entered the 'Information Age'. Information is power, so the cliché goes. However, not all knowledge is perceived to be power generating; not all knowledge is perceived to be providing a competitive edge. Such is the case with traditional knowledge (TK). For a considerable period, TK has been considered little more than a nostalgic remembrance of our varying pasts, being preserved only as superstitious folklore best relegated to museums. Thankfully this is changing as TK has recently assumed a major significance globally especially with regard to knowledge of genetic resources and their contribution to pharmaceutical and agricultural industries. 05/06/2006
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New innovations in agriculture, as is the case in other industrial sectors, go hand in hand with privatisation and decentralisation and globalization. This trend is being observed in the ACP region. During the colonial era, innovation was managed by public institutions or public-private partnerships in response to the needs of the private sector. Information and financial flows were channelled along commercial commodity lines, involving a select group of scientists, planters and representatives of multinational organizations. At that time, food production and subsistence agriculture for home consumption or sale on the domestic marketwere not taken into consideration. Little use was made of indigenous knowledge. After independence, new approaches were developed to achieve developmentalgoals such as enhancing food production and reducing reliance on imported food. It gradually evolved that technical innovations which were developed at research stations did not meet the diversity of conditions local farmers had to cope with (see endnote 1). 02/01/2005
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