Traditional Knowledge Bulletin |  |
- Resource: Environmental Conservation open access thematic issue on CBNRM
- This week in review … CBD Secretariat finalizes selection of ILC representatives for Guyana workshop
- Meeting review: Libreville training of trainers on the Convention on Intangible Cultural Heritage
- Meeting review: Workshop on ICCAs
- This week in review … New report builds case for FPIC
- This week in review … India uploads yoga asanas in TKDL
- Resource: Briefing paper on sorghum and African farmers
- This week in review … Fiji workshop addresses biodiversity and TK
| Resource: Environmental Conservation open access thematic issue on CBNRM Posted: 09 Feb 2011 12:22 AM PST Environmental Conservation This open access thematic issue includes several articles of direct relevance to traditional knowledge. In the editorial on Reflecting on the next generation of models for community-based natural resources management, C.M. Shackleton, T.J. Willis, K. Brown and N.V.C. Polunin aim to stimulate greater reflection about what CBNRM is and what it could be. In From hope to crisis and back again? A critical history of the global CBNRM narrative, W. Dressler et al conclude that the prospect of local people sustaining CBNRM for social justice, livelihood security and conservation needs is centred on how well programmes are embedded in sociocultural relations, politics, resource needs and uses and landscape changes. In Allies, not aliens: increasing the role of local communities in marine protected area implementation, S. C.A. Ferse et al suggest that traditional, scientific and management knowledge should be combined to solve conflicts. MPAs should be designed as platforms for social learning able to include raditional and other knowledge collaboratively and to react to change in an adaptive manner. In Using local ecological knowledge to identify shark river habitats in Fiji (South Pacific), E. Rasalato, V. Maginnity and J. M. Brunnschweiler explore the potential of local and traditional ecological knowledge to identify shark river habitats in Fiji, learn how locals regard and use sharks, and capture ancestral legends and myths that shed light on relationships between these animals and local people. In Law, custom and community-based natural resource management in Kubulau District (Fiji), P. Clarke and S.D. Jupiter examine the case study of Kubulau District (Bua Province, Fiji), which illustrates the challenges and successes of implementing traditional CBNRM within a pluralist legal and institutional context, and provides examples of management success and conflict. Other articles include: Using context in novel community-based natural resource management: landscapes of property, policy and place, by D. J. Brunckhorst; Democratic decentralization in sub-Saharan Africa: its contribution to forest management, livelihoods, and enfranchisement, by J.C. Ribot, J.F. Lund and T. Treue; The livelihood impacts of the Namibian community based natural resource management programme: a meta-synthesis, by H. Suich; Looking back and looking ahead: local empowerment and governance in the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal, by N. Baral and M. J. Stern; Importance and impacts of intermediary boundary organizations in facilitating payment for environmental services in Vietnam, by Thu Thuy Pham et al; adaptive community-based biodiversity conservation in Australia's tropical rainforests, by R. Hill et al; and Assessing the quality of seagrass data collected by community volunteers in Moreton Bay Marine Park, Australia, by P. G. Finn et al. View the issue, including links to abstracts and full texts …         |
| This week in review … CBD Secretariat finalizes selection of ILC representatives for Guyana workshop Posted: 09 Feb 2011 12:19 AM PST Selected indigenous and local community representatives to receive funding for the Latin America and Caribbean Indigenous and Local Community Capacity Building Workshop on the Convention on Biological Diversity including issues relevant to Article 8(j), Traditional Knowledge, and Access and Benefit-sharing The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has circulated the list of selected indigenous and local community (ILC) representatives to receive funding for the eighth Latin American and Caribbean ILC Capacity-Building Workshop to the CBD. The workshop, with a focus on indigenous women, will address issues relevant to Article 8(j), traditional knowledge, and access and benefit-sharing. The selection of beneficiaries has been completed in partnership with the Indigenous Women's Biodiversity Network for the Latin American and Caribbean Region. Download the notification [pdf] …         |
| Meeting review: Libreville training of trainers on the Convention on Intangible Cultural Heritage Posted: 09 Feb 2011 12:17 AM PST Strengthening national capacities for safeguarding ICH: training of trainers in Libreville This meeting, organized by UNESCO, was supported by the UNESCO/Government of Bulgaria Funds-in-Trust, with additional funding from the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund and UNESCO's Regular Programme. It was the third in a series of workshops devoted to "training of trainers" in different regions from January to March 2011, as part of the development by UNESCO of a global network of experts well trained on their curricula and methods and UNESCO's global strategy of capacity building. Participating experts addressed issues related to: implementing the Convention at the national level; of intangible cultural heritage; and preparing nominations for the Urgent Safeguarding List. Visit the meeting's website, including background documents …         |
| Meeting review: Workshop on ICCAs Posted: 09 Feb 2011 12:16 AM PST Workshop on Building Capacities and Generating Support for the Sustainable Future of Indigenous Peoples' Conserved Territories and Areas Conserved by Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (ICCAs) Natural Justice has circulated the report of a workshop on ICCAs, held in conjunction with the 10th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The purpose of the workshop was to provide a focused opportunity for assessing the current state of ICCAs as well as relevant initiatives and resources that could build collective capacity for securing ICCAs' future. It was anticipated that this gathering could generate a long-term process and actions necessary to support ICCAs and build capacities to respond to specific needs, especially with regards to decisions made at COP10. The workshop brought up a range of key discussion topics, including the challenges and opportunities that need to be met for ICCAs and a framework for a collective ICCA vision. The report includes sections on: collective overview of ICCAs; global recognition efforts for ICCAs; practical tools for ICCAs; key challenges, successes, obstacles and lessons learned; indigenous peoples' and local communities' rights and ICCAs; free, prior and informed consent; FPIC and the ICCA registry; and the future of ICCAs. Download the report [pdf] …         |
| This week in review … New report builds case for FPIC Posted: 09 Feb 2011 12:14 AM PST The right to decide: new report highlights why companies need to operate with free, prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples CALIFORNIA, USA: Industrial resource extraction is posing grave threats to the survival of indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin and there are serious moral, legal and financial reasons for corporations to stem the tide of abuse and respect indigenous peoples' rights, Amazon Watch said in a briefing paper released today. The health, identity and cultural and physical survival of indigenous peoples are at particular risk from the expansion of extraction and infrastructure projects due to their close relationship with the natural world. For indigenous peoples, their territory is their market, pharmacy, hardware store, church, temple, and an integral part of their identity. They are completely dependent on a clean and healthy territory for survival and for the maintenance of their cultural integrity and identity as indigenous peoples. Extractive and infrastructure projects on indigenous lands potentially affect not just their means of sustenance and health, but also their rights to cultural survival and to choose their own future as a distinct people and culture. The paper, entitled The Right to Decide: The Importance of Respecting Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), makes the strong case that respecting indigenous peoples' rights is not just a moral imperative, but also a business necessity for corporations to avoid financial risk, reputational damage, divestment campaigns, operational delays due to social unrest, multi-billion dollar legal liabilities, and loss of license to operate. It focuses on the roles and responsibilities of companies, investors and finance institutions to identify, prevent and address the adverse human rights impacts of company operations. It identifies the rights of indigenous peoples that are potentially affected by extractive industry and infrastructure projects and explores the ethical, legal and financial reasons for respecting these rights. It identifies some of the key challenges involved in implementing a Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) policy and makes recommendations for companies and shareholders who engage in business activities or investments in the Amazon. Read the press release … Download the paper [pdf] …         |
| This week in review … India uploads yoga asanas in TKDL Posted: 09 Feb 2011 12:12 AM PST India pulls the plug on yoga as business NEW DELHI, INDIA: India has completed documenting 1,300 'asanas' which will soon be uploaded on the country's Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL), making them public knowledge. Around 250 of these 'asanas' have also been made into video clips with an expert performing them. According to the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Union health ministry's department of Ayush, "once the database is up online, patent offices across the world will have a reference point to check on everytime a yoga guru claims patent on a particular asana." Read the article …         |
| Resource: Briefing paper on sorghum and African farmers Posted: 09 Feb 2011 12:09 AM PST Sorghum and the Antioxidant Craze: What Benefit for Africa's Farmers? A highly successful health food company in the United States, Silver Palate Inc, is seeking to cash in on the health benefits of sorghum. More particularly, it has begun to commercialize foods rich in sorghum anthocyanins, natural "antioxidant" chemicals found in some strongly coloured plant foods that are believed to have heart and other health benefits. Unlike many major cereal crops, high antioxidant genetic traits are readily available to sorghum breeders. This is because of the work of generations of African farmers, who selected and bred coloured sorghums for various purposes, including dyes for fabric, making food crops resistant to depredation by birds and disease resistance. Silver Palate is negotiating to gain rights to sorghum varieties held by Texas Agricultural & Mechanical University (Texas A&M), from its enormous collection belonging to African farmers. Although it is a public university, Texas A&M is highly proprietary in its approach to seeds. It considers the vast majority of the thousands of farmers' varieties of sorghum that it possesses, and the breeding lines into which it puts African genes, to be proprietary. Texas A&M is working to turn its sorghum collection into a university and personal profit centre. It is demanding fees and royalties from Silver Palate in return for access to African-derived sorghum seeds. The University is making no plans, and feels it has no moral or legal obligation, to share any benefits from the deal with African farmers. Download the report [pdf] …         |
| This week in review … Fiji workshop addresses biodiversity and TK Posted: 09 Feb 2011 12:07 AM PST Biodiversity database SUVA, FIJI: A workshop on biodiversity and traditional knowledge was held on 3-4 February 2011, in Suva, Fiji. Speaking at its opening, the Ministry of Local Government, Urban Development, Housing and Environment permanent secretary Taina Tagicakibau said that traditional knowledge associated with biological resources is an intangible component of the resource itself. She added that TK has the potential of being translated into commercial benefits by providing leading development of useful products and processes. Noting that collation of information on traditional knowledge, practices and innovations that exist in Fiji would be the first step in determining important processes for potential uses, she said that a central database would ensure access to information for researchers and any interested party. Read the article …         |
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