Credit Seminar

Indigenous Technical Knowledge for tackling

Environmental Challenges

Presented by,

Jagriti RohitRoll no-10242

Content

• Introduction

• Importance

• Itk and its application

• Case study

• Intellectual property right

Indigenous knowledge

• Local or indigenous knowledge refers to the

cumulative and complex bodies of knowledge,

know-how, practices and representations that are

maintained and developed by local communities,

who have long histories of interaction with the

natural environment (UNESCO, 2012).

Characteristics

• Experiential

• Qualitative

• Rooted in past and in social context

• Often tested over centuries of use

• Orally transmitted

• Unique to culture

• Information base of society

Documentation and Validation

Mapping

Case history

Preference ranking

Farmers inventory

Critical incident technique

QUIK METHOD

Literature method

Ingredient analysis

On farm trial

Documentation Validation

• In the emerging global knowledge economy acountry’s ability to build and mobilize knowledgecapital, is equally essential for sustainabledevelopment as the availability of physical andfinancial capital. (World Bank, 1997)

The basic component of any country’sknowledge system is its indigenousknowledge.

It encompasses the skills, experiences andinsights of people, applied to maintain orimprove their livelihood.

• Valuable not only to those who depend on it intheir daily lives, but also to modern industry andagriculture

• Can make a significant contribution to theconservation and sustainable use of biologicaldiversity.

• Can make a significant contribution to sustainabledevelopment.

• ITK has high scope in environmental monitoring to depict and record changes

Challenges to environment

Gaining Ground

• Recognition of the significance of ITK for environmentalchallenges has only begun to emerge at the international levelin the last few years.

• The Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panelon Climate Change (IPCC), published in 2007, triggered an

enhanced focus climate change adaptation.

• The IPCC Assessment (AR4, published in 2007) noted thatindigenous knowledge is “an invaluable basis for developingadaptation and natural resource management strategies inresponse to environmental and other forms of change”.

• This was reaffirmed at the 32nd Session of the IPCC in 2010:“indigenous or traditional knowledge may prove useful forunderstanding the potential of certain adaptation strategiesthat are cost-effective, participatory and sustainable”.

• The shift towards adaptation has been accompanied

by an increase in the attention paid to impacts and

responses at the national, subnational and local levels,

including an increasing appreciation of the

observations and actions of local communities that

are rooted in ITK (IPCC,2007).

Economy

• Traditional knowledge is also the foundation of much

of our modern science and continues to provide a

significant and valuable source of inputs, providing in

the vicinity of US$75bn worth of pharmaceuticals a

year, $20bn worth of botanical medicine a year and

$3bn worth of cosmetic and personal care products a

year(UNU-IAS 2009).

PREDICTION..

The state flower of Kerala is Amaltas (Scientificname cassia fistula), the golden shower tree. It isbelieved that golden shower tree blooms in

abundance, about 45 days before the onset ofmonsoon (Pisharoty, 1993; Kanani and Pastakia,1999

When ‘sparrow bath in dust’ or ‘manybees enter the hive and none leave’, onecould expect rain in a couple of days(Santha et al, 2010).

• Similarly, ‘crow crying during night and owlcrying during the daytime’, one cananticipate drought.

• Clouds drifting south – north withaccompanying strong wind during theperiod mid July to mid September thenwater levels are said to rise greatly in ashort time.

• This rudimentary flood warningphenomena is also described in the BRACreport on the 1988 flood (BRAC,1989).(Schmuck-Widmann (1996))

• Prediction Unusual barking (unusual sounds and

restlessness) of street dogs in groups is the most

probable prediction for the onset of tremors/

earthquake in Chouldari villages, South Andaman,

Andaman & Nicobar Islands. (SN Sethi et al 2011)

Examples of bioindicators of cyclone in bangladeshAnts climb toward the roof of the houseCattle and dogs howls endlessly in the night before the stormSeabirds, pigeon move toward the inlandCrabs come into courtyard or high places Bees and locusts moves in cluster in the skyPaul and routray(2013)

On Surin islands, the cicadas are usuallyloud, but suddenly went silent before thetsunami hit. Saleh Kalathalay noticed thesilence and warned everyone about thetsunami. The Moken started to fleetoward higher ground long before thefirst wave struck and were saved.

Water management

Johad, Rajasthan

Kui , Rajasthan

Apatani, Arunachal Pradesh

Bamboo drip irrigation, Meghalaya

Khatri , Himachal Pradesh

Ahar pyne, Bihar

Drought Management

• In prolonged drought, farmers in Raj shahi,Bangladesh, have been observed pulling arope across the rice field early in themorning as a means of capturing the dewthat accumulates on the leaves during the

night.

• A similar practice that can be observed isthe brushing of wheat fields, before heademergence early in the morning. Thisreturns the morning dew to the soil.

• The cultivation of drought resistantvarieties such as Kata begun, a localvariety of brinjal with numerousspines on its leaves, stem and fruit isoften grown in drought prone areas asa reserve food source.

• The species is also said to be highlypest resistant (Rahman, 2012).

• After seeding in the normal way themethod prescribes ploughing the landlightly and then laddering the upperportion.

• This process is said to put seeds in contactwith free soil with high moisture levelsthan that they have already extractedmoisture from.(Rahman 2012)

Soil Degradation

• Leaving crop residue on the field is man age-old practicefollowed by the farmers of Atkot village in Rajkot district,Gujarat.

• It covers 10-15 % of the area. In this practice, after harvestingkharif sorghum and pearlmillet crops, farmers cultivate theirfield and leave the crop residue on their fields.

• This type of mulch reduces raindrop impact, runoff velocityand increases infiltration rate.

• farmers of Benakatti in Bagalkot district of Karnataka, retainpebbles on the soil surface as a mulching practice (KalluSalina Hola)

• The improved use of a traditionaltechnique involving pits known as zai,where naturally occurring seedlings areprotected or where seeds are deliberatelyplanted.

• By digging wider and deeper pits and byadding manure to them, managed toachieve very good yields from fields thathad previously been so degraded thatnothing could be grown on them.

Forest Conservation• In Kenya, the Maasai culture forbids any community member

from cutting down a tree, either for firewood or any otherpurpose.

• If the bark of a tree has medicinal value, then only smallportions of it can be removed by creating a “V” in the bark.The wound is then sealed using wet soil.

• In India, bishnoi community protects trees and help inconservation

Biodiversity preservation• Sing nawa community knowledge of Nepal.

• One of the most common traditions in Zimbabwe is totemism,which has been defined as the ‘practice of symbolicallyidentifying humans with non-human objects (usually animalsor plants). The classic case of totemism is when a clan claimsan animal as a mythological ancestor, however, the term hasbeen used to cover a wide range of symbolic practices.

• Practice of considering flora and fauna as scared.

Climate Change Adaptation

• Potato Park in Peru

• BLACK BOX

Disaster Management

• Earthquake Safe Traditional House Construction Practices in Kashmir

• The techniques, known as “Taq” and “Dhajji-Dewari” system,have been found to have earthquake resistant qualities.

• Indigenous Knowledge and Modern Science give

Environment Friendly Shelter Solution in Flood Affected

Desert Region of India

Case Study:1

• Practice of indigenous knowledge system by the farmers in maintaining ecosystem in Bangladesh. Md MostafizurRahman (2012)

• The main focus of the study was to identify the indigenousknowledge system being used by the rural men in farming andhousehold activities and also to examine its extent.

• Among the 50 identified indigenous knowledge systems,“Setting up bamboo sticks, branches of trees etc., in rice fieldsto let the birds sit and eat away insects” reached the highestextent of use by the farmers in agricultural practices.

• “Soaking boro rice seeds in water for 1-3 days before sowingin the bed for rapid germination”,

• Drying mature bottle gourds (Lagenaria vulgaris) in the sunand storing the seeds inside without rupturing the fruits”

• “Keeping rice seedlings under shed for 1-2 days beforetransplanting for the purpose of increasing tolerance” tookthe 2 nd, 3rd and 4th position regarding the extent of use.

Case Study:2

• Assessing the potential of indigenous technologicalknowledge (ITK) for adaptation to climate change in theHimalayan and arid ecosystems

• Sujit sarkar 2014

• The major documented indigenous knowledge was ‘mind’cultivation, ‘chal’ to harvest water, ‘apple paste’ to controldiseases and ‘siddu’ to protect from extreme cold in HimachalPradesh.

• Similarly, the major documented indigenous knowledge ofRajasthan were –‘Khadin’ farming system to manage drought,‘kanabandi’ to manage soil and wind storm, ‘tanka’ to harvestwater, ‘jupka’ and ‘kothi’ for storing the grain and feed, etc.

• Beside these, the people of both the ecosystems observedthe movement of insects and animals (butterfly, ant, andtermite) to forecast the rainfall and other climatic parameter.

• As the indigenous practices hold high potential to address theissue of climate change, these may be promoted afterestablishing their scientific validity and rationality.

Intellectual Property Right

• Cases of Bio-piracy

• Neem Patent:

• Haldi patent-

• Basmati patent-

• Revocation of patent for the Indian of wheat “Nap Hal”:

Problems

• Lacking novelty

• Owned by whole community

• Difficulty in getting copyrights for folksong folklores

• Orally transmitted and not documented

Recent Development

• WIPO’s Global Intellectual Property Issues Division (theGlobal Issues Division) is responsible for a number ofactivities directly related to indigenous peoples.

• The Tunis Model Law drafted by UNESCO and the WIPO

• Towards Sui Generis Systems of Protection

• Protecting Traditional Knowledge as Trade Secrets

• Recently amended patent law of India contains provisionsfor mandatory disclosure of source and geographical originof the biological material used in the invention whileapplying for patents in India.

• Provisions have also been incorporated to include non-disclosure or wrongful disclosure of the same as groundsfor opposition and for revocation of the patents, if granted.

• Preserving codified traditional knowledge –

• Traditional knowledge digital library

• Preserving both oral and recorded TK through community archives – example

• Ara Irititja Project (Australia)

Successful Example

• The world’s first case of indigenous intellectual accreditationthrough the partnership between Mt Romance (Australiansandalwood company), Aveda (US-based multinationalcosmetics corporation) and the Kutkabubba community(represented by the Songman Circle of Wisdom).

• The accreditation allows for the indigenous people to berecognized as traditional owners of the land, and for theircare and knowledge about the sandalwood trees.

• It also gives them a share of the profits made from thecontemporary use of the pure sandalwood oil

• TK-based drug “Jevaani”

• “Jeevani” is a restorative, immuno-enhancing, antistress and anti-fatigueagent, based on the herbal medicinalplant arogyapaacha, used by the Kanitribals in their traditional medicine.

• The knowledge was divulged by threeKani tribal members to the Indianscientists who isolated 12 activecompounds from arogyapaacha,developed the drug “Jevaani”, and filedtwo patent applications on the drug (andanother patent based on the same plantbut for different use).

• The technology was then licensed to the Arya VaidyaPharmacy, Ltd., an Indian pharmaceutical manufacturerpursuing the commercialization of Ayurvedic herbalformulations.

• A Trust Fund was established to share the benefits arisingfrom the commercialization of the TK-based drug “Jevaani”.

Conclusion

• Need to test scientific rationality behind ITKS

• There is much to learn from indigenous, traditional andcommunity-based approaches for the natural disasterpreparedness

• Need to give support to farmers who are followingsustainable agricultural practices.

• Need for protecting right of indigenous community andindigenous knowledge

• The skills and techniques used by indigenous and localcommunities provide valuable information to the globalcommunity and a useful model for biodiversity policies.