Indigenous Knowledge
For Sustainable Development

By Poshendra Satyal Pravat

THE recognition of the importance of indigenous knowledge (IK) and involvement of the local people in the management of natural resources and in the quest for sustainable development is of relatively recent origin. Following the failure of the top-down development strategy and the adoption of bottom-up strategy in developing countries, IK has gained recognition as a vital base for sustainable development. It has now been realised that IK is important for many kinds of development activities to be successful. IK has now been seen pivotal for sustainable resource use, environment management and balanced development.

Paradigm Shift

The failure of technocratic and econometric approaches to development has toppled the once dominant concept of technology transfer, which has resulted in the paradigm shift in the conventional development thinking with the rise of calls for ‘development from below’ or participatory development. The effectiveness of the short-term technical solutions once thought to be so effective have had unforeseen negative consequences in the long run. This reflects the recognition of the potential of indigenous knowledge, both in providing sustainable livelihood opportunities for many rural people in the developing countries and also as an important source of tested solutions and alternative strategies to environment and development challenges.

The large scale legitimisation of the importance of indigenous knowledge and participation took place at the United Nations Convention on Environment and Development (UNCED) in the Rio de Janeiro’s Earth Summit in 1992 and indigenous issues gained a prominent significance in the Earth Summit discussions and in the agreements that came out of the Earth Summit: the Rio Declaration of Principles, Agenda 21, the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Statement on Forest Principles. The ‘Our Common Future’ or the Brundtland Report by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) in 1987 also put great emphasis on local-level participation in decision-making and in the capacity building.

The World Bank’s growing investment in the application and dissemination of IK is also a remarkable evidence of how far IK has moved onto global development and biodiversity agendas. Various bilateral and multilateral aid donors and development organisations have been showing interest in promoting research and development initiatives that incorporate indigenous knowledge. This also calls for the worldwide recognition of IK as untapped natural resources for providing suitable strategies in the pursuit of mainstream sustainable development.

The close and traditional dependence of many indigenous and local communities on biological resources signifies the potential of IK in natural resources management and sustainable use of biological diversity. The ‘Convention on Biological Diversity’ stressed on the need to respect, preserve and maintain knowledge, innovations, and practices of indigenous and local communities, promote the wider application of such knowledge and encourage the equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the utilization of such knowledge, innovations and practices.

Indigenous knowledge represents the generations of creative thought and action in a community. It is the information base for a society, and facilitates communication and decision-making. It is a pre-requisite for survival for the majority of the world’s rural population. IK in the form of local know-how and cultural practices is the set of tools that communities use to manage their natural resources including genetic resources, biodiversity, herbal medicines and agriculture. IK systems are the knowledge assets of local communities living from the direct use of physical and biological resources. The reason that the study of indigenous knowledge systems is important for policy analysis is that these systems are by and large extremely cost effective and that such study is a genuine effort to achieve people’s participation in the development process.

IK may suggest alternatives when the solutions offered by a development project may fail, as they do not fit with the local condition. Familiarity with IK can help ‘change agents’ understand and communicate with local people, enabling the project staff and local people to work as partners in planning and implementing development activities and enhancing the possibilities for participatory and sustainable approaches to development. IK also provides a baseline data for searching a technical solution to a particular problem. Local environmental knowledge and indigenous knowledge have also the potential to supply accurate descriptions of visible environmental processes. IK has a great potential as a new working methodology of action research to provide opportunities for wide ranging communication with the stakeholders and real life operation of the participatory projects. The role of indigenous approaches to sustainable development for providing sustainable livelihood to rural communities is admittedly great, as it is useful for managing community resources in a befitting manner to avoid its misuse and misallocation.

Looking Ahead

The threat to the indigenous self-reliant technologies from the pressures of modernisation and cultural homogenisation due to globalisation calls for an urgent need to protect the indigenous knowledge and traditional technologies, which are national heritages of many developing countries. For this, decision-makers at policy level have to do more to address the larger issue of popular participation, and officials at the grassroots level need to be trained in how to integrate indigenous knowledge with the exogenous technologies. The role of civil society is also great in creating such a change. The research and education programmes should be aimed at gaining a better understanding of indigenous knowledge and management experience of the local people through participatory IK research so as to encourage the application of IK in contemporary development challenges. IK has a great potential and scope as a valuable resource in the movement towards a sustainable future for a developing country like Nepal.

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