Table of contents of this file:
1.0
Overview – regional issues
1.0.1 Traditional Knowledge holders
1.0.2 Traditional Knowledge. Definitions and
related components.
1.1
Plant genetic resources for food and agriculture
1.2
Animals and micro-organisms for food and other purposes
1.3
Traditional medicinal knowledge
1.4
Ecosystem categories:
1.5
Knowledge versus practice
1.6
Feasibility of using Traditional Knowledge to maintain
customary purposes
1.7 Summary
In the
course of processing the information contained in national and thematic
reports submitted by the Parties to the Secretariat of the Convention on
Biological Diversity, global weaknesses for the suitable retention and
protection of the traditional knowledge and practices were revealed. These
are, due to a gap in resources and to institutional limitations which
jeopardize the implementation or the coordination of measures of preservation
and enhancing of traditional knowledge.
Table
1. Reported relevance of the governmental policies
and actions in relation with Traditional Biodiversity-Related Knowledge
|
NATION
|
Ratification Date
|
Submitted Reports
|
TBRK Relevance |
|
LOW |
MDM |
HIGH |
|
ARGENTINA
|
22/11/1994 |
First National Report
|
- |
- |
- |
|
Second National Report |
X |
|
|
|
Thematic Report on
Alien and Invasive Species |
- |
- |
- |
|
Thematic Report on
Forest Ecosystems |
- |
- |
- |
|
BOLIVIA |
03/10/1994 |
First National Report
|
- |
- |
- |
|
BRASIL
|
28/02/1994 |
National Biodiversity
Strategy and Action Plan |
- |
- |
X |
|
First National Report |
- |
- |
- |
|
CHILE
|
09/09/1994 |
None report is
registred |
- |
- |
- |
|
COLOMBIA |
28/11/1994 |
National Biodiversity
Strategy and Action Plan |
- |
- |
X |
|
First National Report |
- |
- |
- |
|
Thematic Report on
Mountain Ecosystems |
- |
- |
- |
|
ECUADOR |
23/02/1993 |
National Biodiversity
Strategy and Action Plan |
- |
- |
- |
|
First National Report |
- |
- |
- |
|
GUYANA |
29/08/1994 |
National Biodiversity
Strategy and Action Plan |
- |
- |
- |
|
First National Report |
- |
- |
- |
|
PARAGUAY |
24/02/1994 |
None report is
registred |
- |
- |
- |
|
PERÚ |
07/06/1993 |
National Biodiversity
Strategy and Action Plan |
|
X |
|
|
First National Report |
- |
- |
- |
|
Second National Report |
|
X |
|
|
Thematic Report on
Alien and Invasive Species |
- |
- |
- |
|
Thematic Report on
Mountain Ecosystems |
- |
- |
- |
|
SURINAME |
12/01/1996 |
None report is
registred |
- |
- |
- |
|
URUGUAY |
05/11/1993 |
National Biodiversity
Strategy and Action Plan |
- |
- |
- |
|
First National Report |
- |
- |
- |
|
Second National Report |
X |
|
|
|
Thematic Report on
Alien and Invasive Species |
- |
- |
- |
|
VENEZUELA |
13/09/1994 |
None report is
registred |
- |
- |
- |
In
spite of the importance of the indigenous presence in this region, there is no
corresponding volume of studies and information. Estimations made barely allow
to set appropriate figures shown in Table 2. and Graphic 1.
Furthermore, the fragility of the legal
status of the indigenous group (e.g., disparity in recognition of indigenous
peoples and communities, lack of legal provisions for transboundary ethnic
groups) affect the implementation of the measures required to protect their
interests and rights over their knowledge and practices.
In the
South American region, traditional knowledge is a concept mostly associated
with the indigenous peoples
who have inhabited the territory before the arrival of Europeans.
Following the war of annihilation and slaughter that took place in the first
centuries of the Spanish colonization and the postponement and denial of first
national governments, in 1999, among the 350 millons Latin American
inhabitants, the indigenous populations was estimated in 18 millions; among
the approximately 400 ethnic groups, the Quechuas, the Aimaras, the Guaranies,
the Paez, the Mapuches and the Guajiros alone surpass the 100 thousands
individuals (I.G. - UNAM. 1999).
On the
other hand, many other groups consider themselves as local or traditional
people though their members are the result of the fusion between aboriginal
people with earlier migrants from Africa, Asia and Europe (e.g. Marroon,
Creole, Mulatto, Mestizo). Today they are completely
integrated to the natural landscape and they have developed costumary
practices and cultural specificities. Moreover, they have brought in many
species and knowledge on natural resources.
Table
2. Population and Ethnic Groups of the South
America Region by Countries (Parties of the CBD)
1.
East Indian a local term - primarily immigrants from northern
India
2.
mestizo mixed Amerindian and European
3.
mulato mixed white and black
4.
creole mixed white and black
5.
marrons: their African ancestors were brought to the country in the 17th and
18th centuries as slaves and escaped to the interior probably mixed black and
Amerindians
(*) estimated at mid-year
(**) estimation made from national census
data
The
nucleus of the Central Andean zone corresponds to Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia.
In terms of interethnic relations, between these three countries there are
major historical and cultural similarities. In Peru near 40% of the population
is indigenous, in Bolivia more than 50%, and in Ecuador approximately 25%
The
fluvial complex formed by the Orinoco-Amazon-Parana watersheds connects almost
the total landmass of South American countries. On this territory, indigenous
communities of the forest represent a percentage that fluctuates between 1%
and 5% of the corresponding national population. In the Amazon area, Native
groups reach 2,000,000 inhabitants and retain the 15 % of the territory; they
constitute a culturally homogenous but very dispersed and tribal set. In spite
of the fact that they constitute small groups, their long and rational
adaptation to the tropical forest, the technological and scientific
potentialities of their traditional knowledge, and their important range of
cultural creations speak of their successful adaptation as societies, as well
as their extraordinary and unmatched qualifications for the preservation of
the valuable and irreplaceable amazonian habitat.
The
other three significant geographical regions are: the Southern Andes;
Patagonia and the Pampas where almost 3 millons of indigenous and mestizo
inhabitants occupy under 1% of territories which are extensively subjected to
processes of industrialization and western civilization. Globally, the ethnic
composition in the South American region may be estimated as shown in the
following graphic:
|
Graphic
1. South America Ethnic Composition.
|
 |
The
extintion of indigenous groups and cultures is a historical and continuous
process that has been accelerated in recent times.
As an
example, in Peru, between 1950 and 1997, 11 aboriginal groups from
the Amazon were extinguished (Resígaro, Andoque, Panobo, Shetebo, Angotero,
Omagua, Andoa, Aguano, Cholón, Munichi and Taushiro). Out of the 42 still
remaining, 18 are in danger of disappearing altogether with less than 225
members left. The rescue of their traditional knowledge has to be achieved
through data bases (National Strategy on Biodiversity).
Another
important issue is the limitation of access to the non-contacted indigenous
communities made by national laws. On the Peruvian territory, a national NGO -Asociación
Interétnica de Desarrollo de la Selva Peruana- reported the presence of
indigenous groups (the Mashco-Piros (Yine Group), the Murunahua and the
Isconahua) that remain voluntarily isolated in the Peruvian Amazon on a
surface of aproximately 1.545.283 has.
They are governed by the Legistative Decree 22175 ‘Ley de
Comunidades Nativas y Desarrollo Agrario de las Regiones de Selva y Ceja de
Selva’ promulgated on 1978.
Those
groups must be incremented with the rest of isolated communities of the Amazon
bassin under other national jurisdictions. All them have low populations (less
than 300 members) and are under high risk of extinction (World Bank. 2000) In
Brazil the loss of Native environment is estimated between 15 % (Amazonas)
to 40 % (Cerrado) and 50 % (Caatinga). This loss translates into a loss of
traditional knowledge as well (1st. National Report, 1998)
The
concept of ‘Tradition-based knowledge’ refers to knowledge systems, creations,
innovations and cultural expressions which:
(a) have generally been transmitted from
generation to generation;
(b) are generally regarded as pertaining
to a particular people or to the traditional territory; and
(c) are constantly evolving in response
to a changing environment.
‘Traditional’, therefore, does not necessarily relate to the nature of the
knowledge but to the way in which the knowledge is created, preserved and
disseminated.
It is a
means of cultural identification of its holders, so that its preservation and
integrity are linked to concerns about the preservation of distinct cultures
per se; and, even if it includes information of a practical or technological
character, traditional knowledge has a cultural dimension and a social context
that can distinguish it from other forms of scientific or technological information. Indigenous people tend to
know about many things. This contrasts with academic circles where people tend
to be specialists, knowing a great deal about a few things, and reflect that
specilization through classifications and a hierarchies of subject-matters.
Local
peoples face a set of interrelated problems and they often attempt to solve
them by applying their knowledge in a holistic way. The relationships between
the parts and the reasoning behind decisions might not be easily discernible
to an outsider. Among its creators, traditional knowledge and practices are
divided by holders rather than the subject-matter. Gender and knowledge are
linked in many ways, women and men often hold very different skills and
different knowledge of local conditions and everyday life.
In
southern Venezuela, in the traditional environment of the Piaroa (Wöthibä),
men perform the bulk of forest foraging and are more knowledgeable about high
forest plants, whereas women are the main agriculturalists and may be more
knowledgeable about garden flora (Zent, Stanford; 2001). In addition, older
people have different types of knowledge than the young, and religious
knowledge about certain natural resources are restricted to particular members
of the community; the Guanano from Colombia (Moreno Villa. Jhon
Fernando. 2002) illustrate this fact when they distinguish: sacred knowledge (held by the shaman);
specialized knowledge; women’s knowledge and cross-sectional
knowledge (produced by the exchanges with neighboring groups) as Box 1
shows in more detail :
Box
1. Traditional Knowledge
Classification among the Guanano (Colombia)
(a)
Sacred knowledge: this knowledge
talks about the shamanic world. Its objective is to provide physical
well-being as well as spiritual; the achievement of that aim occurs through
interpretions of the temporal world as much as through means and mechanisms of
cognition that can only be held by a qualified person: the Shaman (or the ‘Cumú’,
among the Guanano people from Colombia). The transmission of knowledge is
highly restricted and any transgression can turn against the shaman himself.
(b)
Specialized knowledge: it is of
‘public dominion’, but for that reason it does not constitute an easy art; it
demands certain dedication and as any other discipline requires techniques. In
the context of intercultural relations it establishes degrees of reciprocity
with the purpose of enriching one’s own culture. Access to this type of
knowledge is informal; its transmission occurs in the daily life. The meaning
of its components is unique for each culture, nobody can claim exclusivity to
it but people as conceived as recipients of a gift of divine nature (e.g. the
Way-Masá of the Guanano people from Colombia).
(c)
Women’s knowledge: it is reserved to
the female world; so that only women have access to it; we could assert that
it is a consequence of the respect to privacy. Its origin is attributed to the
great Hycho mother (grandmother of the Guananos), who in former times led
women to attain the power to govern men. The function of the knowledge of
women relates to giving birth, to the production of cloth and utensils for the
kitchen, to secrets on the optimal conditions to handle seeds, their
resistance to means and the maximization of the production, to handle the
taxonomy of wild plants that can be used by the community, and the handling of
the different paintings that serve as additives for the decoration of dresses
and the woman’s body.
(d)
Cross-sectional knowledge: the
origin of this knowledge derives from a collective production within the same
territory; the interface with neighboring groups is free under the premise of
the good one to live. Its function is to serve like a drive to interethnic
dialogue projecting the expectation to establish eternal solidarity between
the indigenous peoples. Cross-sectional knowledge occurs in the social realm.
The belief that exists among members of the community is that the knowledge
must be socialized; As in any culture, the purpose is to maintain and protect
reserves from non-indigenous cultures, and to avoid cultural erosion.
Source: Moreno Villa. J.F.. (2002) (2003). Conocimiento tradicional en la etnia
Guanano: formación y control. Revista Biodiversidad. GRAIN. June 2002. http://www.grain.org/sp/publications/biodiv32-2-villa.cfm.
Cuadernos de Bioética N° 10 Ed Ad Hoc.. Argentina. February 2003. [Original in Spanish;
traslation by the author of this paper].
Religion is another important component; it is an integral part of indigenous
knowledge and cannot easily be separated from technical knowledge. Incidentally, aboriginal
nomenclatures for living organisms do not always correspond to the scientific
or botanical ones, and there is not a radical distinction between living
organisms (including human beings) (Fleury, M.; 1999).
The classification and hierachies of elements and
organisms of the natural world are given by the power of their spiritual
‘double beings’ and they are far from being translatable into a scientific
taxonomy (Descola,
P.; 1996). So, trying to expose the subject-matter of
traditional knowledge into a fragmentary scheme is not only a difficult task
but also a way to move away from the desired goal.
Traditional knowledge has also been linked to language; and retention of the
former is a reliable indicator of the conservation of the latter and vice
versa. It appears that acquiring a superior command of the Spanish language
also contributes significantly to diminishing the knowledge of plant names and
plant-naming competences, which are indicators of correct knowledge of use.
This type of links gives added meanings to the analyses of the status of
retention of traditional biodiversity-related knowledge by demonstrating the
practical importance of developing adequate perceptual and taxonomic
categorization skills; young people who fail to learn how to identify plant
taxa are likely to be unable to specify how plant can be used effectively (Zent,
S; 2001). From Table 3. It may be inferred that traditional
biodiversity-related knowledge might be endangered in contexts where
traditional languages face near extinction. Language retention status would
then become a significant predictor of loss in retention of TBRK.
Table
3.
Languages nearly extinct, only a few elderly speakers
are still living
|
Source: |
S.I.L. 1998 if no other is indicated |
|
|
COUNTRY |
LANGUAGE |
SPEAKERS |
COMMENTS |
SOURCE |
|
ARGENTINA |
Ona. |
1 to 3 |
in Tierra del Fuego |
(1991 Adelaar) |
|
|
Puelche. |
5 or 6 |
extinct in Chile |
|
|
|
Tehuelche.
|
30 |
|
(1983 Casamiquela, in Clairis). |
|
|
Vilela. |
|
five families |
|
|
BOLIVIA |
Baure. |
300 |
|
|
|
|
Itonama. |
110 |
in ethnic group in 1969 |
|
|
Leco. |
200 |
possibly some others out of
the ethnic group |
(1996 W. Adelaar) |
|
|
Movima. |
1.000 |
|
(1976 SIL). |
|
|
Pacahuara. |
|
individuals in one family |
(1986 SIL). |
|
|
Pauserna. |
25 to 30 |
|
(1991 Adelaar). |
|
|
Reyesano. |
1.000 |
estimated |
|
|
|
Uru. |
5 to 10 |
|
(1998 R. Olson SIL) |
|
BRAZIL |
Anambé. |
84 |
incluiding 7 out of the ethnic group |
|
|
Arikapú. |
6 |
|
(1998 SIL). |
|
|
Aruá. |
12 |
|
(1990 YWAM). |
|
|
Arutani. |
17 |
|
(1986 SIL). |
|
|
Jabutí. |
5 |
|
