Meeting review: UNESCO biodiversity science policy conference

Statement and Recommendations from the UNESCO International Year of Biodiversity Science Policy Conference
25 January – 29 January 2010 (Paris, France)

Organized in the framework of the International Year of Biodiversity, the UNESCO Biodiversity Science Policy Conference highlighted that “we must embrace … new technologies and develop efficient mechanisms for structuring and using them, while better acknowledging the valuable contributions that indigenous and local knowledge can provide.” The conference adopted a statement and recommendations, including priorities for and modalities of action on the role of indigenous and local knowledge in biodiversity conservation. Recommended actions include: enhancing the linkages between scientific and traditional local and indigenous knowledge related to biodiversity; and promoting transmission of local and indigenous knowledge on biodiversity, particularly within and through intercultural education, so as to ensure the continuity of local and indigenous taxonomy, knowledge and know-how. Download the statement and recommendations [pdf] …

 

Resource: Ethnobotanical study, Rai Coast area, Papua New Guinea

Reite Plants: An Ethnobotanical Study in Tok Pisin and English
Porer Nombo and James Leach
Asia-Pacific Environment Monograph 4, Australian National University E Press (January 2010) | ISBN 978 19216 66001 / 978 19216 66018

The product of a long-term collaborative work between the authors, Reite Plants is a documentation and discussion of the uses of plants by speakers of the Nekgini language, a people who reside in the hinterland of the Rai Coast in northern Papua New Guinea. This dual-language book provides high quality images and detailed information about traditional customary practices using plants, as an entry into understanding Nekgini social and cultural life. The book also contains a discussion of the ownership of plant knowledge in the context of both local and contemporary global trends. Download the whole book or individual sections [pdf] …

 

Resource: UNESCO intangible cultural heritage videos

A selection of intangible cultural heritage videos
UNESCO, 2009

This selection of videos highlights cases inscribed in the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent safeguarding, including, among others: traditions and practices associated to the Kayas in the sacred forests of the Mijikenda; traditional design and practices for building Chinese wooden arch bridges; and traditional Li textile techniques: spinning, dyeing, weaving and embroidering. View the videos …

 

This week in review … CBD developments of relevance to the ABS negotiations

List of selected indigenous and local community representatives to receive funding from the Voluntary Trust Fund for participation in the ninth meeting of the Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing
22 March – 28 March 2010 (Cali, Colombia)

The CBD Secretariat has completed the selection of representatives of indigenous and local communities to receive financial assistance in support of the participation to the ninth meeting of the ABS Working Group. Download the notification, including list of beneficiaries [pdf] …

Indigenous and local community negotiators meeting
13 March – 15 March 2010 (Cali, Colombia)

Following an initiative of the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity (IIFB) and with the financial support of the government of Spain, this meeting will be held prior to the ninth meeting of the ABS Working Group and will be facilitated by the CBD Secretariat. The names of indigenous and local community representatives from the seven geo-cultural regions who will participate in the meeting have been provided by the IIFB. Download the notification, including the list of participants [pdf] …

 

This week in review … WIPO developments of relevance to TK

International Conference on Traditional Knowledge
13 November 2009 (New Delhi, India)

The presentations made at this meeting, including on the state of play in the international protection of traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, as well as the protection at the national and community level, are now available online. Visit the meeting webpage, including presentations …

Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore: Sixteenth Session
3 May – 7 May 2010 (Geneva, Switzerland)

According to an IGC-15 decision, the WIPO Secretariat has made available in draft form documents on: the protection of traditional cultural expressions (WIPO/GRTKF/IC/16/4 Prov.); the protection of traditional knowledge: revised objectives and principles (WIPO/GRTKF/IC/16/5 Prov.); and genetic resources: revised list of options (WIPO/GRTKF/IC/16/6 Prov.). Comments on these preliminary drafts may be transmitted to the Secretariat at grtkf (at) wipo.int by 28 February 2010. Visit the meeting webpage, including preliminary drafts …

 

This week in review … Landmark ruling on indigenous land rights

Landmark decision rules Kenya’s removal of indigenous people from ancestral land illegal
Minority Rights Group International press release, 4 February 2010

BANJUL, THE GAMBIA: In a landmark decision, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has found the Kenyan government guilty of violating the rights of the country’s indigenous Endorois community, by evicting them from their lands to make way for a wildlife reserve. The decision creates a major legal precedent by recognizing, for the first time in Africa, indigenous peoples’ rights over traditionally owned land and their right to development. The decision was adopted by the African Commission in May 2009 and approved by the African Union at its January 2010 meeting in Addis Ababa. The Endorois are a semi-nomadic indigenous community of approximately 60,000 people, who for centuries have earned their livelihoods from herding cattle and goats in the Lake Bogoria area of Kenya’s Rift Valley. Since the creation of the wildlife reserve, the Endorois have been unable to gather the plants they once relied on for medicinal purposes, conduct religious ceremonies at their sacred sites or visit the graves of their ancestors. Read the press release … Download the decision [pdf] …

 

Resource: IIED publication on mobile pastoralists

Modern and mobile. The future of livestock production in Africa’s drylands
Helen de Jode (ed.)
IIED and SOS Sahel International UK (January 2010) | ISBN 978-1-84369-752-7

This book is about the critical role mobile livestock keeping plays in the economic prosperity of Africa’s drylands. Pastoralism relies on unique production strategies, with the ability to move being the most crucial. Although moving has become a serious problem, new thinking, new policies and innovative practices for pastoralist mobility are beginning to take root in many parts of dryland Africa. The book includes numerous examples of the deep indigenous knowledge that informs pastoral systems. Policy-making processes need to be informed by this knowledge, and will benefit from the experiences and insights of pastoralists and their representatives. Download the book [pdf] …

 

This week in review … Pocket computers record Inuit knowledge

Handheld field computers record Inuit knowledge
Nunatsiaq online, 4 February 2010

NUNAVUT, CANADA: The Igliniit Project has produced a programme for a pocket computer to record weather data and hunters’ observations while on the land. Using a stylus on the touch-screen, hunters can record what they encounter while hunting or traveling. The machine has icons for a variety of Arctic animals, as well as weather conditions, ice conditions, and even garbage, all through a pictographic interface in both English and Inuktitut syllabics. It also has an external weather sensor, which can be mounted on a snow machine or dog sled. The sensor takes readings of air pressure, humidity and temperature every 30 seconds. The weather data combined with the hunters’ observations has the potential to produce an enormous amount of raw data on areas of the Arctic seldom visited by researchers. But as the money from the International Polar Year’s research winds down, Igliniit looks to new resources to continue its work. Read the article …