First International Congress of Indigenous Peoples Speaks To Save Planet
Prensa Latina

CARACAS, VENEZUELA: The First International Congress of Indigenous Peoples (August 7-9 in Anzoategui State and in Gran Sabana) will speak in favor of saving the planet, declared the Minister of Indigenous People in Venezuela, Nicia Maldonado. She specified that the closing ceremony of the Congress will coincide with the International Day of Indigenous People. Representatives of 22 countries and a great diversity of geographic areas will participate in the event, Maldonado indicated. They will mainly debate on the protagonistic role of those human groups in their respective environments and the preservation of their languages as part of the cultural diversity, she pointed out. More…

Knowledge acquisition is changing radically, UNESCO Declaration states
UNESCO Press Release

BONN, GERMANY: Knowledge acquisition and sharing will increasingly be technology mediated, and traditional educational processes will be revolutionized, said experts at a UNESCO High Level Group that took place from 22 to 23 June 2007 in Kronberg, Germany. Adopting the “Kronberg Declaration on the Future of Knowledge Acquisition and Sharing” the high-level experts also said that leaders in the public and private sectors must embrace change in organizations and people by providing opportunities and incentives to facilitate and motivate, as well as to overcome typical barriers in knowledge acquisition and sharing. “We have seen over the past 10 years a dramatic increase of the dependence of global development processes from the ability to efficiently produce, disseminate and use information and knowledge” says Abdul Waheed Khan of UNESCO. ”Lack of access to knowledge increasingly accentuates marginalization and economic deprivation, and we need to join efforts to bridge these gaps”. More…

Sex Tree and Other Medicinal Plants Near Extinction in Uganda
National Geographic News

MABIRA FOREST RESERVE, UGANDA: A short, scrawny bush found deep in Uganda’s rain forest is rapidly approaching extinction as poachers rush to harvest it for its purported aphrodisiac properties, scientists say. The so-called “sex tree”, Citropsis articulata, is quickly disappearing from Uganda’s Mabira Forest Reserve, one of the country’s last remaining rain forests, because its roots are believed to cure impotence, experts said last week a symposium in Kampala. In addition to the sex tree, other medicinal plant species such as Prunus africana, a tree commonly used to treat malaria and some forms of cancer, are also being depleted. Ibrahim Senfuma, a bird-hunting guide who lives near the forest reserve, said he and his neighbors often take the P. africana plant to boost immunity and C. articulata to enhance sex drive. The leaves and roots of the plants are chewed or boiled for tea, he explained. “If these plants are lost, it would be a burden,” Senfuma said. “The forest caters to many people.” More…

Agriculture Minister encourages blending traditional knowledge and modern science: Bhutan
Bhutan Ministry of Agriculture

THIMPHU, BHUTAN: Lyonpo Sangay Ngedup, Hon’ble Minister of Agriculture, gave a final briefing to officials of the Ministry of Agriculture before he leaves the Ministry to participate in the historic event of the country’s transition to democracy. In his address, he noted that everything in the RNR sector should begin and end with the principle of the Triple Gem – because production, accessibility and market are the heart and soul of rural development. Comprehensive research is necessary to study issues like burning for soil fertility and the possibilities of blending traditional knowledge of the farmers with modern science in managing land, for example, traditional land management systems of the south like Shingkhar Lauri. More…

Malaysia’s indigenous battle to hold ancestral lands
Middle East Times

KAMPUNG CHANG, MALAYSIA: Just before Semah Ah Yin’s great-grandfather Atok Mawai died, he asked that his body be left by a nearby waterfall so that it could be carried away by a flood to his next life. Atok Mawai was a shaman of some renown, and the waterfall and river in northern Perak state where he performed ritualistic ceremonies became a sacred site for the indigenous Semai people living in nearby Kampung Chang village. It marks the boundary of lushly-forested ancestral land held by the Semai for generations – and which the state government is now eyeing for development. The battle for the Semai’s cherished forests is just one of many cases being fought by peninsular Malaysia’s indigenous Orang Asli, or Original People, to retain control over their traditional lands. More…

No vision on Whitefella’s Telly
The Australian

YUENDUMU, AUSTRALIA: Pioneering filmmaker Francis Kelly fears for the future of an industry he virtually created. Yuendumu, a small indigenous community 300km northwest of Alice Springs, is home to Warlpiri Media, which Kelly founded 25 years ago. It has produced, among other credits, his internationally acclaimed film Bush Mechanics. But a stoush over the creation of a national indigenous television channel has people in the town up in arms about the future of their stories — stories Kelly believes could be stolen by foreign production houses if indigenous filmmakers do not keep their focus on making new films. Yuendumu traditional land owner Albert Jakamarra Wilson is unhappy with the new service. He said it showed Aboriginal people doing things white people did. Instead he wanted films about his culture and ceremonies that he felt mainstream media had already wiped out in his community. More…

Giving Indigenous People a Voice
Taiwan Review

TAIPEI, TAIWAN: Being one of Taiwan’s first aboriginal news reporters, Kolas Yotaka wrestles with a dilemma-how to reach out to the island’s 13 recognized tribes when she cannot speak any of their languages, including that of her own tribe. “I grew up speaking Mandarin with my parents. They thought the language of our tribe, the Amis tribe, was useless, so they didn’t teach it to me. They wanted me to learn English and Japanese instead,” she says. The dilemma she faces as head of the news department of Taiwan Indigenous TV (TITV), the first TV station devoted to the island’s original inhabitants, was just one of many facing TITV as it marked its second anniversary on July 1. More…

Shadows Cast Over Garma
The Australian

GULKULA, AUSTRALIA: The Garma festival, held over the weekend in a stringybark forest in northeast Arnhem Land, is designed as a celebration of indigenous culture and a forum to exchange ideas. But this year, the festival’s ninth, at least three distinct chapters are unfolding at once. Cultural tourism and academic discussion remain cornerstones of the Garma experience, bringing together eager participants from across the nation and the world to share knowledge and learn more about the nuances of indigenous culture. But amid it all, much of the focus at Garma 2007 inevitably has turned towards the Australian Government’s unprecedented intervention in the Northern Territory’s Aboriginal communities. NT Environment Minister Marion Scrymgour told the crowd on Friday night: “Garma isn’t about politicians. But Garma is definitely about politics: the politics of art, the politics of land, the politics of culture and the politics of kinship and family.” More…

South African Minister: Unfair to Criticise Traditional Health Cures
Business Day [South Africa] via AllAfrica.com

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA: Health Minister Manto Tshabala-Msimang and her director-general yesterday stridently defended the role of traditional medicines. Traditional African remedies were being criticised by conventional medicine and the pharmaceutical industry in a way other remedies were not, she said. “What really bothers me is that when we talk about Chinese traditional medicines and Indian traditional medicines, these questions don’t arise,” Tshabalala-Msimang told foreign correspondents in Johannesburg. Traditional medicines are widely used in SA, but there is limited documented evidence of their risks and benefits. Much of the knowledge about such remedies is based on oral traditions. More…