The importance of indigenous knowledge

By Rathan Sudheer

This is a response is based on “Indigenous Knowledge for Biodiversity Conservation” by Madhav Gadgil, et.al. The article speaks about the importance and relevance of indigenous knowledge in today’s environment dialogue. Indigenous knowledge is defined as the accumulated knowledge handed down by generations of people to conserve and protect their environment.

Following are the characteristics of indigenous knowledge:

· It is necessary for the indigenous people to be permanently be depended on a natural resource for generations for the knowledge to be accumulated. In other words, not all types indigenous people possess the broad knowledge on conservation of their natural resource. The author specifically points out that hunter-gatherers who used to migrate from one resource to another did not need the knowledge of sustainable resource use.

· Indigenous people did not transform or morph their available ecosystem to a large scale. Their dependence on natural resources incentivised them to adopt measures that ensure the sustainability of their immediate surroundings.

· This knowledge is accumulated from long periods of time. Short term drastic changes to the environment renders these pieces of knowledge useless. For example, indigenous people find it difficult to predict weather patterns with climate change.

Indigenous knowledge can be analogised as a very long-term study on the behaviour of man/woman’s immediate surroundings. While western scientific knowledge has been limited, these practices are known to work far more efficiently when it comes to conserving biodiversity and creating a sustainable environment. Early fishermen used to simply look at the sea to determine if the time was right for fishing. Before western science prevailed, at a particular time of the year, determined by the ocean weather patterns, catching fishes used to be forbidden. This was to prevent the capture of baby fishes which would essentially provide for the next year’s yield. Similarly, tribal people have had a way of sourcing and replenishing natural forest resources without any informed scientific knowledge.

One of the greatest enemies to indigenous knowledge of biodiversity conservation has been modernisation. Indigenous ways of using natural resources include a natural restraint which is missing in modern day practices. Modernisation has placed no limit on its natural resource consumption. Secondly, indigenous people have a special relationship with nature. They have a symbiotic relationship with nature and its resources. Conservation techniques adopted by indigenous people is not a final rescue and save the mission of the environment. These practices are embedded in their daily lives. Meanwhile, modernisation had made people distant from nature. Nature was seen as a source to only extract and not to give.

However, with the onset of the global environmental degradation plight, the use of these practices are becoming increasingly popular in today’s biodiversity conservation and sustainability drives. Where scientific methods have failed, employing and incentivising indigenous practices is forest conservation, sustainable agriculture etc are becoming the norm. Using the indigenous people and their practices to help regenerate forests and wastelands are being adopted.

It is vital that these practices be adopted into modern conservation techniques. It is also important to protect existing ecosystems that are conserved through indigenous practices.