local knowledge
Climate change is hindering the rights of poor women and children to live a safe life due to its negative impacts on their livelihoods, health, education and food security. New innovations and approaches are needed to link these impacts to policy-makers in a way that not only amplifies the concerns of poor women and children but promotes their participation in and capacity for creating...
Communities in the Yuksam-Dzongri trekking corridor of Sikkim use a wide variety of plant species as firewood and fodder with species preferences based on their local knowledge. Current practices are increasing harvest pressures on good quality firewood and fodder plants leading to deteriorating forest condition along the trekking corridor. To help develop management strategies and to ensure...
Degradation of natural resources in the highlands of Usambara has been extensively covered. In the past, farmers in the Usambara’s were practicing effective soil conservation and soil fertility preserving methods like multi-storey agroforestry, mixed cropping and green manuring. Yet these systems and knowledge began crumbling when German colonialism and cash...
Humanity is rediscovering the need for a harmonious relationship with the Earth. Through Agenda 21, the global action plan for sustainable development into the 21st century, we have recognized the need for an integrated approach to planning and managing our land resources. To do otherwise would risk further deterioriation of our soils, catastrophic climate change, and tragic losses in natural...
In Thailand the national market for organic products looks quite promising. Product quality and quantity need to be improved and there is considerable scope for new processed food items. Organic Agriculture Certification Thailand has been initiated but due to lack of international recognition, the ACT label cannot yet be offered to organic exports. The author makes clear that information,...
This paper presents the results of a study using participatory techniques to assess soil erosion in Ban Lak Sip, an upland village of northern Laos. Since 2000, soil erosion and related indicators have been measured in a 67-hectare watershed making up 15 percent of the village land. Measurements have included the survey of rill dynamics and the monitoring of sediment discharge in weirs. Due to...
Small-scale farmers manage genetic variability through a variety of different agricultural techniques. This article describes one such technique, that of maintaining varietal mixtures of a self-pollinated crop - in this case, rice. Sierra Leonean smallholders maintain 2 varieties in the same field not only as a risk avoidance strategy - the 2 varieties together perform better than alone - but...
It is only recently that the importance of integrating local knowledge and practices into development and conservation projects has started to receive real recognition, but the approach is still far from being mainstream. This book is one of a set of three prepared to help increase awareness and understanding, particularly among implementing organisations, of local knowledge, practices, and...
In recent years, much work has been put into understanding the products of indigenous knowledge. Many traditional, indigenous soil and water conservation techniques, ethnoveterinary practices, natural pesticides and intercropping have been documented, assessed and improved. ILEIA is one of the organisations following these developments. However, in documentation and assessment as well as...
The objective of the Participatory Plant Breeding project conducted in Syria was to test an alternative way of producing varieties of crops such as barley for marginal environments. The project operated in nine villages chosen to represent variations in annual rainfall, soil types, management practices, farm sizes, types of livestock ownership, and the formal edutation level of farmers. It...
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