"Indigenous Knowledge and Bioprospecting"

"Indigneous Knowledge and Bioprospecting" -Painted by John Hunter

This painting focuses on the themes of the rebirth of Indigenous cultural and ecological diversity, the importance of unity and diversity among the different races, consultation and a celebration of spiritual knowledge.

This conference, Indigenous Knowledge and Bioprospecting, will provide a forum where Indigenous peoples, scientists, and lawmakers will consult about this situation. The consultation will focus on three key areas related to Indigenous Knowledge and Bioprospecting.

1. Respond to Indigenous Needs
2. Value Indigenous Knowledge
3. Enhance Biocultural DiversityIdentify the elements of the 'inextricable link' between indigenous culture and biodiversity in order to explore the potential interdependence of humanity, biodiversity and indigenous cultures.Indigenous Knowledge and Bioprospecting Conference

Examination of three main hypotheses in this area:

1) Indigenous cultures conserve or enhance biological diversity.

2) Biological diversity directly enhances cultural diversity.

3) Large-scale social systems reduce both cultural and biological diversity.

(see Eric A.Smith, "On the Coevolution of Cultural, Linguistic, and Biological Diversity"
in On Biocultural Diversity: Linking Language, Knowledge and the Environment, ed. Luisa Maffi, 2001, Washington, Smithsonian Institution Press)

1.Responding to Indigenous needs

2.Valuing Indigenous Knowledge

engagement with the diversity and sophistication of Indigenous knowledge systems represents a potential 'second enlightenment' for global civilisation.

focusing on the potential collaborative relationships between western scientific methodology and Indigenous ecological knowledge.

Note the following contrast may intentionally emphasize the differences between Traditional ecological knowledge and western science, but it is acknowledged that there are varying degrees of how this is manifested in sometimes more integrated ways on both sides. It is suggested that a genuine consultation between both "communities of knowledge" will demonstrate creative benefits for both.

Traditional Ecological Knowledge:

• is recorded and transmitted through oral tradition;
• is learned through observation and hands-on experience;
• is based on the understanding that the elements of matter have a life force. (All parts of the natural world are therefore infused with spirit);
• does not view human life as superior to other animate and inanimate elements; all life-forms have kinship and are interdependent;
• is holistic (whereas western science is reductionist)
• is intuitive in its mode of thinking (whereas western science is analytical);
• is mainly qualitative (whereas western science is mainly quantitative);
• is based on data generated by resource users. (As such it is more inclusive than western science, which is collected by a specialized group of researchers who tend to be more selective and deliberate in the accumulation of facts);
• is based on diachronic data (whereas western science is largely based on synchronic data);
• is rooted in a social context that sees the world in terms of social and spiritual relations between all life-forms. (In contrast, western science is hierarchically organized and vertically compartmentalized); and
• derives its explanations of environmental phenomena from cumulative, collective and often spiritual experiences. Such explanations are checked, validated, and revised daily and seasonally through the annual cycle of activities."

See Martha Johnson, Research on Traditional Environmental Knowledge: Its Development and Its Role, in Lore: Capturing Traditional Environmental Knowledge 3, 4 (Martha Johnson ed., 1992).

3.Enhancing Biocultural Diversity

Identify the elements of the 'inextricable link' between indigenous culture and biodiversity in order to explore the potential interdependence of humanity, biodiversity and indigenous cultures.

Examination of three main hypotheses in this area:

1) Indigenous cultures conserve or enhance biological diversity.

2) Biological diversity directly enhances cultural diversity.

3) Large-scale social systems reduce both cultural and biological diversity.

(see Eric A.Smith, "On the Coevolution of Cultural, Linguistic, and Biological Diversity"
in On Biocultural Diversity: Linking Language, Knowledge and the Environment, ed. Luisa Maffi, 2001, Washington, Smithsonian Institution Press)

Indigenous Knowledge and Bioprospecting Conference