COMMUNICATIONS - RESEARCH

Participatory natural resource management
Management of natural resources through popular participation is gradually being accepted as an effective strategy to arrest and reverse the alarming rate of resource degradation and its economic and environmental consequences.
A number of factors have contributed to this awareness:

• increased realization of the limitations of state interventions that manage local resources without involving local communities;
• the rediscovery of the rationale and mechanisms behind traditional systems for managing resources through common property;
• the advocacy of grass-roots non-government organizations for the management of local resources; and
• the success of recent initiatives involving approaches to developing and managing natural resources through community forestry programmes, community irrigation systems, pasture development and management by groups of users, and joint management of forests in Asia and other parts of the developed world.

Ethnobiology and civil ecology of Tibetans
A study of the ethnobiology and civil ecology of Tibetans is being carried out between now and 1996 by a team from the Lanzhou University and the National Minority Committee. The study examines traditional Tibetan medicine; the genetic and biological diversity of highland plants cultivated within traditional Tibetan agricultural systems; traditional agricultural and animal husbandry practices; the nature and ecological/economic significance of Tibetan home gardens and forests cultivated for firewood; and the nutritional aspects of Tibetans' traditional way of life, and its influence on the health of local people. In future, the study may also include research on the indigenous economy, the new power policy, and the relationship of this policy to the conservation of plant resources.
Preliminary fieldwork was conducted between June and October 1993 in northwest and southwest Tibet. Information and research materials can be obtained from the address below. Fieldwork in Tibet, Qinghai, Sichuan, and Yunnan province is planned for the summers of 1994 and 1995.
Data will be processed and analyzed by computer (e.g. using a database programme and multi-analysis). Remote-sensing techniques will be used to investigate the status of agriculture, resources, and animal husbandry production. Botanical and biochemical studies will also be conducted to investigate the genetic variation of cultivated highland plants.
The results of the study will be published in monographs and other academic publications. Computerized information, such as databases of Tibetan ethnobiology and Tibetan agriculture, will be developed as well. Video programmes will be produced to introduce Tibetan medicine and Tibetan traditional agriculture to the outside world.
Other scholars who have interest in these comprehensive studies are invited to join the team.
Contact: Xia Quan, Lanzhou University, Department of Biology, Rm. 409 Family Dependent Building No. 4, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730070, China. Tel: +86- 931-668111 ext. 514. Fax: +86-931-668159.

PINEP
The Pastoral Information Network Programme (PINEP) is funded by SAREC. Its implementation is made possible by an institutional linkage between the Department of Range Management (University of Nairobi) and the Environmental Policy and Society Group (EPOS, Uppsala University, Sweden).
The PINEP training programme focuses on generating relevant knowledge for rangeland practitioners, on training manpower in the field of resource management, and on creating points of contact between modern and indigenous knowledge. The research component of the programme emphasizes the utilization of field stations in the region for the exchange of knowledge between researchers. Research results are disseminated through a regional network and a series of publications called 'Dryland working papers'. The programme has a regional orientation and its activities cover Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Djibouti and Eritrea. One M.Sc. scholarship is provided each year for each country.
To make indigenous knowledge accessible and useful in rangelands research programmes, PINEP encourages recipients of its scholarships to undertake thesis work that focuses on three major objectives:

• to identify areas in which scientific knowledge and indigenous knowledge are compatible;
• to evaluate research activities and objectives in which the two knowledge systems complement each other; and
• to examine processes and mechanisms for integrating the two knowledge systems in order to conduct applied research on the management of rangelands.

Creating a dialogue between pastoralists and research/extension officers
Pastoralists in the semi-arid rangelands of western New South Wales (Australia), although inhabiting the area for less than 150 years, have learned through trial and error that their local knowledge is a valuable resource for understanding the local environment. Knowledge based on research is the only knowledge valued in the Transfer of Technology (ToT) model, on which most research and development in western New South Wales is based. Local knowledge is not valued and has not been considered. ToT is therefore not a holistic approach to R&D. Other, more holistic models for R&D should be considered that would allow for and appreciate the participation of pastoralists.
The aim of this PhD project is to find a way of providing an environment for incorporating local knowledge into R&D--for establishing research priorities and joint research relationships. The study began by exploring the wealth of knowledge on vegetation and vegetation management in semi-arid rangelands that is possessed by both pastoralists and research/extension officers. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with both pastoralists and research/extension officers.
Interview data were compiled into three booklets: 'Listening to pastoralists', 'Listening to governmental research/extension officers', and 'Listening to CSIRO researchers'. The purpose of the booklets was to share the results with the people interviewed, and to do this in a form that was simple, creative and relatively free of interpretation. The interviewees were invited to comment on the contents of the booklets and suggest alterations. The booklets were subsequently modified in accordance with the comments. Presenting people with their own information is a way of expressing value for their knowledge, understanding and participation. The pastoralists' booklet was accompanied by a tape with the same information, and the author paid a second visit. The pastoralists were thus offered a range of media that suited their learning styles.
The next step involved inviting people to participate in a meeting. The meetings offered the participants an opportunity to explore and articulate their understanding of rangeland vegetation and its management and to learn from each other. The meetings were aided by diagrams, brainstorming, matrix ranking and photographs. The meeting environment was non-threatening and for the one day nobody was right or wrong.
More information can be obtained from:
Stephany Kersten, B.P. 284, Maroua, Cameroon. Tel: +237-292268. Fax: +237-292269.
or:
Prof. R.L. Ison, Systems Department, Technology Faculty, The Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK. Tel: +44-908-274066. Fax: +44-908-652175. E-mail: R.L.ISON@OPEN.AC.UK

Multi-media approach to agricultural development: an exploratory study
Agricultural development in developing countries depends as much on communication media as it does on modern technology for increasing productivity. Radio, television and the printed word draw the most attention, in addition to the activities of extension agencies. Of late, however, academics and extension workers are increasingly concerned that the potential of traditional media, such as folk songs, has not been properly explored. It is ironic that each medium of communication tends to operate in isolation, even if it involves the same technology as other media.
In view of this, the author is attempting in the present study to explore possibilities for using a multi- media approach to agricultural development. Various combinations of popular mass media will be tried, such as radio and television, together with extension activities. The forms and themes of some of the traditional media, and their flexibility, will be incorporated into an experimental design. Assessment of information gained from informants in the field following the testing of various combinations will form the basis for suggestions for an effective multi-media approach. This study should be very useful to policy-makers and communicators, and should help to speed up the process of technology transfer.
Contact: K.S. Meenakshi Sundaram, PhD Scholar, Division of Agricultural Extension, Annamalai University, Chidambaram 608002, India.
or:
Dr. J. Vasantha Kumar, Reader and Head, Division of Agricultural Extension, Annamalai University, Chidambaram 608002, India.

Plants for life programme
The Plants for Life Programme operates under the Social Forestry Training and Research Division of the Kenya Forestry Research Institute. The objectives of the programme are to document traditional knowledge of the non-timber products of forest ecosystems, and to determine the requirements for their conservation and sustainable utilization.
This is being achieved through three major activities:

1. Ethnobotany: Field surveys are conducted to document and evaluate knowledge about the use and value of plants to various communities in Kenya. Special attention is given to indigenous plants for medicinal purposes and food.
2. Research: This is done to help farmers (mainly traditional medical practitioners) grow plants that have germination problems, to find ways by which traditional medical practitioners can become more effective as conservation agents, and to develop better and more sustainable methods for harvesting medicinal and other plants.
3. Extension: Local knowledge about plants is publicized. A publication on plants that are of use and value to the Maasai of Kajiado district is currently being prepared. Local knowledge is also distributed through schools, women's groups, and workshops for scientists and users.

Biodiversity conservation
This research project focuses on the indigenous forest people of the Huai Kha Khaeng and Thung Yai Naresuan Protected Area of Thailand. The area comprises 6000 km2 of tropical forest in the western part of central Thailand bordering on Myanmar. Because of the area's great bio-diversity, UNESCO in 1990 declared it a World Heritage Site. The present research is aimed at determining how to reconcile the conservation and management of a protected area with the long-established presence in the forest of the Pwo Karen people. The research will address, in both specific and general terms, the rights and role of indigenous peoples who inhabit areas earmarked for conservation and/or protection. In the context of current planning for international development assistance (by the World Bank, GEF and bilateral agencies), the research will argue that the indigenous knowledge of the Pwo Karen people can make a significant contribution to the management of the protected area, and that the Pwo Karen people should be treated as partners and not evicted.
Contact: K.E. Andersen, Galgebakken Sten 4-1, 2620 Albertslund, Denmark. Tel: +45-42- 648693.

The CBDC Programme
Elaborate international discussions are taking place on the relationship between conserving crop diversity in gene banks (ex situ) and in farming systems (in situ), and on the integration of use and conservation. There are two forms of crop improvement and conservation. One is an institutional system linking gene banks with industrial plant breeding, seed production and ultimately distribution to farmers. The other is a farmer/community system, using local varieties and integrating conservation and utilization in a dynamic system of local crop development and seed production. This last system, within which most farmers in developing countries operate, is responsible for maintaining the currently available large fund of genetic diversity that is so important for the institutional system. Up to now, however, the fund of diversity has not benefitted in any way from scientific advances in plant breeding or from institutional gene banks.
A major problem appears to be the lack of systematic information on the informal system. Information is now limited largely to anecdotal descriptions of local practices. On-farm crop improvement should be recognized as an alternative to institutional plant breeding; it can offer advantages under a range of environmental and socio-economic conditions. There are numerous examples of minor crops and even major crops that suit a wide variety of marginal environments but will never offer economic justification for costly institutional breeding programmes. Under such circumstances, farmers will continue to rely on local crop development and seed production.
It was for these reasons that a need was expressed for more systematic study of local innovation systems and for suggestions as to how these systems could benefit more from the institutional system.
The CPRO-DLO Centre for Genetic Resources (CGN) is a Dutch gene bank that is coordinating an international research programme called 'Community Biodiversity Development and Conservation' (CBDC). Partners in the programme, in North and South, include several non-government organizations, other gene banks, and various institutes (universities and NARS) active in local management and the use of plant genetic resources. Partnership is on an equal footing.
The CBDC programme aims to combine socio-economic analysis of farmers' objectives, requirements and opportunities, with an analysis of technological, genetic and agronomic constraints and opportunities at the farm level. Insights gained and methods developed through farming systems research and farmer participatory research will be applied. The main objectives of the CBDC programme are to investigate and assess community innovations and systems for the conservation and use of plant genetic resources; to provide direct support of these systems for the development and conservation of biodiversity; and to suggest, and where possible support, initiatives by which these systems can benefit from institutional activities.
In 1993 the CBDC programme was in a phase of partner identification and project development. Three programmes, each with four or five projects in various countries, have been designed for Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America. The diversity of sites will ensure a variety of crops, cropping systems, physical environments and socio-economic situations. Community and farmer participation will play a central role in the research. (Walter de Boef and Wieneke van der Heide)
Contact:
Southeast Asia: Rene Salazaar, SEARICE, Unit 332, Eagle Court Condominium, 26 Matalino Street, Diliman, Quezon City, The Philippines. Fax: +63-2-9215432.
Latin America: Camilla Montecinos, CET, Casilla 16557, Correo 9, Santiago, Chile. Fax: +56-2-2337239.
Africa: Regassa Fayessi, PGRC/E, P.O. Box 30726, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Fax: +251-1-180381.
Europe: Walter de Boef and Wieneke van der Heide, CPRO-DLO Centre for Genetic Resources, P.O. Box 16, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands. Fax: +31-8370-18094.