COMMUNICATIONS - RESEARCH

Tropical coastal ecosystems
Coral reefs and mangrove forests have traditionally served the people of The Philippines as productive, solar-powered, natural factories. It is estimated that 15 percent of the total Philippine fish production, worth as much as 1 percent of GNP, is currently associated with coral reefs. Tourism, an important and growing industry in The Philippines, is also closely associated with the nation's world- famous coral reefs. Mangrove forests are often seen as useless swamps, yet they actually offer benefits to society that far exceed even the numerous goods they produce. These tropical ecosystems have been of great use, simultaneously supporting some of the earth's highest levels of biodiversity and serving as habitat for numerous endangered plant and animal species. Indeed, it is partly the rich biodiversity of coral and mangrove ecosystems which makes them so useful and attractive to so many people.
In recent times, coral reefs and mangrove forests have been required to produce goods and provide environmental maintenance services at rates that even these efficient ecosystems cannot sustain. As a result, they are becoming so degraded that their ability to fulfill their numerous functions is severely threatened. There are now important efforts underway by the Philippine government, NGOs and community groups to prevent the looming collapse of these precious natural resource systems by promoting management for sustainable use.
In this context a research project entitled 'Exploring traditional knowledge of tropical coastal ecosystems: ethnoecology and participatory resource assessment in a Philippine coastal community' will examine the traditonal knowledge of Philippine fishermen regarding the ecology of coral reefs and mangrove forests. This will be done within the current development context of participatory coastal resource management for sustainable use. While little research of this kind has been attempted in The Philippines, studies in Oceania have revealed extensive local knowledge regarding coastal ecology that is relevant to resource management. This knowledge, such as the specific times and places that fish congregate, is invaluable to people engaged in resource assessment and management planning. Drawing on the research done in Oceania, this inquiry will apply and evaluate a novel combination of established methods in ethnography, environmental perception and participatory rural appraisal. The aim will be to elicit and record the ecological knowledge of the local people who use the resources of Ulugan Bay, Palawan. Ulugan Bay, which occupies some 7,500 hectares facing the South China Sea, is fringed with coral reefs and mangrove forests. These are used for subsistence and commercial purposes by a fishing and farming community of about 2,000 people. The bay has been designated as a pilot site of the Coastal Environmental Program (CEP) of the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). The research will be done in close collaboration with the DENR and the Ulugan Bay Foundation (a local NGO), which has been chosen by the DENR to direct the community-organizing component of the CEP. Traditional knowledge of Ulugan Bay's ecosystems will be incorporated into the indigenous coastal resource assessment, which consists of maps, calendars, and resource lists and classifications, as well as other visual and verbal models. Qualitative and quantitative analytical techniques will be used to compare local knowledge to expert assessments of the same ecosystems. The aim will be to elucidate ways in which traditional knowledge and Western science might be most effectively integrated in management projects. The ecological knowledge of resource-users will also be analyzed in light of their resource-related activities. The aim will be to reveal the relationship between this knowledge and the impact that the human community is having on the coastal ecosystems. Research began in October 1994.
For more information contact:
Jeffrey S. Walters at Ulugan Bay Foundation, Inc., 420 Rizal Avenue (Lamela Compound), Puerto Princesa City, 5300 Palawan, The Philippines.
or:
Program on Environment, East-West Center, 1777 East-West Rd., #1053 Honolulu, HI 96848, USA.

Midwives
It is estimated that between 60 and 80 per cent of all births in Africa, Asia and Latin America are attended by Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs). TBAs are usually older women who have acquired their knowledge and skills from relatives. In response to the view that practices of TBAs may endanger mother and child, attempts have been made to improve the performance of TBAs. At the beginning of this century this was done by individual physicians or nurses at their own initiative, but since the early fifties official training programmes have been organized in many countries. The WHO began in 1972 with the systematic training of TBAs. When policy for Primary Health Care (PHC) was adopted in 1978 the WHO urged that TBAs be drawn into PHC and began training them accordingly. The training of TBAs is still widely promoted at present.
The proposed cooperation between Western-trained health workers and TBAs in Africa, Asia and Latin America implies a confrontation of 'Western' obstetrics with traditional midwifery. Gaining insight into traditional midwifery has been the main goal of a research project entitled 'Midwives without training: practices and beliefs of traditional birth attendants in Africa, Asia and Latin America'.
Three intermediate objectives were formulated:

• comparing the role, practices and beliefs of TBAs in different countries of the three continents;
• broadening insight into traditional midwifery in these countries by classifying the practices and beliefs of TBAs in terms of the common obstetrical classifications; and
• giving suggestions for policy regarding the training of TBAs.

Intracultural variation in indigenous knowledge of agroforestry
Earlier studies in anthropology were guided by the notion that culture is a shared system of knowledge that one must possess in order to function in a society. This view has been criticized for its tendency to ignore intracultural variation. The dissertation entitled 'Intracultural variation of indigenous knowledge in agroforestry: a case study in Northwestern Mindanao (The Philippines)' uses age, gender, and ethnicity as independent variables in an examination of indigenous knowledge of agroforestry. Fieldwork was conducted for a period of one year among the Subanun and Visayan peasant farmers in the Northwestern Mindanao using a combination of qualitative and quantitative data-gathering techniques.
During the early stage of the research, participant observation and informal interviews were conducted alternately between two villages. The aim was to identify significant native categories of (and to document traditional management practices for) trees, shrubs and other woody plants, herbaceous crops, and soils. Using a stratified random sampling technique, a structured-domain interview was administered to 60 households at a later stage of the research. The aim was to determine similarities and differences between the knowledge of agroforestry possessed by the two ethnic groups. Preliminary analysis shows that there are significant differences between what people know about agroforestry depending on their age, gender, and ethnicity. The Subanuns, who are indigenous to the area, tend to be more knowledgeable about different plant species than are the Visayans, who are mostly immigrant farmers. Men tend to know more than women about forest plants and products. However women are as knowledgeable as men when it comes to plant species that are found on farms and in gardens. Older informants (40 to 70 years old) tend to be more knowledgeable about different plant species than are younger informants (39 years old and younger).
The findings of this study will make a theoretical contribution to the study of intracultural variation. Intracultural variation within rural populations should be considered when development projects are being planned. This would serve to reduce inequality in the way the benefits of development are distributed. The wealth of knowledge of agroforestry that is possessed by upland farmers can be very useful to government policy-makers, development NGOs, environmentalists, researchers, and concerned citizens as they are developing strategies to mitigate the negative impact of the deforestation that is taking place in various parts of the world.
Contact: Vellorimo Suminguit, University of Kentucky, Department of Anthropology, 211 Lafferty Hall, Lexington, Kentucky 40506-0024, USA. Tel: +1-606-323 9750. Fax: +1-606-323 1959. E-mail: antvjs@ukcc.uky.edu

Indigenous women's knowledge of water and health care
The labour and knowledge of indigenous women are central to the utilization, conservation and management of natural resources, especially water. Indigenous women find new sources of water, and they use, conserve and manage water for purposes of subsistence. There is a growing tendency to acknowledge the role of women in the provision, management and safeguarding of water. Women as producers of food, educators of children, and protectors of family health and ecosystems, are most directly concerned with water and health care. Women usually do most of the work involved in agricultural production and the maintenance of trees. But there are few examples of women being effectively involved in planning, initiating or managing community projects, in choosing technology, in making decisions regarding natural resources or in leading local organizations.
Women have extensive knowledge of the nutritional and medicinal properties of plants, roots, and trees. This includes wide knowledge of plants that are not normally eaten but can be of critical importance during times of shortage as a result of climatic disasters. In fact, women's knowledge of natural resources is itself a resource that it is important to keep alive. Current forms of development, however, have begun to devaluate and marginalize indigenous knowledge and skills. This will probably lead to the gradual eclipse of this knowledge.
The main objective of the study 'Indigenous women's knowledge of water and health care in Jharkand, Bihar in India and Yunnan in China' is to halt the devaluation of indigenous knowledge and to collect as well as document indigenous women's knowledge about natural resource management, the uses and conservation of water, and various traditional health-care methods and health remedies. The other immediate objectives of the study are:

• to assess indigenous women's knowledge of traditional ways of finding and exploiting new sources of water; and traditional methods of water preservation, water conservation and water management;
• to record indigenous women's knowledge of water-borne and other general diseases, and of traditional health care and health remedies; and
• to supplement what researchers, activists, policy-makers, government and NGO officials, and community leaders now know about the use, conservation and management of water, so that they are better able to formulate and implement ecologically sound practices.

Indigenous plant use
The Centre for Indigenous Plant Use Research (University of Natal, Durban, South Africa) was set up in 1994 following the award of a five-year grant (1994-1998) to the University of Natal by the Foundation for Research Development (FRD). The grant is for a programme of multidisciplinary ethnobotanical research under the leadership of Professor Patricia Berjak and Professor John Cooke, of the Department of Biology. The programme involves biologists, social scientists (including lawyers and economists), chemists, pharmacologists and members of the medical profession. There is active co-operation from the Natural Areas section of the Durban Corporation Parks Department, the Valley Trust, rural development consultants, practising herbalists, and indigenous plant nurseries. Research efforts are directed towards the sustainable use of indigenous plant resources. At the moment efforts are focused on:

• resource ecology: the investigation of plant resources and the current patterns of utilization, including socio-cultural aspects; and the ecological management of future sustainability;
• seed biology and plant propagation: the investigation of properties which affect germination; plant propagation; and the establishment of useful species, which includes the optimum storage of germplasm and in vitro tissue culture techniques;
• chemistry of natural products; and
• pharmacological, medicinal and toxicity assessment.

Women and land systems in Asia
The project 'Women and land systems in Asia' is being carried out by a research team engaged in gender and development studies at the Asian Institute of Technology. The study covers India, China and Cambodia. Fieldwork was conducted in China in June-July 1994, and in Cambodia in December 1993. Further fieldwork in Cambodia is planned for December 1994.
Women's access to land and other economic resources, and women's role in managing these resources, have been significant in rural development. In most Asian societies, however, women have been put in a subordinate position in the process of rural transformation. Land reforms and agricultural systems have been different in China and India, and it will be interesting to compare the two giant nations in terms of women's access to agricultural resources and the impact of agrarian changes on women's status.
The study attempts to examine the relatively successful empowerment of women in China through their having gained access to land and other economic resources during the 1950s and 1970s. A comparative, analytical reference is made to India. The study seeks to develop strategies for women by identifying the historical and political process by which it became policy for women in agrarian China and India to become more independent socially, economically, and in family terms. Furthermore, the impact of rural economic reforms on the work and social position of women, and the dynamics of the changing division of labour in terms of gender, are to be assessed.
'Women and land rights in Cambodia' is the title of part of the project. This sub-project is being conducted in Cambodia in collaboration with CIDSE. Cambodia has a unique demographic situation. Women constitute more than 60 per cent of the population, and 30 per cent of households are headed by women. In recent years there have been numerous land disputes. This study is an effort to explore women's entitlement to land, the legal and customary rights concerning inheritance, registration and disposal of land, and the effects of these factors on women's social position and on gender relations in Cambodia.
A comparative approach is taken to assessing these women's issues in different cultural and socio-economic contexts. Multiple methods will be used, including a questionnaire, informal discussions with key informants, group discussion with village men and women, and interviews with local officials, village committee members and scholars.
The whole project is expected to be completed by the end of 1995.
For further information, please contact:
Govind Kelkar and Wang Yunxian, Gender and Development Studies, Asian Institute of Technology, P.O. Box 2754, Bangkok, Thailand. Tel: +66-2-5245668. Fax: +66-25161418. E-mail: hs4118@rccvax.ait.ac.th

Gender and forest degradation
The research project 'Gender and forest degradation in Orissa: study of two tribal communities in Orissa, India' is directed towards forest degradation and its impact on two indigenous communities. Although they inhabit different ecosystems, both communities are dependent on forests for their livelihoods, and the social, cultural, religious and economic life of both communities revolves around exploiting forests in a sustainable manner. With the depletion of forest resources (for various reasons), these communities are in a dilemma. To survive they must find alternative means of subsistence.
In this context, it is important to understand the gender dimensions of forest degradation. The impact on women is different, since women are responsible for the traditional household economy, and it is primarily this economy that is losing its resources. Women are therefore the worst hit, since their role is crucial in the traditional economy.
The study pertains to two areas (one in the North and the other in the South) in the eastern state of Orissa, in India. The communities are the Juangs and the Saoras, both dependent on forests for their livelihood.
The project aims to examine:

• the nature and extent of forest degradation in the two areas;
• the traditional, communal management of forest resources as practised by the tribal communities, including gathering, shifting cultivation and the maintenance of communal lands around villages;
• the gender-based division of labour in activities related to reproduction, production and the changing community;
• the indigenous knowledge of both women and men regarding the use and management of forest resources, especially under conditions of growing scarcity;
• the impact of forest degradation on gender relations in the two communities; and
• the policies of the state for managing the forests (colonial to post colonial). In other words, it is important to examine the interface between the communities and the state in historical perspective.

Women in the Andean region
In 1991 UNIFEM initiated a technology support programme, in order to help address the food security problem in the Andean region and in recognition of the role of women in promoting food security. This programme was aimed at highlighting women's knowledge, experience and specific needs in the areas of food production, processing and marketing, with a view to increasing women's access to appropriate food-cycle technologies, promoting the exchange of experiences among women, and developing communication channels between women at the grass-roots level and technical support organizations.
The technology support programme started with a preparatory phase during which a strategy was developed for the exchange of information on women's successes and needs in domestic food production. The activities included gathering information on the role of women in the food chain, and potential markets for women's food-related businesses. It explored ways of strengthening communication among grass-roots women themselves, and between these women and support institutions; it also developed ways and means of promoting the formation of networks which would include women's groups and organizations involved in technology, small-scale industry and communication.
As there is very little material on women's knowledge and experience of the food chain, an early concern of the preparatory programme was how to locate appropriate experiences which could be documented and disseminated. Following much discussion with governmental and non-governmental agencies in the region, it was decided that a contest would be a good way to encourage women involved in food-cycle-related enterprises to come forward and describe their activities and experiences. Contests have traditionally been used in the region to provide incentives for community work, product quality, etc. Accordingly, one of the first and most important activities of the preparatory programme was the organization of the Andean Award for Women and Food Technologies. In order to involve as many women's groups as possible, from peasant communities active in agricultural production to small-scale enterprises related to food processing and marketing organizations, the informal national networks organized nationwide promotion campaigns. They used the mass media (community radio stations, advertisements in journals, and posters), as well as direct mail, to reach producers' associations, peasant organizations, GOs and NGOs working with women's groups, local and regional organizations, and networks of rural women.
The campaign resulted in random and countrywide participation. Most participating women's groups were involved in a development programme supported by an NGO. Others were small entrepreneurs who were not receiving any technical assistance.
The juries analyzed all the contributions on the basis of the following criteria: contribution to food security, income generation, self-management, technological innovation, development of gender equality and community participation, potential for replication, and sustainability.
The contest elicited 51 testimonies from both individual women and women's groups, covering a wide range of activities, from agricultural production to agro-processing, distribution and marketing.
For more information, please contact:
UNIFEM, 304 East 45th Street, 6th floor, New York, NY 10017, USA.