Africa 2000 Network
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has taken the
initiative to support community-based
projects in Africa that protect the environment and promote
ecologically sustainable development. This
initiative, the Africa 2000 Network, provides financial and
technical assistance to activities of grassroots
groups and NGOs aimed at conserving natural resources and
furthering development in ways that do not
harm the environment.
The Africa 2000 Network is envisaged as a programme--a
'framework' for providing support for activities
of grassroots organizations and NGOs--and not as a structure
or organization. It involves and depends on
existing groups rather than creating new ones, except to the
extent that these emerge naturally from
community or NGO initiatives.
The Network is 'African-driven', not 'donor-driven', and
therefore is responsive to the priorities and
approaches of communities and grassroots groups. Its basic
purposes are:
SEJATI
SEJATI believes that the world is made poorer as indigenous
knowledge and wisdom vanishes. They believe
in the urgency of documenting the arts and crafts, customs and
traditions, values and beliefs of indigenous
peoples and to share with the rest of the world their cultural
difference, which is their source of pride and
advantage.
SEJATI's concern is to bridge the gap between indigenous
communities and developed societies in Indonesia
and thus foster mutual understanding. By bringing the
realities of these indigenous cultures in all their
uniqueness to the eyes of the world, they hope to counter
historical neglect.
All of SEJATI's activities are geared towards further bridging
the gap by creating a genuine cultural
exchange. To facilitate this exchange, SEJATI hopes to
articulate the needs and concerns of traditional
communities. They aim to foster a sense of awareness and
empathy among the general public for cultures
different from their own. SEJATI intends to forge and mediate
an understanding and respect for traditional
rights and cultures. Through research, documentation and
public awareness campaigns, they hope to dispel
common prejudices against indigenous peoples. SEJATI will also
show the need to learn from traditional
cultures' continued use of environmentally sustainable
practices. Conversely, they will provide information
of national interest to the traditional communities. SEJATI
wants to prompt an even exchange of
information. Finally, by providing traditional communities
with the instruments and knowledge they need to
recognize their legal rights and strive toward economic
self-reliance, SEJATI plans to develop their interests
and needs. Supplied with the tools for self-determination,
SEJATI hopes that the peoples will be able to
anticipate change and decide for themselves what aspects of
modernization will most benefit their
communities.
SEJATI'S board is made up of a team of concerned scholars and
professionals from fields of expertise as
diverse as anthropology, conservation, economics and
communications.
For more information, please contact:
The SEJATI Foundation, Jalan Mendawai IV/2, Jakarta 12130,
Indonesia. Tel: +62-21-7247217/7247221.
Fax: +62-21-7246562.
Ecotechnology Network
The nine-month-long computer conference called ECOTECH'94 ,
which was conducted via the Internet
to debate the challenges of ecotechnologies, has resulted in
the presentation of 44 papers from several
countries, and the formation of an informal electronic network
of about 4000 members.
A face-to-face regional conference was held in Beijing (China)
as the concluding activity of the international
conference entitled 'Ecotechnology for sustainable
development'. The regional conference was attended by
70 people, from China and other countries, who represented
expertise in all facets of ecotechnologies.
Forty-five papers and 20 video tapes were presented and
followed by discussion. The conference had eight
sessions: one a general overview of ecotechnology, and the
others addressing ecotechnology in specific
areas (aquatic ecosystems, environment and energy,
microbiology, forestry, agriculture, industry and
sustainable cities and villages). Field trips to
'eco-sites'--villages, communes and counties--offered foreign
guests unique exposure to real situations in the country. The
guests could see, at first hand, how
ecotechnology is being used in an integrated manner to achieve
multipurpose objectives, as China strives to
achieve sustainable development.
In 1994, the Swedish Royal Academy of Engineering Sciences
(IVA) celebrated its 75th Anniversary with a
series of symposia, and concluded it with an international
gathering of distinguished guests for its
'Information technology week'. These activities were
coordinated with the Beijing conference, and both
were concluded with a teleconference that took place between
Stockholm and Beijing. This made it a truly
historic event, the first between Sweden and China. Dialogue
focused on the concepts of ecotechnology for
sustainable villages and cities. There was a live report on
field trips and on activities in China, and the plans
for following up ECOTECH'94 were presented. This
teleconference was most inspiring for all who took
part.
An ad-hoc ecotechnology network was set up at the conference,
and officers were appointed. Professor Li
Wenhua and Professor Anton Moser will chair the network's
advisory and organizing committees,
respectively, and Professor Rusong Wang and Mr Eng-Leong Foo
will be the secretaries generals for Asia
and Europe, respectively. The overall conclusion was that
ECOTECH, with the support of its electronic
network, should pursue its work through:
COMPAS: Intercultural dialogue on
indigenous
agriculture
There is broad consensus nowadays regarding the need for
sustainable agriculture. There is also growing
acknowledgement for the role of farmers as innovators who know
how to make the best use of local
resources. Part of farmers' indigenous knowledge is reflected
in the festivities, rituals and ceremonies
intimately related with agricultural activities. These are
often performed to reinforce the harmony of this
world with the world of the gods, and to secure the conditions
for balanced plant growth and a good
harvest. In Northern Ghana, for example, no planting is
allowed before certain general sacrifices have been
made to the earth god's son, the Tindana.
The concept of 'cosmovision' refers to the way a certain
population perceives the world or cosmos. It
includes presumed relationships between the spiritual world,
the natural world and the human world.
Cosmovision describes the roles of supernatural powers, the
way natural processes take place, and the
relationship between man and nature, and it makes explicit the
philosophical and scientific premises on the
basis of which interventions in nature take place (for
agriculture and health care, for example).
Cosmovisions are often ignored in the development of
sustainable agriculture.
On 1 January 1995, a project on bio-cultural diversity,
'Comparing and supporting indigenous agricultural
systems' (COMPAS) got underway. The aim of the project is to
support seven NGOs in Peru, Mexico,
Ghana, India, Sri Lanka, Norway and The Netherlands in their
efforts to document the role of indigenous
knowledge, including local cosmovisions. The role of
scientific knowledge from outside, and the interaction
between the two for achieving sustainable agriculture, will
also be dealt with. This intercultural dialogue on
indigenous visions of agriculture, and on planning for the
future, will take place through an informal
newsletter and in a workshop planned for March 1996.
Do indigenous, holistic world views form the basis for a more
sustainable and just agriculture and means of
subsistence? If you would like to share your ideas and
experiences in this area, please contact:
Bertus Haverkort and/or Wim Hiemstra, COMPAS, c/o ETC
Foundation, P.O. Box 64, 3830 AB Leusden,
The Netherlands.