We are very happy to send you the first issue in
1995 of the Indigenous Knowledge and
Development
Monitor. As of this year the Monitor will continue to be
distributed free of charge only to persons
living in
the so-called South, who may not be in a position to pay for a
subscription. Unfortunately, we have to ask
that residents of the USA, Canada, Europe, New Zealand, Japan
and Australia from now on pay for their
subscriptions. Monitor readers in this category will soon be
receiving a separate letter from us.
To avoid excessive bank charges, subscribers in the USA and
Canada will send their payments to CIKARD.
Nuffic-CIRAN will administer the remaining subscriptions.
Please note, however, that Nuffic-CIRAN will
continue to handle all queries and
correspondence regarding subscriptions, even from
people who make their payments to CIKARD. So please, wherever
you are, send your questions and
requests to us and not to CIKARD. Only this
way can we guarantee that your case is
handled as quickly and efficiently as possible.
This first issue of Volume 3 is a regular one, offering a
variety of articles on indigenous knowledge as it
relates to development. This issue includes, for instance, an article on
national networking as exemplified by the South African
Resource Centre on Indigenous Knowledge
(SARCIK). You might recall the article on the
Philippine
Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Sustainable
Development (PHIRCSDIK) in the first
issue of the Monitor in February 1993, which dealt with the
establishment of the centre. Both cases are
illustrative and instructive, offering insight into the
process of networking. Both can serve as guides for
anyone working to build up a network, whether from an
established centre or from a centre in the process
of being set up.
Fisher's article 'Local knowledge of dryland salinity in the Hunter Valley, Australia' describes the knowledge of farmers engaged in capital-intensive agriculture in an industrial country (Australia). The article offers a good basis for comparing this knowledge system with local agricultural knowledge systems in developing countries.
The current issue also contains reactions to previously published articles. There are two responses to the article by Pamela Fernandez entitled 'Indigenous seed practices for sustainable agriculture', which was published in Indigenous Knowledge and Development Monitor 2(2). Viergever comments that if the future of indigenous knowledge systems depends on researchers' sense of moral duty-- as Fernandez suggests--the chance that such systems will survive is very small. Damania argues that the loss that would result from a failure to conserve indigenous knowledge would far outweigh the disempowerment of people that Fernandez fears would result from researchers and development workers taking part in projects to document indigenous knowledge. If you have further comments on this issue, or on any other issue raised in the Monitor, please do not hesitate to send them to the editor.
In the section Communications, under the heading Publications, you will notice how the number of books and reports being published on indigenous knowledge is growing. This, of course, is a most favourable development. Such publications help to gain acknowledgement for the relevance of indigenous knowledge to sustainable development, and for the importance of giving indigenous knowledge a place in the process of achieving such development.
We welcome and greatly appreciate your contributions. So please keep sending your information, comments and articles to the editor. Your efforts are indispensable for the continued publication of the Monitor. Through the Monitor they also contribute to the international exchange of information on the subject. We indeed look forward not only to receiving and disseminating valuable information from our readers, but also to reporting on the lively debate that takes place among them.