Using indigenous knowledge for conflict management/resolution
in Africa
Many African nations have experienced and are still
experiencing violent civil strife, resulting in millions of
deaths, streams of refugees, personal and economic loss, and
in some cases severe damage to national and international
development efforts. Is it possible to minimize or prevent
such damage in the future? A programme has been set up, funded
by the United States Information Agency (USIA) and implemented
through CIKARD, ARCIK and KENRIK, which is aimed at finding an
answer to that question.
The programme is based on the philosophy that efforts to find
a peaceful resolution for conflicts within African societies
can be considerably enhanced by basing such efforts on
traditional, indigenous actors and processes. Theories, skills
and practices borrowed from the West can still be used as
resources, if they are applicable to the African context.
The programme has two major objectives:
The Bella of Burkina Faso
For the Bella, former slaves of the Tuareg, insecurity is part
of daily life. Cyclical droughts (ecological insecurity),
political instability, economic uncertainty and lack of social
security are at the basis of their insecurity. In the past the
Bella were the most vulnerable stratum of Tuareg society:
without access to land and cattle and without any rights to
property of their own. Nowadays, however, a comparison of
their situation with that of their former masters has a
surprising outcome: The Bella seem to be coping fairly well
with the situation, at least much better than their former
masters, the 'noble' Tuareg. Their knowledge of the
environment, along with other factors, seems to explain at
least part of their success.
As slaves, the Bella used to be the workforce of Tuareg
society. They were the cultivators who provided their masters
with millet, an indispensable supplement to their diet. They
were also the ones who herded their cattle, and assisted them
on caravans engaged in the trade of salt and dates; they
worked in their households and prepared their food. Although
very little is known about the Bella, the few articles about
them that are available mention their knowledge of the
environment and the ways to exploit it. This knowledge (along
with other factors, such as their identity, and their norms
and values) provides them with a tool for coping with
insecurity (for instance by selling bush products at local
markets).
The study, entitled 'Dynamics of Bella identity: the
interaction between insecurity, coping and culture', does not
in the first place aim at documenting knowledge. Instead it
aims to analyze the ways in which the Bella cope with
insecurity. But their knowledge and their cultural
understanding of the environment might turn out to be very
important for understanding the ways in which they cope with
insecurity.
The researcher refrains from using the term 'indigenous'
knowledge. She claims that apart from the artificial division
it suggests between different kinds of knowledge--implying
that 'knowledge of the North' has a different value than
'knowledge of the South'--she doubts whether the Bella can
properly be called 'indigenous'. Many were captured in raids
on neighbouring populations, in some cases less than 100 years
ago, then sold at slave markets and exchanged between the
Tuareg of different regions. Others simply migrated after the
abolition of slavery, which took place not even 50 years ago.
The research 'Dynamics of Bella identity; the interaction
between insecurity, coping and culture' is part of the project
Cultures of Aridity, a comparative study that will take place
also among the Udalan of Burkina Faso (by PhD student
Annemarie Bouman) and among the Sertþo of Brazil (by PhD
student Ingeborg Peerboom). The fieldwork will start in
December 1995, and last 15 months. Suggestions regarding the
research are most welcome.
Contact: Annemarie Bouman, Department of Cultural
Anthropology, Bolognalaan 32, 3584 CJ Utrecht, The
Netherlands. Tel: +31-30-2531925. E-mail: azahra@fsw.ruu.nl
The Project Amazonian Peoples Resources Initiative
(APRI)
The Amazonian Peoples Resources Initiative (APRI) is aimed at
empowering the indigenous peoples of the Peruvian Amazon
region. APRI is a two-year project of land titling, legal
assistance, primary health care and bilingual education among
the Urarina (Kacha), one of the last non-federated, tribal
peoples of the Upper Amazon. Working with indigenous
communities, APRI will secure the Urarina's legal title to
their traditional homelands, the Chambira Basin. This is a
vast, blackwater drainage system comprised of 'pristine'
rainforest. The year-long titling effort will officially
register the Urarina's right to live in the Chambira Basin,
and to manage and defend its natural resources. The second
year will combine aspects of community defence by providing
financial incentives for communal trading enterprises, and by
promoting collective resource management and biodiversity
protection.
For more information, please contact:
Michelle McKinley or Bartholomew Dean or
Ritchie Witzig at Cultural Survival, 46 Brattle Street,
Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Tel: +1-617-441 5400. Fax: +1-617-
441 5417. E-mail: survival@husc.harvard.edu
The flora of the forêt classée de la
Réserve de la Biosphère and its potential
as food for humans in Burkina Faso
The Réserve de la Biosphère
has a rich and interesting ecosystem which is exploited by the
people who live along the rivers near it. Research has been
done on its flora (mainly in the southern part) in order to
identify it for the purpose of managing and conserving natural
resources. The study took place as part of a national research
programme designed to help achieve better management of
natural resources and to discover potential within the
reserve.
The study is aimed at:
Articulating indigenous criteria for community
participation among dryland dwellers: a method for community-
driven project evaluation
The Dryland Ecosystems and Desertification Control
Unit of UNEP, and the Environmental Liaison Centre
International (ELCI), are currently devising a method for the
effective, community-based evaluation of projects. The method
has been tested in northern Kenya in an area where several
projects are operating in the same locality. The final
document will be a manual for development workers with
practical guidelines on how to apply this method in the
field.
The first results have proved very interesting in terms of the
community's perceptions of the environment, as well as their
perceptions of the ongoing projects. Not only do the people
see the various projects in a completely different light than
the people who are running the projects, but there are even
differences between the way the various stakeholders within
the same community perceive the projects. An 'indigenous'
appraisal of projects could serve as an intermediate step
between the linear Western way of thinking, and the
perceptions of the community. This would create the better
understanding that is so important for the success of a
project.
For more information, please contact:
Ute Reckers, UNEP DEDC/PAC, P.O. Box 30552, Nairobi, Kenya.
Tel: +254-2-623265. Fax: +254-2-623284. E-mail:
ute.reckers@unep.no
Using Compositae spp. in swidden systems to
intensify land use and rehabilitate degraded land
The ICRAF South East Asian programme is planning a research
initiative to explore the potential of Compositae
spp. as a way by which farmers can improve their land
during fallow periods, and as a biological tool for smothering
Imperata cylindrica and other hard-to-control
grasses.
The focus of investigation is in response to the growing
number of reports from around the world of farmers making use
of the beneficial properties of Compositae spp. A
Dutch report written in 1935 observed that as Eupatorium
inulifolium (Eupatorium pallascens) naturally took over
from other vegetation on fallow fields in West Sumatra, soil
rejuvenation accelerated, allowing farmers to reduce fallow
periods from 6-8 years to 3-4 years. This constituted a
doubling of land use intensity without a need for new
technologies, inputs or additional investments of labour.
Today, 60 years later, farmers are continuing to make use of
E. inulifolium. Fallow enrichment mitigates the
tendency towards ecological decline in swiddens by providing
an intermediate step in the transition phase between the
relatively long fallow rotations of the past and the permanent
cultivation that is being increasingly adopted today. It is
this critical stage--when the ecological sustainability of
traditional shifting cultivation systems has been lost, but
appropriate sedentary alternatives have not yet been adopted--
that is responsible for the serious degradation of the biotic
resource bases of swidden communities throughout much of
Asia's upland regions.
Other Compositae spp. appear to be similarly managed
in other ecosystems. Preliminary surveys in Kalimantan
(Indonesia) have documented farmers' experiments to encourage
Chromolaena odorata (Eupatorium odoratum) succession
in swidden fallows. Swidden farmers throughout the region
generally identify C. odorata as a preferred fallow
species that allows for shorter fallow periods and higher
yields. The IRRI uplands project in Luanf Prabang (Laos) has
already monitored the beneficial impact of C. odorata
on soil properties during fallow periods. ICRAF research in
progress in Mindanao (the Philippines) is recording farmer
management of Tithonia diversifolia (wild sunflower)
as a biological tool to smother Imperata and
rejuvenate exhausted soils. Tribal farmers in the mountainous
north of Thailand and Vietnam are known to use the presence of
a Eupatorium sp. as a key indicator when they are
choosing swidden sites.
This growing body of evidence has pointed the way towards the
new ICRAF research initiative. Farmers' practices to manage
Compositae spp. in order to improve soils in the
uplands of South East Asia will be documented. A database
search using Compositae spp. has already begun. It is
expected that this will lead to a regional survey of current
innovations among farmers who are attempting to improve the
management of fallow fields. This will provide invaluable
insights into the relevance of this type of low-input
technology, and into the variables that need to be rigorously
tested in agronomic field trials.
ICRAF would welcome hearing from anyone who can offer
observations, research findings or relevant literature
regarding these issues. Comments and suggestions are most
welcome. Please write to:
Malcolm Cairns, ICRAF S.E. Asian Regional Research Programme,
Jalan Gunung Batu No. 5, P.O. Box 161, Bogor 16001, Indonesia.
Tel: +62-251-315234. Fax: +62-251-315567. E-mail: icraf-
indonesia@cgnet.com
ILEIA's research
In the December 1994 issue of the ILEIA Newsletter, a new
dimension of ILEIA was introduced: support for research. Since
then, a great deal of consultation has taken place to develop
this new dimension into a workable activity.
ILEIA's goal is twofold: to learn about the potential of
ecological farming in different agro-ecological and
socioeconomic environments; and to develop appropriate
institutional mechanisms to support the local development of
farming systems that are ecologically sound in specific
environments. The strategy is to support and stimulate
research in three agro-ecological zones with contrasting
potential: dryland savanna, high mountain valleys, and lowland
floodplains. ILEIA is committed to enhancing the efforts of
farmers' organizations and NGOs already conducting action
research on sustainable agriculture in collaboration with
research- and public organizations. The commitment to enhance
information-sharing among partners remains undiminished.
ILEIA will seek to assess farming systems. Starting with
farmers's own categories of land use types, they will analyze
the process by which farmers and local organizations innovate
and create options requiring low external input. Through their
partners and the farming communities, ILEIA will help to
transform existing farming systems into more ecologically
sound systems. They will derive lessons from research on
factors that prevent or promote the expansion of ecologically
sound farming. They will also identify entry points in terms
of research priorities, collaborative institutional
arrangements, policy modifications and investment
opportunities.
In the ILEIA Newsletter the field research approach will be
described and readers will be invited to share in this
learning process.
For more information please contact:
Ricardo Ramirez, ILEIA, c/o ETC, Kastanjelaan 5, P.O. Box 64,
3830 AB Leusden, The Netherlands. Tel: +31-33-4943086. Fax:
+31-33-4940791. E-mail: ileia@antenna.nl