INDISCO to enter new phase
In 1993, with the help of funding from DANIDA, the Cooperative Branch of the International Labour Organization (ILO) created the Inter-Regional Programme to Support the Self-Reliance of Indigenous and Tribal Communities through Cooperatives and Other Self-Help Organizations. (This is the INDISCO Programme; see IK&DM 2(3)) INDISCO is an interregional support mechanism to help indigenous and tribal peoples promote their own systems of employment and income generation while at the same time safeguarding their traditional knowledge and culture. This is done by strengthening their local organizations and cooperatives. The programme activities, funded by DANIDA and other donors, have been implemented by local partner organizations in eight countries in Asia and Central America.

The INDISCO Donor Consultation and Planning Workshop, held in India on 4-8 November 1997 (see report under Conferences, IK&DM 5(3)), concluded that all INDISCO projects in Asia and Central America should incorporate indigenous knowledge systems and practices into project activities in order to save traditional jobs and make their impact sustainable. The late Dr D. Michael Warren, CIKARD Director, who took part in the workshop as a resource person (one of the last public meetings he had attended before his death), recommended the following activities to achieve these objectives:

The ILO-INDISCO programme and its partners, indigenous and tribal peoples' organizations around the world, are now in the process of putting these proposals into practice, in cooperation with the global IK network. It is the intention that this process be completed before project implementation is handed over completely to the indigenous and tribal peoples.

For more information, please contact: Mr H. Polat, Programme Coordinator, INDISCO, Cooperative Branch, ILO, CH-1211, Geneva 22, Switzerland.
Tel.: +41-22-799 6111.
Fax: +41-22-799 8572.

Indigenous Knowledge Project in South Africa
Recently a very interesting initiative has been taken in the Republic of South Africa in the area of indigenous knowledge and technologies. The Indigenous Knowledge Project is a joint effort of the South African government, the science councils, the institutions of higher learning, and local communities. The communities are integrated into the project as the producers and keepers of knowledge systems and technologies that have long been the basis of strategies for surviving and for maintaining an ecologically balanced environment.

The aim of the Indigenous Knowledge Project is to develop a policy for indigenous knowledge in South Africa which is consistent with the idea of the African Renaissance, but which also stimulates the use of local knowledge and technologies to develop South African enterprises and industries. In fact, the initiative takes action on the often-heard claims that indigenous knowledge is the largest single resource not yet mobilized in the development enterprise, and that this knowledge gives developing countries and communities a powerful asset.

The Science and Technology Portfolio Committee, chaired by Dr Wally Serote, is currently in the process of formulating an indigenous-knowledge policy for South Africa. With the help of a technical team from the South African institute CSIR, Dr Serote expects to complete the policy document by the end of 1998. This is the Year of Science and Technology in South Africa. Interaction between government and the science councils is being facilitated by a task force.

The South African IK Project has two other major objectives:

• to host an international conference on indigenous knowledge in South Africa;
• to produce draft legislation that will protect the intellectual property rights of South African communities.

The task force has been discussing the themes of the conference. Thus far it has three very specific objectives in mind:

• to draw on international experience and to learn from best practices, particularly in Africa and—more specifically—in southern Africa;
• to base the policy document on a solid foundation of principles that will guide the study of IK in South Africa;
• to then draft a very specific policy and to make recommendations regarding the institutional support that is needed if IK is to become firmly embedded in current thinking, especially on such issues as sustainable development and preservation of the rich cultural heritage of South Africa.

Parallel to this process, the science councils are conducting a national survey of indigenous technologies in all nine provinces of South Africa. This is being done in close collaboration with the institutions of higher learning and local communities. The results of the survey, which is expected to be complete in March or April of 1998, will be discussed at the conference as well.

The task force welcomes additional input for its discussion of the key components of IK policy which will serve as the basis for discussion at the conference. The readers of the Indigenous Knowledge and Development Monitor are therefore invited to communicate their suggestions regarding themes that are crucial in any comprehensive national policy towards indigenous knowledge and technologies.

Please send communications to: Mr Mbuyiseli Deliwe, Senior Policy Researcher, Council for Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), P.O. Box 395, Pretoria 0001, South Africa.
Tel.: +27-12-841 3282.
Fax: +27-12-841 4174.
E-mail: mdeliwe@csir.co.za

'Rainforests for health: the health consequences of rainforest degradation'
Under this title, a travelling exhibit assembled by the Rainforest Medical Foundation (RMF) will be on display in India and Ghana in 1998. The exhibit will be hosted first by the Foundation for the Revitalization of Local Health Traditions (FRLHT), in Bangalore (India), and then by the Centre for Scientific Research into Plant Medicine, in Mampong-Akwapim (Ghana).

The main themes of the exhibit are:

• The significance (and loss) of medicinal plants for both traditional health care and Western medicine, emphasizing several attempts to blend traditional and Western health care systems;
• 'Diseases of deforestation' such as malaria, human monkeypox, and logging casualties;

The fate of the forest peoples as illustrated by the case of the Yanomami Indians.

'Rainforests for health' also shows that medicinal plants are increasingly being valued as economically important non-timber forest products. The exhibit explores the concept of biodiversity prospecting as a means of collaboration between the North and the South. The important issues of indigenous property rights and profit-sharing are also addressed. Data are presented to support the World Health Organization's assertion that herbal medicines can be less expensive than their pharmaceutical equivalents.

The exhibit consists of 44 permanent panels that display text fragments and a wealth of full-colour pictures from Latin America, Africa and Asia. These are accompanied by three panels on which information specific to the host country can be placed.

The organizer of the exhibit, RMF, has prepared a special youth programme as well as audio tapes summarizing the main content of the exhibit. The tapes are translated into the main local languages.

The India tour will start in February 1998 in the wake of FRLHT's international conference on medicinal plants. The Ghana tour is expected to start in April 1998. Each tour will last about six months.

For more information, also about possibilities for displaying the exhibit in other countries and the costs this involves, please contact: RMF's secretariat, Einthovenlaan 8, 2105 TJ Heemstede, the Netherlands.
Tel./fax: +31-23-528 0081.
E-mail: rainmed@xs4all.nl

COMPAS officially launched
COMPAS is a platform for intercultural dialogue on indigenous knowledge, cosmovision and cultural diversity. Its main aim is to enhance endogenous development (e.g., development that proceeds from within) and cultural diversity by supporting development organizations in their efforts to establish an approach to indigenous knowledge. (See also IK&DM 5(1)) The platform partners--NGOs and research organizations—work to achieve this aim by documenting indigenous knowledge, cosmovisions and institutions; by conducting local experments with farming methods based on local knowledge and local cosmovisions; and by networking with other development organizations.

The workshop at which COMPAS was officially founded was held in the Netherlands from 25 January to 6 February 1998. Some 30 representatives of partner organizations in the South took part in intensive sessions designed to identify the various cosmovisions present in the group and to see how they compare with each other, and to foster the participants' learning from each other. The overall conclusions and the workplans of each partner organization were presented to invited guests in a formal session on 5 February.

COMPAS has 14 partners in ten countries on four continents. India is well represented with five partners; one organization helps tribal people to modify the management of their natural resources by reviving totemic relationships to nature. Classical scripts on health and agriculture are being used by others to set up village-level and farm-level experiments based on the Rhksayurveda. In Sri Lanka, spiritual practices such as the use of mantras and yantras in agriculture and astrology are being tested in cooperation with Buddhist leaders. In Zimbabwe, an approach to erosion control is being developed through a three-way relationship between village chiefs, spirit mediums and war veterans. In Bolivia, traditional institutions are being sought for the purpose of collaborative experiments with practices that recognize the sacred character of nature (Pachcha Mama). 'Biodynamic' farmers in the Netherlands are also taking part in the project.

For more information, please contact: COMPAS International coordination, ETC, Bertus Haverkort or Wim Hiemstra, P.O. Box 64, 3830 AB Leusden, the Netherlands.
Tel.: +31-33-494 3086.
Fax: +31-33-494 0791.
E-mail: compas@etcnl.nl

Available for immediate distribution are high-quality seeds of 13 different tree species, most of them, like umbrella thorn (Acacia tortilis), cultivated for firewood or charcoal in the tropics. Each species has other valuable qualities as well. Sisu (Dalbergia sissoo), for example--also known as "nelkar", "shewa", and "yette"--is sought for furniture, shipbuilding and fuel, but it also provides fodder and is used as a living barrier against shifting soil. Among the 13 species are also leguminous tree species such as black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia), which is better suited for temperate climates and higher elevations, and which has nitrogen-fixing capabilities that make it extremely useful for alley cropping. Because of its hardness and resistance to rot, this species is widely used for furniture, posts, and other building purposes. An added benefit of black locust is its highly prized honey.

Please provide an environmental desciption of your area, including elevation, average annual rainfall, length of rainy and dry seasons, high and low temperatures, soil characteristics, and how you intend to use the trees (fuelwood, lumber, forage, soil conservation, soil enhancement, etc).

For more information, please contact: Felicia Ruiz, Coordinator, World Seed Program, The New Forests project, 731 Eighth Street, SE Washington, DC 20003, USA.
Tel.: +1-202-547 3800.
Fax: +1-202-546 4748.