Indigenous Knowledge and Development Monitor, March 2001

Conferences

UPCOMING

PAST

UPCOMING

New date
The international symposium 'Ancient and traditional wisdom in agriculture, health and environment for sustainable development', which was scheduled for 1-4 March 2001 at Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi (India), was postponed. The symposium will now take place next year from 28 February to 3 March 2002 at the same location.

For more information, please contact: Professor V.K. Dubey, National Council of Development Communication, B-33/14-22. Koshlesh nagar Colony, Naria, Varanasi 221 005 India.
E-mail: ncdcvns@satyam.net.in

Integrating traditional medicine into orthodox medicine
Accra (Ghana)
20-21 July 2001

In association with the Ghanaian Ministry of Health and the Ghanaian Federation of Traditional Medicine Practitioners Associations, Africa First LLC of Minnesota, USA will host the second international conference and exhibition on traditional medicine. The conference is open to all practitioners and students of modern and indigenous medicine. It will continue the process of dialogue and education set in motion at the July 2000 conference in Accra.

The conference recognizes the indispensable role traditional healers continue to play in the provision of cheap and effective medical care for millions of people, most of whom inhabit the poorest and most undeveloped regions of the globe. It will attempt to propose acceptable and workable standards for the integration of traditional medicine into mainstream medicine, aiming to reduce costs and make health care more accessible to all. The goals of the conference are:

• to set standards for traditional practices so they can be integrated into mainstream medical practice;
• to build on the efforts of institutions like the Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons and Harvard Medical School to integrate traditional or complementary approaches into standard curricula for medical teaching.

Among the persons and institutions presenting papers at the two-day plenary meeting are Ellen Tattelman (Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, USA); Charles Finch (Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, USA); Marc Micozzi (College of Physicians of Philadelphia, USA); G.A. Balint (University of Szeged, Hungary); Folabi Harris (Margaret Sanger Centre International, South Africa); Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, Ghana, and ENDA of Senegal.

Presentations include: 'African spirituality and medical usages among African Americans'; 'Traditional medicine - its role in health-care delivery in Sub-Saharan Africa'; 'Medical education - integration of traditional medicine into conventional medicine'.

Those wishing to present papers should submit abstracts relating to the theme of the conference to Africa First LLC no later than 15 May 2001. Final papers must be 5-20 pages (A4 format, double spacing, font 12). Each paper should not take more than 30 minutes to present.

Deadline for registration is 30 April 2001. Direct enquiries to: J. William Danquah, Chief Executive Officer, Africa First LLC, 517 Asbury Street #11, Saint Paul, Minnesota, 55104, USA.
Tel.: +1 651 646 4721.
Fax: +1 651 644 3235.
E-mail: africafirst@yahoo.com.

Medicinal plants, IK and benefit-sharing
The Hague (the Netherlands)
10-13 April 2002

This international conference is planned to run parallel to the next conference of parties (COP-6) to the Convention on Biodiversity, which is scheduled to take place in The Hague, the Netherlands, on 7-26 April 2002. The conference - under the auspices of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries - will supplement the outcomes of the COP-6 on issues relating to benefit-sharing, indigenous knowledge of biodiversity and health, and protection of intellectual property rights.

Article 8(j) of the biodiversity convention calls on the parties to respect, conserve and maintain the knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities embodying traditional lifestyles. It also calls for the equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of such knowledge, innovations and practices.

A large proportion of the population in a number of developing countries still relies mainly on traditional practitioners (birth attendants, herbalists, bonesetters, etc.) and local medicinal plants to satisfy their primary healthcare needs. 

Traditional medical practices vary greatly from country to country and from region to region under influence of such factors as culture, mentality and philosophy. In most countries, however, traditional medicine has never been officially recognized even though it has existed for many centuries. Despite the fact that herbal medicines have become even more popular over the last decade, their regulation and registration has never been firmly established.

Research and training related to traditional medicines has not received the support and attention it deserves. As a result, the information that is available concerning the safety and effectiveness of traditional medicines falls far short of what the demand for these substances warrants.

Policy problems are responsible for the lack of research data, but research methods for evaluating traditional medicine have also been inadequate. Research on traditional medicine in various countries has resulted in literature and data on this subject, but not all scientists would accept that data. There is a need for validation and standardization of phytomedicines and traditional medicinal practices so that this sector can be accorded its rightful place in the healthcare system.

Because traditional medicine can be quite different from western medicine, it is difficult to know how to evaluate it. Finding methods for assessing the safety and effectiveness of traditional remedies has become a new challenge in recent years.

The private sector can play a crucial role by developing economic activities related to herbal bioprospecting that puts to use the knowledge of local peoples while compensating them for their intellectual property. Governments can promote such involvement. But first it is necessary to achieve wider understanding of these issues and wider consensus. This requires addressing basic conceptual problems and testing practical solutions. There is a need to expand the debate to include direct stakeholders and the practitioners of traditional medicine, and to bring them together with representatives of the medical community, the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, intergovernmental organizations, etc.

The conference will be designed to do just this. It will bring together various groups of key stakeholders and inform them of the initiatives that have been undertaken within the context of articles 15 and 8(j) of the Convention on Biodiversity. Attention will be given to the many dimensions of medicinal plants, traditional medicine, natural products, indigenous knowledge bioprospecting, and benefit-sharing.

For more information, please contact: Ernest Rukangira, Director, Conserve Africa International (CAI), P.O. Box 19648, Nairobi, Kenya.
Tel.: +254-2-576 463.
E-mail: erukangira@iconnect.co.ke or: Jessica Erdtsieck, AGIDS/InDRA, University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe Prinsengracht 130, 1018 VZ Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Tel.: +31-20-525 4185.
Fax: +31-20-525 4051.
E-mail: j.erdtsieck@frw.uva.nl

PAST

People's Health Assembly 2000
Dhaka (Bangladesh)
4 - 8 December 2000

This was the first international conference of the People's Health Assembly, a long-term process set up by a group of organizations and networks. From 4 to 8 December 2000 around 3000 participants from 90 countries met to debate a range of issues. They discussed the impact of inequality and poverty on people's health, environment, survival and well-being, indigenous people and traditional systems of health care, and community control of health services. The conference was hosted by Gonosasthya Kendra (GK), a non-governmental organization in Bangladesh well known for its role in primary health care and women's development. GK has received the Magsaysay Award from the Philippines and the Right Livelihood Award from the Swedish Parliament for its outstanding work.

One of the major events of the People's Health Assembly at the GK Campus, Savar, Bangladesh was the framing of the People's Charter for Health. In many of the participating countries, people from all walks of life had already formulated a People's Health Charter for their own nation. These national charters ultimately contributed to the framing of the Charter and planning the future activities of the People's Health Assembly.

Traditional medicine, indigenous knowledge systems, community control in primary health care, people's perceptions in healthcare and similar issues were major agenda items in several sessions. On the first day, the session on 'Promoting traditional health practices' enabled the participants to understand healing traditions in different countries. Traditional healers from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh described their own systems. Participants discussed conserving knowledge systems, medicinal plants and the use of herbal remedies.

On the fourth day of the conference, the session on 'Medicinal plants and knowledge systems' chaired by Professor M. Iqbal Zuberi of Gono University in Dhaka discussed methods of documentation and conservation of knowledge systems and the impact of commercialisation on traditional medicine. Participants from India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Bangladesh and several European countries presented their views on the relevance of traditional health knowledge and wisdom in the context of globalisation. Documentation, conservation, cultivation and marketing of medicinal plants and protection of biodiversity in natural habitats were also discussed. The IPR and various patent issues (including the interests of local people, traditional healers and ethnic minorities) were addressed in the recommendations.

The People's Charter for Health as adopted and endorsed on the final day of the Assembly clearly emphasizes the role of traditional systems in achieving health for all.

(M. Iqbal Zuberi, Senior Advisor to BARCIK)
For more information, please contact: People's Health Assembly Secretariat, Gonoshasthaya Kendra, P.O. Mirzanagar, Savar, Dhaka 1344, Bangladesh.
Tel: +880 2 770 8316.
Fax: +880 2 770 8317.
E-mail: phasec@pha2000.org
Website: www.pha2000.org

Information technologies in educational innovation for development:
Interfacing global and indigenous knowledge
Bangkok (Thailand)
12-15 December 2000

This annual international conference on education was organized by UNESCO Principal Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (PROAP) and the Asia-Pacific Centre of Educational Innovation for Development (ACEID), in collaboration with the Office of the National Education Commission of Thailand (ONEC), and in association with the Hong Kong Institute of Education and the Philippines Centre for Learning and Teaching Styles.

The purpose of the conference was to address the role of information technologies in educational innovation for development. Information and communication technologies are having a profound impact on learning and teaching in almost all countries in the Asia-Pacific region. This is not just an add-on effect but goes to the very heart of traditional expectations and models for education. So it is high time for educators to join hands with technologists in the interests of a learning society.

The tension between the global and the local is one of the most pressing social problems of the 21st century. Readers of the Indigenous Knowledge and Development Monitor may have come to the same conclusion. So the conference was organized at the right time in the Asia and Pacific region, where there is a growing acknowledgement of the contribution local knowledge systems can make to contemporary mainstream (and mainly Western based) educational systems.

Participants in the conference were expected to help reduce this tension by focusing on interfacing global and indigenous knowledge for the sake of the learning society of the future. First of all, they recognized that both knowledge systems are unique and different in the way they generate, regard, store, disseminate and evaluate 'knowledge'. Second, they acknowledged that within each tradition of knowledge there is an element that is essential to a learning society and one that requires modification. How can innovative approaches in the use of information technologies assist in interfacing global and indigenous knowledge? How can they contribute towards overcoming the larger global-local tension? Participants were invited to consider what contribution newer technologies and newer approaches to understanding intelligence could make.

The conference was attended by over 350 participants, mainly from the Asia and Pacific region and most of them professionals (either teachers or policymakers) in the education sector. 

Presentations and discussions at plenary and round-table sessions, special interest groups and concurrent paper sessions yielded a great deal of information. The result was an impressive list of very practical recommendations presented in the closing address by Mr Victor Ordoņez, former director of UNESCO PROAP.

 As I write this report, the conference organizers are still drafting the Conference Evaluation and Report of the Outcome of Workshops, to be published on CD-Rom. Those interested in the interface of indigenous and global knowledge may expect to find a wealth of information in this publication. One of the most challenging themes for further exploration is interfacing IK and global knowledge in the mainstream educational system, in relation to the learning process itself, the curriculum, teacher training, and evaluation and assessment.
(Guus W. von Liebenstein, director Nuffic-CIRAN)

For more information, please contact: UNESCO-ACEID, P.O. Box 967, Prakanong Post Office, Bangkok 10110, Thailand.
Fax: +66 2 391 0866.
Website: www.unescobkk.org

The Ashkui project symposium
Knowledge, culture and the Innu landscape
Halifax (Canada)
25 January 2001

This symposium brought Innu elders, researchers and leaders together with academic and government researchers who have been involved in a multidisciplinary, collaborative study of the ecological landscape of Labrador, Canada. The research project began with Innu categorizations of landscape features in their traditional territories. It used Innu landscape concepts to orient and focus research contributing to the development of a multi-disciplinary ecological knowledge base. The event was organized and sponsored by the three principal partners in the research project: the Gorsebrook Research Institute at Saint Mary's University, the Innu Nation of Labrador, and Environment Canada.

The objective of the symposium was to present research by the various partners to people who are working with indigenous knowledge (IK) in other regions of North America or who are in a position to promote dialogue between practitioners of the sciences, social sciences and IK. The organizers hope to encourage others to consider a landscape-based approach to IK in their respective projects. 

Eleven of the thirteen presentations focused on the work to date on areas known as 'ashkui'. Ashkui are areas of early or permanent open water on lakes and rivers. Their ecological importance is well known to the Innu, who have lived close to these areas for millennia. Now, as a result of the research programme and symposium, awareness of the significance of ashkui is growing in the scientific community as well. Two keynote speakers, Julie Cruikshank (anthropologist, University of British Columbia) and Henry Lickers (Director of the Department of the Environment, Akwesasne Mohawk Nation), gave addresses that placed the work in Labrador in the context of the national situation.

The broad scope of the presentations was the most remarkable aspect of the symposium. The organizers approached the event as a forum in which the full range of contributors to the knowledge base could be heard. Consequently a presentation by biologist Bruce Turner on waterfowl use of ashkui as spring staging areas was followed by a reading of the life history of Mary Ann Michel (an Innu woman who grew up at a lake close to one of the study areas). A presentation on the dangers of ashkui in land-use activities by Innu elder Simon Michel was followed by a talk on water chemistry characteristics at selected ashkui. With such variety there was a risk of the day's events losing their coherence. This did not seem to be the case however. Many in the audience of over 130 reported that the diversity of presentations challenged them to consider the different meanings embedded in landscape, and how they can be articulated.

While presenters did not directly address policy issues around IK, this was clearly a subtext. The symposium and project contribute to the ongoing debate in Canada on the place of IK in environmental management, environmental impact assessment, and indigenous land rights issues. The originality of a landscape-based approach was emphasized throughout and ultimately the symposium demonstrated how different ways of understanding landscape can illuminate each other.

The project continues with a new round of fieldwork planned for the spring and summer of 2001. A general description of the project can be found at http://www.stmarys.ca/administration/gorsebrook/ashkui.htm. The proceedings of the symposium are in preparation and their publication will be announced on the Gorsebrook web site: http://www.stmarys.ca/administration/gorsebrook/welcome.htm. The full programme is also available at http://www.stmarys.ca/administration/gorsebrook/ashkuisymp.htm. A book of edited papers drawn from the project and symposium is in the preparatory stage.
(Christopher Fletcher of Gorsebrook Research Institute)
For more information, please contact: Christopher Fletcher, Gorsebrook Research Institute for Atlantic Canada Studies, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H 3C3
Tel.: +1 902 420 5523.
Fax: +1 902 496 8135.
E-mail: christopher.fletcher@stmarys.ca

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