IK Monitor Websites (8-3)

Indigenous Knowledge and Development Monitor, July 2001

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Video

Sharing the knowledge
Video, English spoken, 12 minutes.
http://www.fao.org/sd/2001/PE0503_en.htm

The FAO LinKS project has collaborated on a video promoting the sustainable use of biodiversity in the Southern African region. Filmed in Zimbabwe and Tanzania, the video Sharing the Knowledge highlights the important role that local knowledge plays in the daily lives of rural communities. It also illustrates the importance of maintaining and sharing this knowledge base at global level.

Through generations of experience, men and women farmers have developed a vast knowledge about the management of the agricultural ecosystems they depend on for their livelihood. Examples of this type of local knowledge shown in the video include how people use medicinal plants for human and animal health care, the way they select and breed livestock suited to the local environment, and rural farmers' preference for many local varieties of seeds.

This knowledge is of immense importance today for rural communities in Tanzania and Zimbabwe, and in other countries around the world. Wild plants found near villages provide a local source of medicines, and locally adapted plant varieties and animal breeds survive during times of hardship. But even more importantly, local plant varieties and animal breeds provide the biological base for world food security. For example, all improved commercial crop plant varieties stem from material that was originally developed by farmers.
While stressing the importance of sharing this knowledge in order to benefit future generations in other parts of the world, the video also raises questions about how to safeguard traditional crops and animals, and ensure that the custodians of the knowledge benefit from what they know.