2. Credit Seminar
Indigenous Technical Knowledge for tackling
Environmental Challenges
Presented by,
Jagriti Rohit
Roll no-10242

3. Content
• Introduction
• Importance
• Itk and its application
• Case study
• Intellectual property right

4. Indigenous knowledge
• Local or indigenous knowledge refers to the
cumulative and complex bodies of knowledge,
know-how, practices and representations that are
maintained and developed by local communities,
who have long histories of interaction with the
natural environment (UNESCO, 2012).

5. Characteristics
• Experiential
• Qualitative
• Rooted in past and in social context
• Often tested over centuries of use
• Orally transmitted
• Unique to culture
• Information base of society

6. Documentation and
Validation
Mapping
Case history
Preference ranking
Farmers inventory
Critical incident
technique
QUIK METHOD
Literature method
Ingredient analysis
On farm trial
Documentation Validation

7. • In the emerging global knowledge economy a
country’s ability to build and mobilize knowledge
capital, is equally essential for sustainable
development as the availability of physical and
financial capital. (World Bank, 1997)
The basic component of any country’s
knowledge system is its indigenous
knowledge.
It encompasses the skills, experiences and
insights of people, applied to maintain or
improve their livelihood.

8. • Valuable not only to those who depend on it in
their daily lives, but also to modern industry and
agriculture
• Can make a significant contribution to the
conservation and sustainable use of biological
diversity.
• Can make a significant contribution to sustainable
development.
• ITK has high scope in environmental monitoring to
depict and record changes

9. Challenges to environment

10. Gaining Ground
• Recognition of the significance of ITK for environmental
challenges has only begun to emerge at the international level
in the last few years.
• The Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC), published in 2007, triggered an
enhanced focus climate change adaptation.

11. • The IPCC Assessment (AR4, published in 2007) noted that
indigenous knowledge is “an invaluable basis for developing
adaptation and natural resource management strategies in
response to environmental and other forms of change”.
• This was reaffirmed at the 32nd Session of the IPCC in 2010:
“indigenous or traditional knowledge may prove useful for
understanding the potential of certain adaptation strategies
that are cost-effective, participatory and sustainable”.

12. • The shift towards adaptation has been accompanied
by an increase in the attention paid to impacts and
responses at the national, subnational and local levels,
including an increasing appreciation of the
observations and actions of local communities that
are rooted in ITK (IPCC,2007).

13. Economy
• Traditional knowledge is also the foundation of much
of our modern science and continues to provide a
significant and valuable source of inputs, providing in
the vicinity of US$75bn worth of pharmaceuticals a
year, $20bn worth of botanical medicine a year and
$3bn worth of cosmetic and personal care products a
year(UNU-IAS 2009).

15. PREDICTION..
The state flower of Kerala is Amaltas (Scientific
name cassia fistula), the golden shower tree. It is
believed that golden shower tree blooms in
abundance, about 45 days before the onset of
monsoon (Pisharoty, 1993; Kanani and Pastakia,
1999
When ‘sparrow bath in dust’ or ‘many
bees enter the hive and none leave’, one
could expect rain in a couple of days
(Santha et al, 2010).

16. • Similarly, ‘crow crying during night and owl
crying during the daytime’, one can
anticipate drought.
• Clouds drifting south – north with
accompanying strong wind during the
period mid July to mid September then
water levels are said to rise greatly in a
short time.
• This rudimentary flood warning
phenomena is also described in the BRAC
report on the 1988 flood (BRAC,
1989).(Schmuck-Widmann (1996))

17. • Prediction Unusual barking (unusual sounds and
restlessness) of street dogs in groups is the most
probable prediction for the onset of tremors/
earthquake in Chouldari villages, South Andaman,
Andaman & Nicobar Islands. (SN Sethi et al 2011)

18. Examples of bioindicators of cyclone in
bangladesh
Ants climb toward the roof of the house
Cattle and dogs howls endlessly in the
night before the storm
Seabirds, pigeon move toward the inland
Crabs come into courtyard or high places
Bees and locusts moves in cluster in the sky
Paul and routray(2013)
On Surin islands, the cicadas are usually
loud, but suddenly went silent before the
tsunami hit. Saleh Kalathalay noticed the
silence and warned everyone about the
tsunami. The Moken started to flee
toward higher ground long before the
first wave struck and were saved.

19. Water management
Johad, Rajasthan
Kui , Rajasthan
Apatani, Arunachal Pradesh

20. Bamboo drip irrigation,
Meghalaya
Khatri , Himachal Pradesh
Ahar pyne, Bihar

21. Drought Management
• In prolonged drought, farmers in Raj shahi,
Bangladesh, have been observed pulling a
rope across the rice field early in the
morning as a means of capturing the dew
that accumulates on the leaves during the
night.
• A similar practice that can be observed is
the brushing of wheat fields, before head
emergence early in the morning. This
returns the morning dew to the soil.

22. • The cultivation of drought resistant
varieties such as Kata begun, a local
variety of brinjal with numerous
spines on its leaves, stem and fruit is
often grown in drought prone areas as
a reserve food source.
• The species is also said to be highly
pest resistant (Rahman, 2012).
• After seeding in the normal way the
method prescribes ploughing the land
lightly and then laddering the upper
portion.
• This process is said to put seeds in contact
with free soil with high moisture levels
than that they have already extracted
moisture from.(Rahman 2012)

23. Soil Degradation
• Leaving crop residue on the field is man age-old practice
followed by the farmers of Atkot village in Rajkot district,
Gujarat.
• It covers 10-15 % of the area. In this practice, after harvesting
kharif sorghum and pearlmillet crops, farmers cultivate their
field and leave the crop residue on their fields.
• This type of mulch reduces raindrop impact, runoff velocity
and increases infiltration rate.
• farmers of Benakatti in Bagalkot district of Karnataka, retain
pebbles on the soil surface as a mulching practice (Kallu
Salina Hola)

24. • The improved use of a traditional
technique involving pits known as zai,
where naturally occurring seedlings are
protected or where seeds are deliberately
planted.
• By digging wider and deeper pits and by
adding manure to them, managed to
achieve very good yields from fields that
had previously been so degraded that
nothing could be grown on them.

25. Forest Conservation
• In Kenya, the Maasai culture forbids any community member
from cutting down a tree, either for firewood or any other
purpose.
• If the bark of a tree has medicinal value, then only small
portions of it can be removed by creating a “V” in the bark.
The wound is then sealed using wet soil.
• In India, bishnoi community protects trees and help in
conservation

26. Biodiversity preservation
• Sing nawa community knowledge of Nepal.
• One of the most common traditions in Zimbabwe is totemism,
which has been defined as the ‘practice of symbolically
identifying humans with non-human objects (usually animals
or plants). The classic case of totemism is when a clan claims
an animal as a mythological ancestor, however, the term has
been used to cover a wide range of symbolic practices.
• Practice of considering flora and fauna as scared.

27. Climate Change Adaptation
• Potato Park in Peru
• BLACK BOX

28. Disaster Management
• Earthquake Safe Traditional House Construction Practices in
Kashmir
• The techniques, known as “Taq” and “Dhajji-Dewari” system,
have been found to have earthquake resistant qualities.

29. • Indigenous Knowledge and Modern Science give
Environment Friendly Shelter Solution in Flood Affected
Desert Region of India

31. Case Study:1
• Practice of indigenous knowledge system by the farmers in
maintaining ecosystem in Bangladesh. Md Mostafizur
Rahman (2012)
• The main focus of the study was to identify the indigenous
knowledge system being used by the rural men in farming and
household activities and also to examine its extent.
• Among the 50 identified indigenous knowledge systems,
“Setting up bamboo sticks, branches of trees etc., in rice fields
to let the birds sit and eat away insects” reached the highest
extent of use by the farmers in agricultural practices.

32. • “Soaking boro rice seeds in water for 1-3 days before sowing
in the bed for rapid germination”,
• Drying mature bottle gourds (Lagenaria vulgaris) in the sun
and storing the seeds inside without rupturing the fruits”
• “Keeping rice seedlings under shed for 1-2 days before
transplanting for the purpose of increasing tolerance” took
the 2 nd, 3rd and 4th position regarding the extent of use.

33. Case Study:2
• Assessing the potential of indigenous technological
knowledge (ITK) for adaptation to climate change in the
Himalayan and arid ecosystems
• Sujit sarkar 2014
• The major documented indigenous knowledge was ‘mind’
cultivation, ‘chal’ to harvest water, ‘apple paste’ to control
diseases and ‘siddu’ to protect from extreme cold in Himachal
Pradesh.
• Similarly, the major documented indigenous knowledge of
Rajasthan were –‘Khadin’ farming system to manage drought,
‘kanabandi’ to manage soil and wind storm, ‘tanka’ to harvest
water, ‘jupka’ and ‘kothi’ for storing the grain and feed, etc.

34. • Beside these, the people of both the ecosystems observed
the movement of insects and animals (butterfly, ant, and
termite) to forecast the rainfall and other climatic parameter.
• As the indigenous practices hold high potential to address the
issue of climate change, these may be promoted after
establishing their scientific validity and rationality.

35. Intellectual Property Right
• Cases of Bio-piracy
• Neem Patent:
• Haldi patent-
• Basmati patent-
• Revocation of patent for the Indian of wheat
“Nap Hal”:

36. Problems
• Lacking novelty
• Owned by whole community
• Difficulty in getting copyrights for folksong
folklores
• Orally transmitted and not documented

37. Recent Development
• WIPO’s Global Intellectual Property Issues Division (the
Global Issues Division) is responsible for a number of
activities directly related to indigenous peoples.
• The Tunis Model Law drafted by UNESCO and the WIPO
• Towards Sui Generis Systems of Protection
• Protecting Traditional Knowledge as Trade Secrets

38. • Recently amended patent law of India contains provisions
for mandatory disclosure of source and geographical origin
of the biological material used in the invention while
applying for patents in India.
• Provisions have also been incorporated to include non-
disclosure or wrongful disclosure of the same as grounds
for opposition and for revocation of the patents, if granted.

39. • Preserving codified traditional knowledge –
• Traditional knowledge digital library
• Preserving both oral and recorded TK through
community archives – example
• Ara Irititja Project (Australia)

40. Successful Example
• The world’s first case of indigenous intellectual accreditation
through the partnership between Mt Romance (Australian
sandalwood company), Aveda (US-based multinational
cosmetics corporation) and the Kutkabubba community
(represented by the Songman Circle of Wisdom).
• The accreditation allows for the indigenous people to be
recognized as traditional owners of the land, and for their
care and knowledge about the sandalwood trees.
• It also gives them a share of the profits made from the
contemporary use of the pure sandalwood oil

41. • TK-based drug “Jevaani”
• “Jeevani” is a restorative, immuno-
enhancing, antistress and anti-fatigue
agent, based on the herbal medicinal
plant arogyapaacha, used by the Kani
tribals in their traditional medicine.
• The knowledge was divulged by three
Kani tribal members to the Indian
scientists who isolated 12 active
compounds from arogyapaacha,
developed the drug “Jevaani”, and filed
two patent applications on the drug (and
another patent based on the same plant
but for different use).

42. • The technology was then licensed to the Arya Vaidya
Pharmacy, Ltd., an Indian pharmaceutical manufacturer
pursuing the commercialization of Ayurvedic herbal
formulations.
• A Trust Fund was established to share the benefits arising
from the commercialization of the TK-based drug “Jevaani”.

43. Conclusion
• Need to test scientific rationality behind ITKS
• There is much to learn from indigenous, traditional and
community-based approaches for the natural disaster
preparedness
• Need to give support to farmers who are following
sustainable agricultural practices.
• Need for protecting right of indigenous community and
indigenous knowledge
• The skills and techniques used by indigenous and local
communities provide valuable information to the global
community and a useful model for biodiversity policies.