Biodiversity Conservation, Indigenous Knowledge and practices: A Naga Perspective

Biodiversity Conservation, Indigenous Knowledge and practices: A Naga Perspective
Author: Martemjen
Publisher: Notion Press
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2017-08-24
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1947697188

Conservationist has been contemptuous of Indigenous peoples and their knowledge. As such, all the modern polices, acts and laws in biodiversity conservation intends to follow a “top down” approach, where decisions to be enacted upon the local people, their land, biodiversity, forest etc are done at the top level without the local peoples consent, which ultimately leads to conflict. As such, the author through this book advocates for the implementation of two pronged policy i.e., “bottom up and top down” approach for a practical and effective biodiversity conservation. While the conservationist, environmentalist and policy makers view the forested lands as the last resort for biodiversity conservation, to the local people it is their only source of livelihood. The author draws attention on the Naga indigenous knowledge system in the light of United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD), through which they were able to sustainable manage and conserve their biodiversity while obtaining their livelihood from the same. This book will help discover a deeper measure and value of the Naga indigenous knowledge system and will act as a resourceful material to students, researchers, activist and local people in their quest to comprehend the important dynamics of biodiversity conservation and indigenous knowledge. It will also serve as a valuable reference for indigenous peoples and policy makers all around the world who seeks to understand and implement indigenous knowledge systems in broader emerging biodiversity conservation policies and strategies.

Biodiversity and Traditional Knowledge

Biodiversity and Traditional Knowledge
Author: Sarah A. Laird
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 537
Release: 2010-09-23
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1136534601

Biodiversity research and prospecting are long-standing activities taking place in a new legal and ethical environment. Following entry into force of the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1993, and other recent policy developments, expectations and obligations for research and prospecting partnerships have changed. However, to date there are few guides to integrating these concepts with practice. This book offers practical guidance on how to arrive at equitable biodiversity research and prospecting partnerships. Drawing on experience and lessons learned from around the world, it provides case studies, analysis and recommendations in a range of areas that together form a new framework for creating equity in these partnerships. They include researcher codes of ethics, institutional policies, community research agreements, the design of more effective commercial partnerships and biodiversity prospecting contracts, the drafting and implementation of national 'access and benefit-sharing' laws, and institutional tools for the distribution of financial benefits. As part of the People and Plants initiative to enhance the role of communities in efforts to conserve biodiversity and use natural resources sustainably, Biodiversity and Traditional Knowledge will be invaluable to students, researchers and local communities, academic institutions, international agencies, government bodies and companies involved in biodiversity research, prospecting and conservation.

Compendium of community and indigenous strategies for climate change adaptation

Compendium of community and indigenous strategies for climate change adaptation
Author: Mwenge Kahinda, J., Bahal’okwibale, P. M., Budaza, N., Mavundla, S., Nohayi, N.N., Nortje, K., Boroto, R.J.
Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.
Total Pages: 112
Release: 2021-10-27
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9251316716

Climate change is a major challenge for life on Earth. It is mainly manifested through modifications of average temperature, rainfall intensity and patterns, winds and solar radiation. These modifications significantly affect basic resources, such as land and water resources. Populations at disproportionately higher risk of adverse consequences with global warming of 1.5°C and beyond include disadvantaged and vulnerable populations, some indigenous peoples, and local communities dependent on agricultural or coastal livelihoods (IPCC, 2018). Therefore, adaptation measures are recommended in order to cope with climate change. Indigenous peoples have developed practices for climate change adaptation, based on their long-term experience with adverse climatic effects. There was thus a need to identify such practices as they could be effectively mainstreamed in community-based adaptation programmes. This report makes an inventory of indigenous and community adaptation practices across the world. The inventory was mainly done through literature review, field work and meetings with selected organisations. The case studies documented are categorized in five technologies and practices themes, including: (1) Weather forecasting and early warning systems; (2) Grazing and Livestock management; (3) Soil and Water Management (including cross slope barriers); (4) Water harvesting (and storage practices); (5) Forest Management (as a coping strategy to water scarcity), and; (6) Integrated wetlands and fisheries management. These were then related to the corresponding main agro-ecological zones (AEZ), namely arid, semi-arid, sub-humid, humid, highlands and coastal and wetlands. The AEZ approach was considered as an entry-point to adopting or adapting an existing indigenous strategy to similar areas. Challenges that threaten the effectiveness of indigenous and community adaption strategies were identified. These challenges include climate change itself (which is affecting the indicators and resources used by communities), human and livestock population growth (which is increasing pressure on natural resources beyond their resilience thresholds), current institutional and political settings (which limit migrants’ movements and delimits pieces of usable land per household), cultural considerations of communities (such as taboos and spiritual beliefs), and the lack of knowledge transfer to younger communities. Indigenous knowledge provides a crucial foundation for community-based adaptation strategies that sustain the resilience of social-ecological systems at the interconnected local, regional and global scales. In spite of challenges and knowledge gaps, these strategies have the potential of being strengthened through the adoption and adaptation of introduced technology from other communities or modern science. Attention to these strategies is already being paid by several donor-funded organisations, although in an uncoordinated manner.

Beyond Intellectual Property

Beyond Intellectual Property
Author: Darrell Addison Posey
Publisher: IDRC
Total Pages: 324
Release: 1996
Genre: Cultural property
ISBN: 088936799X

Cultural property, aboriginal people, ethnobiology, legal status, laws.

The Ao Nagas

The Ao Nagas
Author: James Philip Mills
Publisher:
Total Pages: 596
Release: 1926
Genre: Ao language
ISBN:

Indian Feminist Ecocriticism

Indian Feminist Ecocriticism
Author: Douglas A. Vakoch
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2022-08-08
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 166690872X

Following Françoise d’Eaubonne’s creation of the term “ecofeminism” in 1974, scholars around the world have explored ways that the degradation of the environment and the subjugation of women are linked. In the nearly three decades since the publication of the classical work Ecofeminism by Maria Mies and Vandana Shiva in 1993, several collections have appeared that apply ecofeminism to literary criticism, also known as feminist ecocriticism. The most recent of these include anthologies that emphasize international perspectives, furthering the comparative task launched by Mies and Shiva. To date, however, there have been no books devoted to gaining a broad-based understanding of feminist ecocriticism in India, understood in its own terms. Our new volume Indian Feminist Ecocriticism offers a survey of literature as seen through an ecofeminist lens by Indian scholars, which places contemporary literary analysis through a sampling of its diverse languages and in the context of millennia-old mythic traditions of India.