The cultural context of biodiversity conservation - Oapen

Local expressions of indigenous knowledge
5.3.1 The dynamics of knowledge production
[T]he new cannot emerge from imitation, but it can draw on the traditions – a form of holding the environment
– that provide gifts to those who follow them. (Weber Nicholsen 2002: 198)
In general terms, the farmers we worked with have generated sizable understandings
of the habitat and growth requirements of many species, seasonal crops and their
compatibility with other species. They relate this knowledge to the climatic constraints,
soil conditions and other site characteristics of the land they farm. The
knowledge has been generated through experimental learning and is passed on
through generations, in family and village traditions. Although there is corporate
knowledge shared by a majority of the communities, a considerable part is asymmetrically
distributed and only held by sections of the population according to gender, age,
specialisation and experience. 68 People have areas of particular expertise, and we were
often confronted with varying notions within and between different villages. As
aforementioned, indigenous knowledge is the result of a continuous process of generation,
transmission and adaptation to changing conditions. Being constantly modified
by the peasants, it is a dynamic entity permanently re-negotiated between the
people and their environment. Despite past and contemporary influences that increasingly
undermine local resource use patterns, there remain a great variety of customary
practices that contribute to community-based conservation efforts. Although nontraditional
economic modes have been imposed and integrated, these are often modified
to adhere with customary practices and priorities. Traditional forms of land use
remain in practice and are always seen as preferable by the farmers.
However, the study revealed clear evidence for ongoing cultural change among the
communities in both study areas. This transformative process affects different realms
of the peasants' lives. Most obviously, the transformation of adaptive capacities in the
field of agricultural production occurs in the frame of an overall acculturation process
through the modernisation of farming practices and incorporation into a market
economy. Due to the increased use of chemical products such as fertilisers and pesticides
following upon land use intensification and monocropping, traditional techniques
to maintain soil fertility or to avoid plant diseases have been widely replaced.
Situated knowledge and universal technologies increasingly mingle. This observation
also applies to knowledge on plants used for medicinal purpose. Gómez and Pacay
Caal (2003) briefly comment on this issue as follows:
68 As the study concentrated foremost on farming knowledge, gender issues were not a question of
primary interest. For this, consider the accounts compiled by Dary (2002), which deal with the topic
of gender and biodiversity conservation in indigenous communities of Guatemala and other Central
American countries.
199