Indigenous knowledge and sustainable development

Mervyn Claxton

05/09/2010

Opinión

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Eco-Indigenous Knowledge

Biodiversity, indigenous knowledge, and sustainable development are very closely linked. The indigenous knowledge systems of the peoples of the South constitute the world largest reservoir of knowledge of the diverse species of plant and animal life on earth. For many centuries, their indigenous agricultural systems have utilized practices and techniques which embody, what one scientist has called "Principles of Permanence" - principles that permit continuous cropping all year around without the use of chemicals which degrade the environment. Furthermore, not only do they not deplete the earth's natural resources but they often replenish them.

Ecological agriculture, organic agriculture, and conservation agriculture are the names employed by modern science to describe the methods, techniques, and practices which the indigenous peoples of the South have applied for many centuries. Ecological agriculture, or to use its original name, indigenous agricultural knowledge, is recognized by a growing number of scientists as the most effective method of promoting sustainable development. A new term should be coined to give recognition to that important, but little known, fact. I would suggest the term eco-indigenous knowledge - one that I propose to use throughout this evening's address.

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-Mervyn Claxton, Third Distinguished Lecture, The Cropper Foundation , UWI, St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago, September 1, 2010

https://www.alainet.org/en/articulo/143907