Over at Ecosystem and Poverty, our friend and occasional guest contributor Andy is asking whether anyone has a use for bamboo flowering culms… BTW, thanks for linking to our latest posts, Andy.
Talking Plants
NPR’s Talking Plants blogger is in the Amazon.
FAO developing forestry strategy
…and you can download the discussion document and comment on it here. Via Non-Wood Forest Products Newsletter((FAO’s link is broken.)).
Some people don’t want to register their traditional knowledge
The ingratitude! Apparently villagers in the Uttar Kannada district of the Western Ghats in India have not been entirely truthful with the folks collecting information for the local Biodiversity Register. These registers have been promoted as a way of collecting local traditional knoweldge in order to protect against biopiracy and give local people some sort of intellectual property rights. But, like jealous cooks at a bake-off, some seem to withholding information.
“People have not given details of prescriptions, compositions and the methods used to cure ailments the traditional way using plants with medicinal properties. The information we have might be incomplete. In some cases, people have just mentioned plants but haven’t revealed how they use them for treatment.â€
That’s according to G M Bhatt, president of the Biodiversity Management Committee of Heggarni. Villagers say they fear that they will lose control of their knowledge and their resources, even if it is “protected” in a biodiversity register.
They may have a point. According to the report, when it was discovered that a local plant, Malabar tamarind (Garcinia gummigutta), contained a compound that could “cure obesity” it was rapidly overharvested and is now in short supply. (That could well be true; the GEF Small Grants Programme funds a project on the conservation and domestication of G. gummigutta.)
What I wonder is, where did villagers ever get the idea that their local resources might be open to overexploitation?
Participatory mapping in Africa
An organization called Udongo — which is new to me, although that signifies nothing — reports on a massive mapping exercise in the Mukogodo forest in Kenya. Four different clans of the Yiaku people (some people call them Yaaku) will work with scientists and others to create “a three dimensional model of part of their ancestral lands, showing the Yiaku conception of natural systems of water, forestry, forest products and wildlife. The map helps to create an inventory of indigenous knowledge, natural resources and the intangible heritage of the region.” Then what? “The Yiakku will explore how the 3 D model will be integrated into the future planning processes of the Yiakku and Mukogodo community.”
If you’re listening, Udongo, let us know how it works out, OK?