INNOVATION IN LOCAL AND GLOBAL LEARNING SYSTEMS FOR SUSTAINABILITY TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND BIODIVERSITY Editors: Unnikrishnan Payyappallimana Zinaida Fadeeva TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND BIODIVERSITY UNU-IAS CONTENTS CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Forewords 3 Global Map of RCEs 6 EDITORIAL Traditional Knowledge and Biodiversity within Regional Centres of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development 8 Learning for Conservation and Revitalisation of Natural and Cultural Resources CHAPTER 1 RCE Greater Sudbury: Biodiversity Planning and Management 22 CHAPTER 2 RCE Porto: The 100,000 Trees Project 28 CHAPTER 3 RCE Srinagar: Community Initiatives for Biodiversity Conservation in North-Eastern India 36 Ecosystem Services and Sustainable Use CHAPTER 4 RCE Cebu: Toward a Sustainable Forest Community – Ethnobotany of Campo Siete Forest Community 42 CHAPTER 5 RCE Greater Dhaka: Biodiversity Conservation 48 Co-engaged Learning Practices for Equity, Livelihoods and Development This document should be cited as: Innovation in Local and Global Learning Systems for Sustainability: CHAPTER 6 RCE Greater Phnom Penh: Promoting ESD through Traditional Knowledge and Biodiversity – Learning Contributions of the Regional Centres of Expertise on Food, Agriculture and Environment Education for Education for Sustainable Development UNU-IAS, Yokohama, Japan Elementary Schools and Rural Communities 54 Editing and Coordination: Unnikrishnan Payyappallimana CHAPTER 7 RCE Penang: Traditional Medicine, Biodiversity Zinaida Fadeeva and Health in Rural Communities 58 Anna Dirksen Design and layout: CHAPTER 8 RCE Yogyakarta: Traditional Knowledge on the Fraser Biscomb Use and Conservation of Pandanus 64 © United Nations University 2013 Monitoring, Documentation, Protection, and Education Published by: United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS) 6F International Organizations Center, Pacifico-Yokohama CHAPTER 9 RCE Cha-am: Biodiversity and Education for 1-1-1 Minato Mirai, Nishi-ku Yokohama 220-8502, Japan Sustainable Development 68 Email: [email protected] Web: www.ias.unu.edu/efsd CHAPTER 10 RCE Chandigarh: Enhancing Understanding about The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout the publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNU-IAS concerning the legal status of any Wetland Ecosystems among Students 72 country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning its frontiers or boundaries. The contributing authors are responsible for the choice and presentation of the facts contained in this CHAPTER 11 RCE Chubu: Multicultural Dialogue for Sustainability document and for the opinions expressed therein, which are not necessarily those of UNU or UNU-IAS – The Biodiversity Cyber Dialogue Project 78 and do not commit either the University or the Institute. e-ISBN: 978-92-808-4540-2 1 EXECUTIVE Summary CONTENTS Continued Foreword CHAPTER 12 RCE Espoo: NatureGate – Promoting Species The UN Conference on Sustainable Development Biodiversity, traditional knowledge, poverty reduction Identification for Conservation and (UNCSD, 2012) was a landmark event in the history of all are topical today for the linkages that exist on the Sustainable Use of Biodiversity 84 sustainable development in that countries agreed to a ground where communities have time and again proved ‘Future We Want’. Twenty years ago the UN Conference on that their knowledge and practices outweigh the risks CHAPTER 13 RCE Kyrgyzstan: Conservation of Traditional Environment and Development (UNCED, 1992) provided associated with technology-based interventions to Knowledge on Medicinal Plants 90 for Agenda 21 that laid the framework for sustainable achieve sustainable development either as a macro- development. Chapter 36 specifically addresses economic component or as a micro-enterprise led Worldviews and Integration reorienting education towards sustainable development, development. Recognising the need to learn from the CHAPTER 14 RCE Espoo: The Encounters Project 96 and encompasses all streams of education, both formal ground and collate the experiences of communities and non-formal, basic education and all the key issues on issues of managing natural resources, especially CHAPTER 15 RCE Guatemala: Culture as a Central Point of related to education for sustainable development. Actions biodiversity, sharing the same, contributing to local well- Education for Sustainable Development 102 to achieve this resulted in a series of initiatives around the being models, this publication comes at an appropriate world at national, regional and global levels. time when the topic of ‘Biodiversity and Livelihoods’ has CHAPTER 16 RCE Kodagu: Sacred Groves of Kodagu – recently received significant attention at the eleventh A Tradition to Conserve 108 During the World Summit on Sustainable Development in meeting of Conference of Parties to the Convention on Johannesburg in 2002, 11 of the foremost educational and Biological Diversity (CBD COP 11) in Hyderabad, India in CHAPTER 17 RCE Makana and Rural Eastern Cape: scientific organisations in the world signed the Ubuntu October 2012. Recovering and Expanding Bio-cultural Diversity 114 Declaration with a goal to strengthen collaboration between science and technology researchers and The case studies examined in this publication are MOVING FORWARD educators, to better integrate science and technology into characterised by local expertise being brought together for Mainstreaming and Upscaling Traditional Knowledge and educational programmes for sustainable development, for transformative learning. Be it the bio-cultural approaches Biodiversity Practices 120 all subjects and at all levels, and to strengthen cooperation or the contexts of today’s policymaking, the case studies Contacts 123 between formal, non-formal and informal education. demonstrate the need for three key approaches to ensure education for sustainable development is successful. List of Abbreviations 124 Education for sustainable development (ESD) is seen as First, the need for ‘learning by doing’, second, the value of not just environmental education nor even sustainable learning from practitioners and third, the importance of development education, but “education for sustainable collective interventions. development”. ESD covers not only environment and natural resources management but much broader topics I am confident that this publication will further enhance such as poverty alleviation, gender, peace and dispute the visibility of RCEs as key hubs for knowledge and settlement, inter-cultural understanding, democracy and experience based learning and congratulate the authors others. The Regional Centres of Expertise on ESD (RCEs) and editors for their efforts. were established to mobilise many and serve to give focus to their contributions in creating, jointly, a global learning space for sustainability. We are living in a time of profound change in an Balakrishna Pisupati increasingly interlinked world. These changes are for both Chairman, National Biodiversity Authority better and worse. The role and relevance of education has Chennai, India continued to attain importance with countries vying for top spots in ensuring education provides for development September 2012 as well as the economic empowerment of its people. 2 3 EXECUTIVE Summary The recognition of the contribution of relevant traditional This book demonstrates further the interlinkages between Two decades have passed since nations of the world a diverse set of biodiversity and traditional knowledge and indigenous knowledge in relation to actions in biological and cultural diversity and raises important assembled in Rio de Janeiro and agreed to adopt a related case studies from various Regional Centres of support of biodiversity conservation and its sustainable questions for further research and for the development sustainable development (SD) agenda, promising to chart Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development and equitable use goes beyond its simple validation in of policies which can be better reflective of a more a development path that is equitable, environmentally just and highlights the need for strengthening the context of conventional science-based approaches integrated approach to dealing with biodiversity i.e. an and economically rewarding. We now stand at a crossroads multistakeholder, cross sectoral partnerships at the local to the study of biodiversity. Traditional and indigenous approach which takes the cultural element of sustainable looking for the right path towards the world we want. level for effective implementation of global and national knowledge related to biodiversity is central to elucidating development into due account. Not surprisingly, The prognosis is not encouraging. According to many strategies and targets. It also draws attention to the its status and trends and for developing plausible scenarios the education and learning experiences conducted in studies conducted by research or policy bodies, we seem importance of education, communication and awareness based on community participation with regard to the way the context of the RCEs reveal how artificial separating to have made some progress, but still fall far short of what building in this context. biodiversity is conserved and used. biodiversity knowledge from culture can be. It is only is required to sustain current levels of well-being. Negative through a process of co-learning among all stakeholders environmental trends continue