Traditional Knowledge and Areas of Biodiversity in Brazilian Amazonia
In: International social science journal: ISSJ, Band 55, Heft 4, S. 607-618
ISSN: 0020-8701
The loss of biodiversity, one of the environmental problems with an acknowledged planet-wide impact, has been addressed by a convention that highlights the need to take into account the 'knowledge, innovations & practices of indigenous & local communities' in a context of sustainable development. This rehabilitation of the traditional practices & knowledge of communities undermined by several decades of development raises a number of problems as to its relevance, forms, & procedures. The multidisciplinary research we have carried out in Brazilian Amazonia on the management of the varietal diversity of cassava by various local groups provides a good illustration of this. After presenting the Amazonian context in which cassava is cultivated, we look at the institutional & organizational environments in which the communities concerned live before taking up the question of emerging political configurations involved in preserving local knowledge. Nongovernmental organizations play a significant role politically, as intermediaries between the local level & the state's political & administrative institutions. The dynamics observed testify to a far-reaching change in the way 'indigenous communities' relate to the society around them. 19 References. Adapted from the source document.