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| South Africa needs more attention to the sustainable use of its rich biodiversity
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South
African female traditional leaders are implementing a groundbreaking approach to
promote rural livelihoods. A project is being implemented that will help manage
indigenous knowledge systems and the sustainable exploitation of natural
resources that have nutritional and medicinal values.
The
project was prompted by the increasing commercialization of indigenous plants in
South Africa, which was initially set in place to alleviate poverty and to
promote job creation. Without clear conservation strategies, however, the
project was running the risk of leading to over-harvesting of the country’s
natural resources. Already urban dwellers are flocking to rural areas looking
for herbs with medicinal and nutritional properties that suppress the impact of
HIV/AIDS-related illnesses. South African female traditional leaders cite the
over-harvesting of the African potato by urban dwellers as a good case in point
to demonstrate the threat that South Africa’s indigenous plants are facing.
The
traditional leaders said that indigenous plants are an important part of their
daily lifestyles. The plants are used to heal wounds and to cure diarrhea, skin
rash, rheumatism and arthritis, coughs, and headaches. Other medicinal
derivatives of these plants are used as laxatives at birth. They are also
important as a food source.
Just
as the nutritional and medicinal values of indigenous plants are critical for
the general upkeep of rural residents, they also have a huge potential to lift
local communities out of poverty through their sustainable commercial
exploitation.
A
Project With Potential
To
achieve the sustainable utilization of indigenous plants, the female traditional
leaders said their Management of Indigenous Knowledge Systems Project should
link traditional and modern conservation methods.
South
Africa’s Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and
ResourceAfrica, a South Africa-based conservation agency, went into partnership
in July 2004. Their aim was to jointly implement the Management of Indigenous
Knowledge Systems Project using funds from the European Union and Kellogg
Foundation.
The
Management of Indigenous Knowledge Systems Project seeks to assist rural
communities in protecting their rich indigenous knowledge systems from being
illegally acquired and patented by western pharmaceutical and food companies,
which commonly results in preventing benefits from flowing to the local
communities. To ensure sustainability and better management of the indigenous
plants, the project will focus on the female traditional leaders’ role in the
management of the plants’ harvest and exploitation. Awareness on best
practices in managing and sustaining indigenous knowledge will be created
through traditional fairs, workshops, and media publicity.
There is an urgent need to
document traditional knowledge that is currently passed on orally from one
generation to the next
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Apart
from protecting indigenous knowledge systems from being illegally acquired and
exploited by outsiders without benefiting its real owners, the traditional
leaders said that there was urgent need to ensure that this knowledge was
documented rather than simply passed on orally from one generation to the next.
Presently, this knowledge is in the keeping of the local elderly.
Legal
Protection
Ms.
Matshidiso Moroka, CSIR’s program manager of technology for development said
that the South African government recently introduced a Biodiversity Act to
address the need to protect indigenous knowledge systems. “The Act requires
bioprospecting companies to provide benefit sharing arrangements that have the
approval of all stakeholders before being granted a research permit,” she
explained.
The
female traditional leaders requested the South African government’s assistance
to protect their indigenous knowledge systems. They said that this could be
achieved through greater enforcement of the Biodiversity Act.
Meanwhile,
the traditional leaders said they assumed if their campaign to promote the
management of indigenous knowledge systems in South Africa succeeded, agents of
multi-national pharmaceutical companies would try to exploit other southern
African communities that might not have mechanisms to protect their indigenous
knowledge systems. The traditional leaders together with CSIR and ResourceAfrica
would like to see the Southern African Development Community (SADC) adopt a
uniform approach towards managing indigenous knowledge systems.
Pharmaceutical
Giants: Not Always Cooperative
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| The Hoodia gordonii is used to suppress the appetite
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The
South African government has a good track record for promoting the need for
benefit sharing between indigenous communities and the private or public sectors
through its development agency, CSIR. About two years ago, CSIR and the San
communities (Bushmen, Basarwa, Khwe) of southern Africa signed a benefit sharing
agreement with the US-based pharmaceutical company, Pfizer, over the sustainable
and commercial exploitation of an indigenous plant, the Hoodia gordonii.
Hoodia contains compound P57 which suppresses one’s appetite and helps reduce
fat. Under this agreement, the San communities (the acknowledged source of
knowledge on the medicinal value of the Hoodia gordonii) were granted 6
percent of all royalties if the product was successful. This agreement has set
an important precedent that makes it unethical for companies to fail to sign
benefit-sharing agreements with local communities.
Meanwhile,
unscrupulous pharmaceutical companies have continued to make super profits from
the illegal exploitation of indigenous knowledge. However, the initiative by
South Africa’s traditional leaders to manage their indigenous knowledge system
is expected to further promote benefit sharing between communities and the
private sector.
Empowering
Local Communities
The
female traditional leaders from the Eastern Cape said that the initiative to
manage indigenous knowledge systems was community-driven. Before embarking on
the Management of Indigenous Knowledge Systems Project, female traditional
leaders from Rharhabe Kingdom focused on how commercial exploitation of
traditional foods could help develop their communities. However, they later
realized the need to link the management of indigenous knowledge systems on
traditional foods with that of traditional medicines in order to make their
promotion of rural livelihoods or development effective. The sources of
traditional foods and medicines are largely indigenous plants and grains. Some
medicines are also acquired from animals and reptiles.
The
female traditional leaders said that they intended to uplift the socio-economic
well-being of their communities through the establishment of community business
enterprises that produced, marketed, and sold traditional foods and medicines.
Already, a traditional food production center and restaurant have been set up in
the Eastern Cape-based Rharhabe Kingdom.
Local
women are already being trained to manage this new community business
enterprise, which will culminate in the establishment of a traditional
restaurant in the Rharhabe Kingdom. About 20 female traditional leaders from
Rharhabe Kingdom said that they also intended to set up a traditional medicine
pharmacy in their Kingdom. They believe that the rural economies in South Africa
can provide a unique service to the nation, which if well-marketed, could
significantly promote rural livelihoods. They said that the timing for this kind
of industry was good, as it was coming at a time when South African urban
dwellers and foreigners are showing an increasing interest in traditional foods
and medicines. The female traditional leaders’ commitment towards promoting
traditional food can be demonstrated by their recent publication of a
traditional foods recipe book selling at US$30 per copy.
**
Emmanuel Koro is an environment and development communication specialist
based in Zimbabwe. He is also President of the Sub-Saharan Africa Forum for
Environment Communicators (SAFE), which aims to promote the conservation and
development views and interests of rural communities in the media. Your emails
to will be forwarded to him by contacting the editor at: ScienceTech@islam-online.net.
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