Indigenous knowledge should not be lost - academics

BONIFACE KEAKABETSE
Correspondent | Friday December 17, 2010 00:00

Andrew Mushita from the community technology development trust in Zimbabwe buttressed this statement in his presentation to the recent Southern Africa Regional Community Based Natural Resources Management Forum (SACF) held at Maun lodge. Presenting to various experts and academics comprising the SACF, he urged the CBNRM fraternity to set aside arrogance and treat the local people as equal partners who can add or subtract something in ideas on conservation of resources in Africa.

'Knowledge is like a baobab tree. No one can embrace it alone,' Mushita said as he addressed participants from Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Tanzania and new entrants Ghana and Angola.

He said most communities have local knowledge on conservation which was passed from one generation to another that can't simply be ignored. Mushita said the main aim of the CBNRM progamme was to cut down on human and wildlife conflicts by allowing the communities to benefit from the resources.

He said although the principle of the programme is good,  there are still many challenges such as conflicting laws in forestry and wildlife management Acts which make it difficult for the resources' to reach the people. The laws sometimes make it difficult to tell who between governments, tribal leaders or the community has the control over the land and the resources, he said. There is therefore, a need for clarity on community benefiting mechanisms though the establishment of legal and local institutions guiding the CBRNM programme.

Mushita further called for African governments to allow traditional doctors and indigenous people into the protected areas like the national parks for reaping traditional medicines.  

'It must be noted that the people need access in to the protected area and there is  need for contractual agreements between the providers and the people such that everything will be formalised. Lately, he said, there is a growing trend of biopiracy of African plants by some unscrupulous multinational drugs companies whom he said patent African plants and therefore make it difficult for them to be used by the people they originate let alone share profits with the people the patents come.

There is therefore a need for the governments to help the indigenous people to catalogue all the plants they know and to have medical functions to avoid the 'Hoodia Cacti' story, a plant originally used by the Basarwa in southern Africa including Botswana as a hunger suppressant while on hunting trips which was patented by the UK company Phytopharm who eventually sold the drug for $21m to Pfizer without even paying a dime to the Basarwa.

In Botswana alone so many plants have been stolen and patented for drugs in Europe but no one seem to know, according to Mushita. 

When presenting on Botswana national the CBNRM forum, Kalahari Conservation Society Chief executive officer, Felix Monggae said although the Botswana forum is riddled with failures for facilitating true dialogue amongst its members and eradicating the cancer of theft, malpractice, embezzlement and the abuse of community funds which are being dealt with, the forum as one of the oldest in the region has many success stories including advocating for the CBNRM policy by the government.

Minister of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism, Kitso Mokaila, in the speech which was read on his behalf, said since the promulgation of the CBNRM policy in 2007 by Parliament, there have been a number of divergent views on the policy which persisted at the implementation levels.

He noted that although the policy is desirable, it has shown that it is not a panacea to all the implementation problems associated with the CBNRM. He said one of the things called for in the policy is the establishment of a National Environmental Fund to finance community based environmental management and ecotourism projects throughout the country.

The funds source of revenue is from 65 percent of the proceeds of the sale of natural resource concessions and hunting quotas while 35 percent will be retained by the community trusts.