17 Being a domain of aging healers, surrounded by neglect and misunderstanding, traditional knowledge of household health and nutritional care has been disappearing in many parts of the world in spite of its critical importance to local communities. To address the challenge in its own region, RCE Penang has engaged representatives of research institutions, industries, the agricultural sector and local communities in exploratory and action research of TK by documenting, learning and developing regional livelihood practices. Learning that resulted from engagement of multiple partners has been participatory, informal and has led to rich results. The awareness programme developed for the schools and the communities by the researchers and students of the university brought appreciation of the conservation and sustainable use of the medicinal plants. Understanding of the values of the TK and biodiversitysupported development of the livelihood activities around development of more than 30 commercial products from torch ginger, led not only to financial gains but to the enhanced sense of self esteem and further entrepreneurial innovations. The project has also become a catalyst for innovative experiments such as using abandoned agricultural lands for cultivation through partnership. RCE Penang plays a critical role as a liaison between the industry and the agricultural clusters. Ongoing engagement in the inter-RCE TK and biodiversity group assists the RCE in engagement with research and development partners across other RCEs and beyond. A key activity of RCE Yogyakarta is the preservation of Pandanus species in the region and revitalisation of traditional knowledge in local communities. The region is rich in natural fibres. Consequently, there has been rich traditional knowledge related to weaving here. However, this tradition has been slowly eroding. As an economic incentive for local participation in conservation of natural resources and TK preservation, the RCE has developed an enterprise activity with products made of Pandanus fibre. The activity is carried out in a unique model of universitylocal community collaboration called Student Community Service-Community Empowerment Learning (SCS-CEL). The benefits of this social learning programme are that it sensitises the students on the need to look at issues in the immediate neighbourhood and address them through a multistakeholder, participatory approach. Monitoring, Documentation, Protection, and Education Inadequate monitoring and documentation of biocultural resources has been a major challenge in most countries. In certain regions of the world only a fraction of biological resources have been identified. The case of traditional knowledge is no different, with hardly sufficient systematic documentation of cultural practices in various biogeographic regions or sectors. In most local communities the knowledge is transferred in oral form and there is a rapid erosion of these knowledge practices. This raises two major concerns: the challenge of preventing loss of biodiversity or erosion of traditional knowledge as well as protection from misappropriation of resources and associated TK. There are several other related issues such as assuring safety and quality of resources or knowledge, valuing resources and related knowledge, creating awareness and so on. Development of community biodiversity registers is considered a sui-generis mechanism under the national biodiversity legislations to protect traditional knowledge. Since last decade, there are several initiatives to document and sensitise the communities on their right to resources and knowledge with developed registers or databases being used for education and piracy protection purposes. The Nagoya Protocol (article 21) indicates the critical need to raise awareness on the importance of genetic resources and traditional and related rights of communities. Stressing the role of education it urges the need for building capacities of various stakeholders in equitable and sustainable practices related to biodiversity. Several RCEs have taken up activities related to resource monitoring, documentation, education and protection using different strategies.
Traditional Knowledge and Biodiversity
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