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Biodiversity and recipe Contests: Innovative socioecological approaches to capture ecological knowledge, related livelihoods and conserve biodiversity in eastern Himalaya, Arunachal Pradesh.

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Title Biodiversity and recipe Contests: Innovative socioecological approaches to capture ecological knowledge, related livelihoods and conserve biodiversity in eastern Himalaya, Arunachal Pradesh.
 
Creator Singh Ranjay K, and Singh Anamika
 
Subject Biodiversity contests, recipe contest, indigenous knowledge, youth, women‟s knowledge, conservation, knowledge network.
 
Description In recent years, erosion of local indigenous biodiversity knowledge has been seen as one of the
major global threats to biodiversity. Government and various developmental agencies have
been trying to articulate ways of preserving biodiversity and its associated knowledge systems
through education and knowledge documentation. Organizing “biodiversity contests” among
younger generations of indigenous and local people, and recipe contests of uncommon forest
plants and field crops among rural women are two important methods to reduce erosion of
indigenous biodiversity knowledge. In view of the importance of such approaches, the National
Innovation Foundation (NIF), Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India has been organizing biodiversity
knowledge contests and recipe contests from 2003 onwards among Adi tribal members,
especially school children and rural women, respectively in selected schools and villages of
East Siang district of Arunchal Pradesh. The villages in which to hold recipe contests were
selected purposively based on forest cover, ethnicity, remoteness and people‟s livelihood
dependency on forest resources. Initially, the projects were explained and rapport established
with participating schools and villages around the district. Different events including radio
talks, public meetings, contact with key individuals, circulation of posters and pamphlets and
group discussions were organized. In second phase, individual schools and villages were
contacted to set up the biodiversity and recipe contests. We found that school children
demonstrated encouraging results by presenting systematic herbaria of local plants, including
uses, ecology and source of information. The children from rural backgrounds were found to be
more knowledgeable than those from more settled areas, and were able to contribute more than
100 forest and semi-forest plants in their collections. Creation of vertical knowledge networks
created by the school children through contest was evolved. These group contests resulted in
revealing more knowledge about local biodiversity as compared to individual participation,
reflecting synergism. In the case of the recipe contests, Adi women showed a sound knowledge
of local biodiversity, presenting as traditional foods more than 50 indigenous forest based
plants, many of which are locally uncommon. Significantly, the Gaon Burha (village headman)
further helped to diffuse the knowledge network created from this activity. We found that
creating a platform on which local knowledge systems can inform, interact with and transform
formal knowledge systems in a collaborative and cooperative way, as in these biodiversity
contests ultimately can contribute to conserving biodiversity more effectively.
ICAR
 
Date 2017-06-21T04:33:28Z
2017-06-21T04:33:28Z
2013
 
Type Research Paper
 
Identifier Singh Ranjay K, and Singh Anamika (2013). Biodiversity and recipe Contests: Innovative socioecological approaches to capture ecological knowledge, related livelihoods and conserve biodiversity in eastern Himalaya, Arunachal Pradesh. Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge 12(2):240-251.
http://krishi.icar.gov.in/jspui/handle/123456789/4367
 
Language English
 
Publisher NISCAIR