Search results for "Traditional knowledge"

Barriers and Bridges for Landscape Stewardship and Knowledge Production to Sustain Functional Green Infrastructures

2018

Sustainable landscapes and regions require both stewardship and management to sustain the composition, structure and function of ecosystems as a base for delivering human benefits. This complex is captured by the topic of ecosystem services. To deliver these, the concept green (or blue) infrastructure emerged as a tool for spatial planning of networks of natural and semi-natural areas. Such planning requires evidence-based knowledge about both ecological and social systems. For ecosystems, states and trends need be monitored, and improved knowledge must be developed about ecological tipping points for assessment of sustainability, as well as measures for conservation, management and restora…

Traditional use of medicinal agents: a valid source of evidence

2013

Traditional knowledge uncovered by serious historical research may help to identify new therapeutic agents. It also plays a part in safety evaluation and drug regulation. So far, however, this way of gaining knowledge is very much neglected in the concept of evidence based medicine, which is in no way contradictory to traditional use. Thus, the true meaning of the word 'tradition' is described, while reliable historical sources are quoted. It is then shown how research into the traditional use of medicinal plants is able to reveal knowledge about efficacy and safety of natural products. Several examples successfully leading to new therapeutic options are given. It is then referred to the co…

Traditional Craft Skills in the Contemporary Latvian Rural Environment

2016

This article intends to give an insight into what place the traditional craft skills occupy in the contemporary Latvian rural environment, using as a point of observation the activities of the ‘Meet your Master!’ event, organised by the Latvian National Centre for Culture. The interest of both the society and the individuals in focusing on the traditional cultural heritage is encouraged by the desire for expressing their cultural identity in today's cosmopolitan world. The same motivation prompts the use of traditional knowledge in rural tourism, in the activities of individual manufacturers etc. Traditional skills are the basis for mutual interaction among the community members and a meani…

Perspectives for Globalized Natural Medicines

2011

Natural medicines provide valuable resources to meet the requirements for global health care at affordable prices. Therefore, safety and efficacy need to be proven in a comparable manner to conventional drugs. Evidence-based natural and western medicine may merge to a “one-world medicine” for the sake of all patients in industrialized and developing countries. In the present review, we discuss strategies for (1) preservation of traditional knowledge on natural medicines, (2) sustainability of medicinal herbs and natural products, and (3) standardization and quality control. Novel technologies will impact research on natural medicines in the years to come, e.g. remote sensing to map medicina…

Culture, Biodiversity and Endogenous Development: introducing the BioCultural Community Protocols

2012

The history of human-induced soil erosion: Geomorphic legacies, early descriptions and research, and the development of soil conservation—A global sy…

2013

Abstract This paper presents a global synopsis about the geomorphic evidence of soil erosion in humid and semihumid areas since the beginning of agriculture. Historical documents, starting from ancient records to data from the mid-twentieth century and numerous literature reviews form an extensive assortment of examples that show how soil erosion has been perceived previously by scholars, land surveyors, farmers, land owners, researchers, and policy makers. Examples have been selected from ancient Greek and Roman Times and from central Europe, southern Africa, North America, the Chinese Loess Plateau, Australia, New Zealand, and Easter Island. Furthermore, a comprehensive collection on the …

A survey of wild plant species for food use in Sicily (Italy) - results of a 3-year study in four Regional Parks

2016

Abstract Background This paper illustrates the results of a study carried out in four Regional Parks of Sicily (Italy), concerning traditional knowledge on food use of wild plant species. The main aims of the paper were: (i) to verify which wild plant species are used for food purpose in the local culture based on information provided by elderly inhabitants (ii) to verify the presence of wild plant species which have not been cited for food use in previous studies in the Mediterranean area (iii) to determine how many of the most frequently cited wild plant species are cultivated by the local population in the four Sicilian Parks. Methods Semi-structured interviews were carried out in the lo…

Forty-five years later: The shifting dynamic of traditional ecological knowledge on Pantelleria Island, Italy

2016

In 1969, Galt and Galt conducted an ethnobotanical survey in the community of Khamma on the volcanic island of Pantelleria, Italy. Since then, a number of botanical studies concerning the local wild flora and cultivation of the zibibbo grape and capers have been conducted, but none have investigated traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) regarding the use of wild plants and fungi. We documented the current TEK and practices concerning wild plants and fungi on the island, focusing on uses related to food and medicine with 42 in-depth interviews in six communities in June 2014. Our aim was to examine shifts in TEK, represented in terms of loss or gain of specific species uses, in comparison t…

Hierarchies of knowledge, incommensurabilities and silences in South African ECD policy: Whose knowledge counts?

2017

AbstractPolicy for young children in South Africa is now receiving high-level government support through the ANC’s renewed commitment to redress poverty and inequity and creating ‘a better life for all’ as promised before the 1994 election. In this article, I explore the power relations, knowledge hierarchies and discourses of childhood, family and society in National Curriculum Framework (NCF) as it relates to children’s everyday contexts. I throw light on how the curriculum’s discourses relate to the diverse South African settings, child rearing practices and world-views, and how they interact with normative discourses of South African policy and global early childhood frameworks. The NCF…

Plant genetic resources and traditional knowledge on medicinal use of wild shrub and herbaceous plant species in the Etna Regional Park (Eastern Sici…

2014

Ethnopharmacological relevance: This paper illustrates the results of a study carried out in the Etna Regional Park (Eastern Sicily, Italy) concerning the traditional knowledge on medicinal use of wild plant species. It specifies contains the results of a quantitative analysis carried out for the first time. A total of 71 wild species are used for medicinal purposes. Two species, Astracantha sicula (Biv.) Greuter and Trifolium phleoides Willd., are little known as medicinal in the Mediterranean area. Aim of the study: The main aim of the study was to understand to what extent current knowledge on the medicinal use of plants is still an element of the culture within the elderly population of…