STRATEGIES TO INTEGRATE
TRADITIONAL
AND MODERN KNOWLEDGE
Implications for Policy Options
2006
International Year of Deserts and Desertification
www.iyyd.org
www.unccd.int
Links and Feedbacks between Desertification, Global Change and Biodiversity
Modern Knowledge
Specific Solution
Immediate efficacy
Specialization
Dominant powers
Separation
External resources
Conflicts
Monoculture
Uniformity
Severity
Expensive maintenance
Internationalization
Waste
Technicism and rationalism
Dependence
Traditional Knowledge
Multipurpose system
Functionless in the long run
Holism
Autonomy
Integration
Internal inputs
Symbiosis
Relationship and complexity
Diversity
Flexibility
Self-regulation and work intensity
Contextualizing
Saving
Symbolism and wealth of meanings
Autopoiesis
Strategies for Policy Formulation
1. To adopt a bottom-up approach in research and development which puts the farmer-
innovator at the centre
2. External scientific and technical experts should learn to listen and to enter into dialogue
with knowledgeable local actors
3. Mechanisms to share and disseminate traditional knowledge and its innovations can be
set up and supported
4. Relationship between capacity of decision-making and capacity of realizing innovations.
Empowerment is an essential dimension in encouraging innovations.
5. Local entitlements on use and management of natural resources should be
strengthened and consolidated when modern knowledge or technologies enter into
traditional settings.
6. Mechanisms to valorize and recognize the achievements of knowledgeable local actors
and inventors should be developed
7. Participatory bottom-up approaches to development are necessary. adaptation includes
a change of attitude among scientists and technology transfer experts.
8. Science in traditional technology viewed from gender perspective;
9. Horizontal dialogues different cultures and understanding of cultural
specificity and diversity in which traditional knowledge is reproduced and expressed
are two key elements.
2006
International Year of Deserts and Desertification
www.iyyd.org
www.unccd.int
The MODERN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY VIEW
The Four Criticisms of Traditional Knowledge
Traditional
technologies
constitute a
specific and limited
series of technical
solutions.
Traditional
technologies concern
the developing world
and are marginal
compared to great
economic and
technological
processes.
Not technologically
competitive, with the
result that they are
technologically
inefficient and less
productive than
modern technologies.
They are proposed
because of an
ideological and
anti-technological
vision