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Keynote: Connecting the World Through Local Indigenous Knowledge
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Keynote: Connecting the World Through Local Indigenous Knowledge
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[MUSIC PLAYING]
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: Hello, everybody. My name is Margaret Sraku-Lartey. I'm a Principal Librarian on the CSIR Forestry Research Institute of Ghana. It's my pleasure to be connecting with you today at this conference. I'm going to talk about connecting the world through local indigenous knowledge. And you can see that's the aerial view of my institution, the CSIR Forestry Research Institute, a very beautiful Institute in the heart of Kumasi.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: We'll deal with forestry and forest products research. And it's my pleasure today to represent that institute, and to tell you about indigenous knowledge. So I'm bringing you greetings from Kumasi, and I really do thank the organizers of this conference for doing me this great honor by inviting me to give one of the keynote addresses. Global conversations, global connections, the theme of the conference is more than apt for this period of global uncertainty in the areas of global health, telecommunications, commerce, air travel, and knowledge management.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: I do acknowledge that this conversation is appropriate within the context of what is happening in our world today. COVID-19, for example, has virtually brought the world to its knees. The impact of this pandemic has affected every sector of the global economy, giving rise to changes in digital behavior. So now new trends like remote working and learning, telemedicine, and delivery services have emerged.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: And these trends are not likely to go away anytime soon. So within just a short space of time, there has been tremendous improvement in the way information is created, communicated, and used. Global communication has improved in the current dispensation to such an extent that within minutes of an incident occurring, the whole world gets to hear or to see it.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: Moreover, the world today is connected in all spheres of endeavor, such as commerce, health, food security, and transportation. There is, therefore, an urgency for us to talk and connect to one another, even more than ever before. This is perhaps why we refer to the world as a global village. The term global village was coined over 50 years ago by Marshall McLuhan, who used it to basically describe how the world is connected as a result of modern telecommunication tools that are capable of linking everyone, even in the remotest part of the globe.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: This concept is even more relevant today than when it was coined some 50 years ago. And without it, it would virtually have been impossible to gather together here to have this conference virtually. Global development has always been propelled by research. And we know that research generates new knowledge and technologies, which, in turn, contribute to economic growth and national development.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: However high quality research is dependent on availability of up to date information and sound theoretical concepts. Consequently, researchers build on existing knowledge, especially they build on published literature to create new knowledge. Availability of high quality information is made possible through the collaboration of researchers, publishers, and information managers, who also play a significant role in the development process.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: By now, we also do know that development includes the different components of knowledge management. So you can't develop in any economy if you don't have your information up to date. And if your information is not relevant to the development process. So we know that the development includes the different components of knowledge monitoring, such as the people, the process, the content and the strategy.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: So regardless of which sector the knowledge is being generated from or being applied to, you always need people to lead. You always need people to sponsor and to support the knowledge sharing process. And in this case, we also do know that both explicit and tacit knowledge are used to catalyze development worldwide. However, explicit knowledge, which is easily articulated, recorded, communicated, and most importantly in the world of knowledge management, stored, is the most widely accepted type.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: Scientists, information managers, and publishers have always been concerned and interested in explicit knowledge. Perhaps because science is based on empirical evidence that strives for objectivity, accuracy, and acceptability. So all kinds of standards have been developed to ensure that scientific reportage is standardized, is of a high quality, and able to stand the test of time. On the other hand, very little attention or interest has been paid to tacit knowledge.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: So what happens to the tacit knowledge that abounds in our midst? The knowledge that is garnered from personal experience and contexts, that is difficult to write down, to articulate or present in a tangible form? The vital knowledge that has accumulated over many generations. This is the knowledge we call indigenous knowledge. What happens to it?
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: How do we handle and use it to catalyze development? So what is Indigenous knowledge? There is an old African proverb we normally refer to that says, and I quote, "When an old man dies, a library burns to the ground." So what does this proverb mean, and what are the implications for information management? The old man, or woman as the case may be, in this case is the custodian of knowledge who stores volumes of wisdom and knowledge accumulated over many years.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: He or she has a lot to teach us about our very lives, and the environment we depend on through the application of years of accumulated knowledge. With his death, all the knowledge goes with him. Nobody can benefit from their lost knowledge. The value and importance of indigenous knowledge for development can therefore not be overemphasized Indigenous knowledge can be described as the rich body of knowledge that is unique to a given culture or community, and is differentiated from modern scientific knowledge, or known knowledge systems.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: It is the basic component of any country's knowledge system, and forms the basis for the local level decision making. So what are some of the characteristics of indigenous knowledge? Ladies and gentleman, indigenous knowledge is transferred orally and spans several generations. It tends to be collectively owned, and takes the form of technologies, know-how, skills, festivals, songs, folklore, food, proverbs, cultural values, beliefs, rituals, community laws.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: You go into the community, and they have strict laws that you have to follow, especially with respect to the environment. Certain times, you cannot even enter the forest. At certain times, you can't go to the riverside. These are all local community laws that do help in the management of the environment. And it also encompasses local languages and agricultural practices.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: Indigenous knowledge also includes the development of plant species and animal breeds that enable a community to achieve a stable livelihood. In fact, it is a complete knowledge system with its own cost concepts of epistemology and its own scientific and logical validity. And today, we risk losing these extraordinary archives of knowledge and expertise, which are stored in the memories of elders, healers, midwives, farmers, fishermen, hunters in the different cultures of the world leaving humanity inevitably in danger of losing its past, and perhaps jeopardizing its future as well.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: And I remember a time when we went on a field trip to one of the coastal towns in Ghana. And one of the local folks told me that if they see water comes up to this level, then we're going to have a very rainy season. I mean, that was no-- it blew my mind away, because it appears so absurd. But true to his word, it occurred. So we should therefore provide the avenues through which the wisdom and experiences produced over many years can be harnessed and shared.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: So let's take a look at this. Look at the pictures. Traditional indigenous knowledge is of a practical nature. It's not an abstract, especially in the fields of agriculture, fisheries, health, horticulture and forestry. On the right, you see-- to my right you see several products. You can see clothes, you can see black pepper.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: Can see tamarind velvet is a fruit. You can see the miracle berry. Can see ginger. And many others. Many of these are widely used products that can be useful medicines and cosmetics, and derive from traditional knowledge. And I'll give you a story. As a young mother many, many years ago, I think in the early '80s, I had my first child.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: And this child was so restless that day. He kept on crying, crying. Nothing would pacify him. I don't know how my mother found her way into my house that day, but she did. She took one look at my son, just took my son in her arms, and then gave him a warm bath and applied what we called Shea butter, Shea nut butter oil. It's a local oil.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: She just massaged the body gently. Within minutes, my son was fast asleep. He did not wake up until the next day. But this is knowledge I had no idea about. Otherwise, I would probably have applied it even before she got there. But sadly, this vital knowledge is diminishing at an alarming rate, making it necessary for us to preserve it before all or most of it is completely lost.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: And the consequent loss of the indigenous knowledge in any community results in cultural gaps between generations, and denies that community in particular, and the world in general, of this rich and powerful heritage of traditions that can be built on for development. As a natural consequence, therefore, indigenous knowledge, together with modern scientific knowledge, should be important components in global, national, and community development.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: However, current scientific discourse and development tend to ignore and underestimate, and sometimes undermine indigenous knowledge systems, which are often labeled as unscientific and outdated. So if you permit me, for the next 30 minutes, I'm going to share with you the relevance of indigenous knowledge in our lives. We shall look at some of the different types of indigenous knowledge and establish how it enriches scientific knowledge.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: The need to treat it as a knowledge gateway that has to be preserved will also be assessed. So I'm going to start with indigenous knowledge and our health. In our world today, there is the need to find new cures for diseases. And this has become even more pressing, especially since the emergence of dangerous and infectious diseases like Ebola, SARS, and COVID-19.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: There is renewed interest in finding solutions from nature. And their best way of finding out suitable remedies for specific diseases is just to talk to local people. People are using all kinds of concoctions worldwide for this COVID. And with regard to the current pandemic, my humble opinion is that by now, there should have been a massive drive to interact with local indigenous people around the world to identify local plants that are being used by them to curb respiratory diseases similar to COVID-19.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: And to at least assess if there is any chance of finding a natural cure for this dreadful disease. We need to realize that this option might be a good one because local communities have used plants and plant-derived products as remedies for various ailments for many centuries. The use of these plants have led to the discovery of various cures, which, in some instances, have been researched into and have produced results that have been accepted and applied globally.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: Now I give you an example we can learn from, is the discovery of the smallpox vaccine in the 1700s when a young slave from Africa called Onesimus recommended the rubbing of pus from the person infected with smallpox into an open wound on the arm of someone not infected. Once was the infected material was introduced into the body, the person who underwent the procedure developed antibodies to fight the disease.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: The procedure now known as inoculation was thus developed to fight smallpox. This was indigenous knowledge that had been passed down to Onesimus from his ancestors in Africa, and which he had kept in his head until it was needed. This is the knowledge that gave birth to-- that gave birth to the concept of vaccinations, and the concept upon which was most vaccinations are based. By the time he disclosed this knowledge, there was a lot of resistance in its application.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: But had he not disclosed it, we may probably be still struggling to find a cure for various ailments. Let me give you a few examples from Ghana. In Ghana, for example, a lot of people, especially those in rural communities depend on plant-based remedies usually referred to as herbal medicine as a complement to orthodox medicine to solve their health problems. In some places, these herbal medicines are used exclusively in place of orthodox medicine.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: In a study that I conducted in the Offinso area in the Ashanti region, local people reported on the use of forest plants for various ailments, such as malaria, high blood pressure, respiratory diseases, and many others. The Neem pictured on your right, for example, is a popular plant used in malaria treatment. Apart from the least and the back that are used for malaria, the Neem seeds produce oil that is used as insect repellent.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: This is a natural product which is devoid of toxic substances that can harm us. And I think that if there was a global drive to maybe use this as basis for insect repellents and pest products, it may go a long way in preserving our environment. It's worthy to know that many of these remedies have been used for centuries and have been passed on from generation to generation. Unfortunately, however, the formulae and dosages administered are not documented, making it difficult to stick to standard dosages.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: There are many such examples. But for the purpose of this conference, please permit me to discuss two wonderful plants that have been used by local people for many years in Ghana, and that could perhaps help change the global management of people with diabetic tendencies. Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce you to the Miracle Berry. It's a plant native to West Africa with central origin in Ghana.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: The fruit has a unique taste on the-- it as a unique effect on the taste buds, and has been used for centuries by local people to make sour food taste sweet. These berries are well known throughout Ghana by various local names, including Asaa or Asawa among the Akans. They are usually found in home gardens and consumed more by children. It's not really regarded as an important plant by most people in Ghana.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: Maybe because we don't place much value on it. The berry itself has no taste, but when it is eaten, any food eaten thereafter tastes sweet. In Ghana especially it's often used to make palm wine, a local alcoholic beverage that has over fermented, and is thus bitter taste sweet. Palm wine is a local drink that we get from their palm tree.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: And the first bits that come out are usually very sweet. Thereafter, it tends to turn a bit bitter and sour with more alcohol in it. But immediately, you take the miracle berry before drinking it. It tastes maybe like shandy or something, and it tastes so sweet. In Ghana, the sweetener effect typically lasts from about half an hour to two hours, with the intensity declining over time.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: The fruit has been proposed as a treatment for the taste changes experienced by some cancer patients, though further studies may be needed. It is also a giant step for those with diabetes as this could be a great substitute for artificial sweeteners that are rich in vitamins and antioxidants with almost no calories. Despite its potential to transform the health sector as a sweetener, it's not as treasured as one would expect.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: The worrying aspect of this is that many young people have not picked up this local knowledge. Results of a study revealed that respondents between the ages of 18 and 30 had very little knowledge about this plant, and I think this is a cause for worry. And I also think that the Miracle Berry could bring great transformation into the local communities from which they are endemic so that it could give jobs for people, could give them income, and a better standard of living.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: Then let me go to the second plant that I talked about. I, again, introduce you to another plant known as Thaumatococcus Daniellii. This plant has properties similar to the Miracle Berry. It can be found in Africa stretching from Sierra Leone to Democratic Republic of Congo. And if you look on the map, you will see where the red line stretches through all these countries. And when I was growing up, the leaves of this plant were used in cooking and for wrapping food.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: In Nigeria, it was used to cook moi-moi, a pudding made from beans. That leaves give their food a distinctive taste that is unique and pleasant. In traditional medicine, the fruit has numerous benefits. The fruits of this plant are used as a laxative. The seeds can be used as an emetic, and for pulmonary conditions. The SAP of the leaves are used as an antidote against venoms, stings, and bites.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: And the roots are also used as sedative and for insanity treatment. Though all these uses have not been authenticated by science, it still does not negate the impact on the health of local people. As a sweetener for diabetes, one of the most important properties of this plant is as a sweetener, being the source of thaumatin, an intensely sweet protein of interest to diabetics.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: When the fleshy part of the fruit is eating, a molecule in the fruit binds to the tongue's taste buds, causing sour foods to taste sweet. Currently thaumatin is being extracted and exported out of the country to Europe for use in the food industry. Despite its importance on the global markets, it's use locally is still limited. It does not appear as if in Ghana, as if Ghana has benefited financially from the export of thaumatin in the same way as cocoa has.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: So let's just look-- have a short summary of what I've talked about so far. I've given you so far a few examples of two valuable plants that can be important to the economy of Ghana. These plants have the possibility of transforming the health sector in Ghana, provided enough local research could be conducted on them. Knowledge on these two species discussed about seems, however, to be dwindling among local people.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: The new generation of young people do not even know the uses to which these plants can be put. Consequently, efforts at conserve the habitat of these species is at a minimum, and we risk losing them altogether. We need to consider a few things and keep them in mind. One of the basic things is that when vulnerable traditional products are discovered, the beneficiaries are usually not the local people.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: For example, the thaumatin that is being extracted is exported directly to Europe. Miracle Berry's also being exported to the USA. There is no evidence that thaumatin is being extracted and used in Ghana. So although their discovery is a local one, their benefits at global. Now what are the things we need to think. How widespread is this knowledge, even in Ghana among our own politicians?
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: And how many people have even heard of their existence? How do we ensure that the knowledge is transferred and documented, and their benefits shared equitably? So let me move away from the plants and then go on to the second type of indigenous knowledge, what we call sacred groves as storehouses of knowledge. The second type of indigenous knowledge I would like us to share is on sacred groves.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: By definition, sacred groves are small patches or islands of remaining original habitat or forests, or various dimensions partially or fully protected by local, or religious, or cultural agents that harbor rare and threatened species. Sacred groves are common in many developing countries. But reports indicate that their impact is diminishing in some places.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: Indigenous local communities try to live in tandem with nature. As a result, they manage the natural resources using local customs and traditions. And the easiest way to do this is to create patches of forest land that contain numerous valuable plants that are separated from human habitation, which they call sacred groves.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: In these groves, they conserve certain plant species for medicinal purposes, and for spiritual use. They also preserve animals they consider to be sacred. They revere these sacred groves, and consider them to be sacrosanct. Even though the are sacred groups have created mainly for medicinal and spiritual purposes, they, however, serve multiple purposes. Some of the benefits.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: A study in some of these sacred groves have unearthed the following. Sacred groves are more than spiritual groves. They actually treasure troves of knowledge that are of cultural, historical, and scientific benefit, and considered to be of outstanding value to humanity. Water bodies that constitute headwaters of major rivers, and streams that supply water to entire communities and towns can be found in them.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: Rare plants and threatened species that are difficult to find elsewhere are conserved here. They provide a habitat for birds, rare bids, insects, and reptiles. They also create a cool micro-climate that is significantly different from adjacent lands. They play a major role in natural resources management. They could possibly be an avenue to help mitigate the effects of climate change.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: In these [INAUDIBLE] resource, resource extraction is controlled by a variety of traditional rules and taboos often invoked to placate the deities involved. The presence of healthy plants ensures that the ecosystem maintains equilibrium by employing selective harvesting techniques that can maintain the ecosystem. Well-preserved sacred groves are storehouses of valuable medicinal plants and herbs and other flora have a high economic value.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: The people have the phenology of the plants at their fingertips. So they know when it flowers, they know when it fruits. They know when it is ready for harvesting, and they protect it with their very lives. Indeed, these sacred groves serves as refuge for threatened species. Now modern knowledge has now taught us that while these traditionalists were thinking of this spiritual side of the groves, they were inadvertently conserving nature for the betterment of society.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: This, I think, could be replicated in different ecological zones in response to the effects of climate change, and could possibly be an avenue that could be explored and used in the fight against climate change. For example, we continue to do the same things over and over again, and nothing is changing in terms of climate change mitigation.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: Maybe we need to start doing something different. And this can be an opportunity for us to begin to look at sacred groves as one avenue through which the climate can be controlled. Now the third type of indigenous knowledge I would like us to discuss is on living libraries. About 1,600 years ago, the great Alexandria library went up in flames.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: The real tragedy of the period was not the uncertainty of not knowing who to blame for the library's destruction, but rather the tragic loss forever of ancient history, literature, and learning. Today, we have a similar situation unfolding right before our eyes. Only this time, it is about knowledge that does not exist in books or huge edifices like modern libraries.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: It is another form of indigenous knowledge called living libraries. The only difference between living libraries and the regular, modern library are the books. Most of our local communities do not have libraries with books and computers. Rather, they have people who are substitutes for their books. They keep the memory of the people alive. In a living library, the people are the books.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: Living librarians have their own way of producing, codifying, storing, and retrieving knowledge and information. Now I would like us to talk about the living librarians of Dagbon. They are called the Baansi. Dagbon, a traditional kingdom founded in the 15th century, is one of the powerful and largest traditional groups in northern Ghana.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: The history of this powerful kingdom has been kept by the Baansi, who are important in maintaining the entire existence of the members of this community. Baansi is a collective name for musicians. The Baansi are court musicians who engage themselves in the art of praise singing. Libraries are also defined as repositories of knowledge, and the Baansis of Dagbon are just that.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: They are repositories of knowledge known as living libraries. They are also holders of cultural wisdom and history, and are custodians of all knowledge related to the history of the Dagbon kingdom. Plockey, in 2005 in their study, identified the Baansi as living librarians of Dagbon. They produce, transmit, and store knowledge which they recount at important ceremonies, such as the rituals performed during the installation of chiefs, naming of babies, funeral ceremonies, and indeed at all social fora using what they call their Timpani drums.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: And you can see a picture of the Timpani drum on this screen. In the process of communication, they entertain and train on the customs and traditions of the kingdom. They have full knowledge of the genealogy of the people, their history, and have immense knowledge on who has the credentials to ascend the throne. They form an important source of knowledge on the political economy, history, and literature of Dagbon.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: For instance, the use of praise names to serenade royals serves as an important source teaching for the people. The Baansi, as living librarians, have the history of Dagbon in their memory, and they consider themselves to be vessels of speech. They are repositories of knowledge who harbor secrets that are many centuries old. They consider themselves indispensable, since without them, the names of the kings would vanish into oblivion.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: They consider themselves the memory of mankind at least within the Dagbon enclave. By the spoken word, they bring to life the deeds and exploits of kings for younger generations. There is no doubt that they may be classified as librarians in their own right. How do we treat living libraries? How do we help the Baansi to preserve that knowledge and get it known?
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: Can the knowledge of these living legends be packaged and promoted in a way that would pave way for them to benefit from their knowledge? These living libraries can easily be equated to counter archives, whose knowledge cannot be lost. The libraries are the people, and with their demise, all this knowledge dies. There is, therefore, the need to document, record, and digitize their knowledge as well.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: So far, we have looked at three different types and characteristics of indigenous knowledge. There are many other types of knowledge, but due to time constraints, I've limited myself to only these three. All of them provide useful information that can be tapped for national or global development. Indigenous knowledge is recognize as an important source of developmental information.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: It is priceless to those who depend on it for their very existence. It is also acknowledged that information management personnel play a significant role in the developmental process. However, they pay more attention to explicit or published information. It is thus imperative for information management personnel to begin to learn more about indigenous knowledge if they are to meet the information needs of indigenous people, and all those who use the information.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: We need, therefore, to preserve knowledge not for the fun of it, but to learn from it. We need to create local pathways to global development. And in learning from indigenous knowledge, we can pick up the best practices of communities in local knowledge systems and publish and share them for local and global development. As partners in development, information personnel must begin to be proactive in indigenous knowledge management.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: We need to give a new meaning to development that empowers local people to use their own knowledge for their own well-being. As information personnel, we must begin to move out of our comfort zone. And it is important to remember that a comfort zone may be a beautiful place, but nothing ever grows there. We must, therefore, be able to get involved, just like at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: We had librarians playing key roles in producing face masks. We, as a professional group, should begin to play major roles in national and global development. We need to recognize local people as contributors and recipients of the knowledge they create. We also need to recognize that knowledge and the management of it is not the exclusive domain of technologically advanced communities.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: So revitalizing indigenous knowledge production. As information management personnel, our preoccupation has always been to preserve knowledge. How do we collaborate as scientists, as libraries, and publishers to bring valuable local information into the public domain? How do we promote indigenous knowledge of economically viable local products? Who benefits from the proceeds of this knowledge?
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: Should there be a sharing formula? Can anything be standardized? Should a procedure for collection be developed? What procedures should be used to validate information gathered? What documentation standards should be used? Is there any possibility of applying intellectual property rights? Can patience be developed?
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: By whom, and for whom? These are key questions that need to be answered. May I now make some suggestions on the way forward. To foster positive interactions between indigenous knowledge and other knowledge systems, there is the need for collaboration between the various players in information management. Each player must be regarded as an equal partner. There must be mutual respect and understanding for their knowledge.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: Dialogue between groups on what needs to be done must be transparent and open. There must be informed consent and just returns for indigenous knowledge holders, and practitioners through the flow of rewards and benefits. And there's a lot of practical work to be done, such as establishing the modalities for managing indigenous knowledge, developing guidelines on how material should be identified, copied, organized, stored, and retrieved to meet the specific needs and management regimes of particular communities.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: Assessing standards of technology needed. Developing consistency of practice across many local indigenous contexts. Assessing training needs for the local community. And identifying a champion whose passion will be to help mobilize local knowledge for development. And to conclude, I hope I've been able in the last 40 minutes to create awareness about indigenous knowledge, and its role in national development.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: I've also tried to explain the few differences that exist. Despite these differences, however, I do hope it has become evident that indigenous knowledge plays a key role in national development. Let us now come together to start a conversation on indigenous knowledge. Let us now start a global conversation on indigenous knowledge to create global connections. Thank you very much.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: [MUSIC PLAYING]
Segment:0 .
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: Hello, everybody. My name is Margaret Sraku-Lartey. I'm a Principal Librarian on the CSIR Forestry Research Institute of Ghana. It's my pleasure to be connecting with you today at this conference. I'm going to talk about connecting the world through local indigenous knowledge. And you can see that's the aerial view of my institution, the CSIR Forestry Research Institute, a very beautiful Institute in the heart of Kumasi.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: We'll deal with forestry and forest products research. And it's my pleasure today to represent that institute, and to tell you about indigenous knowledge. So I'm bringing you greetings from Kumasi, and I really do thank the organizers of this conference for doing me this great honor by inviting me to give one of the keynote addresses. Global conversations, global connections, the theme of the conference is more than apt for this period of global uncertainty in the areas of global health, telecommunications, commerce, air travel, and knowledge management.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: I do acknowledge that this conversation is appropriate within the context of what is happening in our world today. COVID-19, for example, has virtually brought the world to its knees. The impact of this pandemic has affected every sector of the global economy, giving rise to changes in digital behavior. So now new trends like remote working and learning, telemedicine, and delivery services have emerged.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: And these trends are not likely to go away anytime soon. So within just a short space of time, there has been tremendous improvement in the way information is created, communicated, and used. Global communication has improved in the current dispensation to such an extent that within minutes of an incident occurring, the whole world gets to hear or to see it.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: Moreover, the world today is connected in all spheres of endeavor, such as commerce, health, food security, and transportation. There is, therefore, an urgency for us to talk and connect to one another, even more than ever before. This is perhaps why we refer to the world as a global village. The term global village was coined over 50 years ago by Marshall McLuhan, who used it to basically describe how the world is connected as a result of modern telecommunication tools that are capable of linking everyone, even in the remotest part of the globe.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: This concept is even more relevant today than when it was coined some 50 years ago. And without it, it would virtually have been impossible to gather together here to have this conference virtually. Global development has always been propelled by research. And we know that research generates new knowledge and technologies, which, in turn, contribute to economic growth and national development.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: However high quality research is dependent on availability of up to date information and sound theoretical concepts. Consequently, researchers build on existing knowledge, especially they build on published literature to create new knowledge. Availability of high quality information is made possible through the collaboration of researchers, publishers, and information managers, who also play a significant role in the development process.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: By now, we also do know that development includes the different components of knowledge management. So you can't develop in any economy if you don't have your information up to date. And if your information is not relevant to the development process. So we know that the development includes the different components of knowledge monitoring, such as the people, the process, the content and the strategy.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: So regardless of which sector the knowledge is being generated from or being applied to, you always need people to lead. You always need people to sponsor and to support the knowledge sharing process. And in this case, we also do know that both explicit and tacit knowledge are used to catalyze development worldwide. However, explicit knowledge, which is easily articulated, recorded, communicated, and most importantly in the world of knowledge management, stored, is the most widely accepted type.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: Scientists, information managers, and publishers have always been concerned and interested in explicit knowledge. Perhaps because science is based on empirical evidence that strives for objectivity, accuracy, and acceptability. So all kinds of standards have been developed to ensure that scientific reportage is standardized, is of a high quality, and able to stand the test of time. On the other hand, very little attention or interest has been paid to tacit knowledge.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: So what happens to the tacit knowledge that abounds in our midst? The knowledge that is garnered from personal experience and contexts, that is difficult to write down, to articulate or present in a tangible form? The vital knowledge that has accumulated over many generations. This is the knowledge we call indigenous knowledge. What happens to it?
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: How do we handle and use it to catalyze development? So what is Indigenous knowledge? There is an old African proverb we normally refer to that says, and I quote, "When an old man dies, a library burns to the ground." So what does this proverb mean, and what are the implications for information management? The old man, or woman as the case may be, in this case is the custodian of knowledge who stores volumes of wisdom and knowledge accumulated over many years.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: He or she has a lot to teach us about our very lives, and the environment we depend on through the application of years of accumulated knowledge. With his death, all the knowledge goes with him. Nobody can benefit from their lost knowledge. The value and importance of indigenous knowledge for development can therefore not be overemphasized Indigenous knowledge can be described as the rich body of knowledge that is unique to a given culture or community, and is differentiated from modern scientific knowledge, or known knowledge systems.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: It is the basic component of any country's knowledge system, and forms the basis for the local level decision making. So what are some of the characteristics of indigenous knowledge? Ladies and gentleman, indigenous knowledge is transferred orally and spans several generations. It tends to be collectively owned, and takes the form of technologies, know-how, skills, festivals, songs, folklore, food, proverbs, cultural values, beliefs, rituals, community laws.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: You go into the community, and they have strict laws that you have to follow, especially with respect to the environment. Certain times, you cannot even enter the forest. At certain times, you can't go to the riverside. These are all local community laws that do help in the management of the environment. And it also encompasses local languages and agricultural practices.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: Indigenous knowledge also includes the development of plant species and animal breeds that enable a community to achieve a stable livelihood. In fact, it is a complete knowledge system with its own cost concepts of epistemology and its own scientific and logical validity. And today, we risk losing these extraordinary archives of knowledge and expertise, which are stored in the memories of elders, healers, midwives, farmers, fishermen, hunters in the different cultures of the world leaving humanity inevitably in danger of losing its past, and perhaps jeopardizing its future as well.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: And I remember a time when we went on a field trip to one of the coastal towns in Ghana. And one of the local folks told me that if they see water comes up to this level, then we're going to have a very rainy season. I mean, that was no-- it blew my mind away, because it appears so absurd. But true to his word, it occurred. So we should therefore provide the avenues through which the wisdom and experiences produced over many years can be harnessed and shared.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: So let's take a look at this. Look at the pictures. Traditional indigenous knowledge is of a practical nature. It's not an abstract, especially in the fields of agriculture, fisheries, health, horticulture and forestry. On the right, you see-- to my right you see several products. You can see clothes, you can see black pepper.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: Can see tamarind velvet is a fruit. You can see the miracle berry. Can see ginger. And many others. Many of these are widely used products that can be useful medicines and cosmetics, and derive from traditional knowledge. And I'll give you a story. As a young mother many, many years ago, I think in the early '80s, I had my first child.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: And this child was so restless that day. He kept on crying, crying. Nothing would pacify him. I don't know how my mother found her way into my house that day, but she did. She took one look at my son, just took my son in her arms, and then gave him a warm bath and applied what we called Shea butter, Shea nut butter oil. It's a local oil.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: She just massaged the body gently. Within minutes, my son was fast asleep. He did not wake up until the next day. But this is knowledge I had no idea about. Otherwise, I would probably have applied it even before she got there. But sadly, this vital knowledge is diminishing at an alarming rate, making it necessary for us to preserve it before all or most of it is completely lost.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: And the consequent loss of the indigenous knowledge in any community results in cultural gaps between generations, and denies that community in particular, and the world in general, of this rich and powerful heritage of traditions that can be built on for development. As a natural consequence, therefore, indigenous knowledge, together with modern scientific knowledge, should be important components in global, national, and community development.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: However, current scientific discourse and development tend to ignore and underestimate, and sometimes undermine indigenous knowledge systems, which are often labeled as unscientific and outdated. So if you permit me, for the next 30 minutes, I'm going to share with you the relevance of indigenous knowledge in our lives. We shall look at some of the different types of indigenous knowledge and establish how it enriches scientific knowledge.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: The need to treat it as a knowledge gateway that has to be preserved will also be assessed. So I'm going to start with indigenous knowledge and our health. In our world today, there is the need to find new cures for diseases. And this has become even more pressing, especially since the emergence of dangerous and infectious diseases like Ebola, SARS, and COVID-19.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: There is renewed interest in finding solutions from nature. And their best way of finding out suitable remedies for specific diseases is just to talk to local people. People are using all kinds of concoctions worldwide for this COVID. And with regard to the current pandemic, my humble opinion is that by now, there should have been a massive drive to interact with local indigenous people around the world to identify local plants that are being used by them to curb respiratory diseases similar to COVID-19.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: And to at least assess if there is any chance of finding a natural cure for this dreadful disease. We need to realize that this option might be a good one because local communities have used plants and plant-derived products as remedies for various ailments for many centuries. The use of these plants have led to the discovery of various cures, which, in some instances, have been researched into and have produced results that have been accepted and applied globally.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: Now I give you an example we can learn from, is the discovery of the smallpox vaccine in the 1700s when a young slave from Africa called Onesimus recommended the rubbing of pus from the person infected with smallpox into an open wound on the arm of someone not infected. Once was the infected material was introduced into the body, the person who underwent the procedure developed antibodies to fight the disease.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: The procedure now known as inoculation was thus developed to fight smallpox. This was indigenous knowledge that had been passed down to Onesimus from his ancestors in Africa, and which he had kept in his head until it was needed. This is the knowledge that gave birth to-- that gave birth to the concept of vaccinations, and the concept upon which was most vaccinations are based. By the time he disclosed this knowledge, there was a lot of resistance in its application.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: But had he not disclosed it, we may probably be still struggling to find a cure for various ailments. Let me give you a few examples from Ghana. In Ghana, for example, a lot of people, especially those in rural communities depend on plant-based remedies usually referred to as herbal medicine as a complement to orthodox medicine to solve their health problems. In some places, these herbal medicines are used exclusively in place of orthodox medicine.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: In a study that I conducted in the Offinso area in the Ashanti region, local people reported on the use of forest plants for various ailments, such as malaria, high blood pressure, respiratory diseases, and many others. The Neem pictured on your right, for example, is a popular plant used in malaria treatment. Apart from the least and the back that are used for malaria, the Neem seeds produce oil that is used as insect repellent.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: This is a natural product which is devoid of toxic substances that can harm us. And I think that if there was a global drive to maybe use this as basis for insect repellents and pest products, it may go a long way in preserving our environment. It's worthy to know that many of these remedies have been used for centuries and have been passed on from generation to generation. Unfortunately, however, the formulae and dosages administered are not documented, making it difficult to stick to standard dosages.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: There are many such examples. But for the purpose of this conference, please permit me to discuss two wonderful plants that have been used by local people for many years in Ghana, and that could perhaps help change the global management of people with diabetic tendencies. Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce you to the Miracle Berry. It's a plant native to West Africa with central origin in Ghana.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: The fruit has a unique taste on the-- it as a unique effect on the taste buds, and has been used for centuries by local people to make sour food taste sweet. These berries are well known throughout Ghana by various local names, including Asaa or Asawa among the Akans. They are usually found in home gardens and consumed more by children. It's not really regarded as an important plant by most people in Ghana.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: Maybe because we don't place much value on it. The berry itself has no taste, but when it is eaten, any food eaten thereafter tastes sweet. In Ghana especially it's often used to make palm wine, a local alcoholic beverage that has over fermented, and is thus bitter taste sweet. Palm wine is a local drink that we get from their palm tree.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: And the first bits that come out are usually very sweet. Thereafter, it tends to turn a bit bitter and sour with more alcohol in it. But immediately, you take the miracle berry before drinking it. It tastes maybe like shandy or something, and it tastes so sweet. In Ghana, the sweetener effect typically lasts from about half an hour to two hours, with the intensity declining over time.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: The fruit has been proposed as a treatment for the taste changes experienced by some cancer patients, though further studies may be needed. It is also a giant step for those with diabetes as this could be a great substitute for artificial sweeteners that are rich in vitamins and antioxidants with almost no calories. Despite its potential to transform the health sector as a sweetener, it's not as treasured as one would expect.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: The worrying aspect of this is that many young people have not picked up this local knowledge. Results of a study revealed that respondents between the ages of 18 and 30 had very little knowledge about this plant, and I think this is a cause for worry. And I also think that the Miracle Berry could bring great transformation into the local communities from which they are endemic so that it could give jobs for people, could give them income, and a better standard of living.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: Then let me go to the second plant that I talked about. I, again, introduce you to another plant known as Thaumatococcus Daniellii. This plant has properties similar to the Miracle Berry. It can be found in Africa stretching from Sierra Leone to Democratic Republic of Congo. And if you look on the map, you will see where the red line stretches through all these countries. And when I was growing up, the leaves of this plant were used in cooking and for wrapping food.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: In Nigeria, it was used to cook moi-moi, a pudding made from beans. That leaves give their food a distinctive taste that is unique and pleasant. In traditional medicine, the fruit has numerous benefits. The fruits of this plant are used as a laxative. The seeds can be used as an emetic, and for pulmonary conditions. The SAP of the leaves are used as an antidote against venoms, stings, and bites.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: And the roots are also used as sedative and for insanity treatment. Though all these uses have not been authenticated by science, it still does not negate the impact on the health of local people. As a sweetener for diabetes, one of the most important properties of this plant is as a sweetener, being the source of thaumatin, an intensely sweet protein of interest to diabetics.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: When the fleshy part of the fruit is eating, a molecule in the fruit binds to the tongue's taste buds, causing sour foods to taste sweet. Currently thaumatin is being extracted and exported out of the country to Europe for use in the food industry. Despite its importance on the global markets, it's use locally is still limited. It does not appear as if in Ghana, as if Ghana has benefited financially from the export of thaumatin in the same way as cocoa has.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: So let's just look-- have a short summary of what I've talked about so far. I've given you so far a few examples of two valuable plants that can be important to the economy of Ghana. These plants have the possibility of transforming the health sector in Ghana, provided enough local research could be conducted on them. Knowledge on these two species discussed about seems, however, to be dwindling among local people.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: The new generation of young people do not even know the uses to which these plants can be put. Consequently, efforts at conserve the habitat of these species is at a minimum, and we risk losing them altogether. We need to consider a few things and keep them in mind. One of the basic things is that when vulnerable traditional products are discovered, the beneficiaries are usually not the local people.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: For example, the thaumatin that is being extracted is exported directly to Europe. Miracle Berry's also being exported to the USA. There is no evidence that thaumatin is being extracted and used in Ghana. So although their discovery is a local one, their benefits at global. Now what are the things we need to think. How widespread is this knowledge, even in Ghana among our own politicians?
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: And how many people have even heard of their existence? How do we ensure that the knowledge is transferred and documented, and their benefits shared equitably? So let me move away from the plants and then go on to the second type of indigenous knowledge, what we call sacred groves as storehouses of knowledge. The second type of indigenous knowledge I would like us to share is on sacred groves.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: By definition, sacred groves are small patches or islands of remaining original habitat or forests, or various dimensions partially or fully protected by local, or religious, or cultural agents that harbor rare and threatened species. Sacred groves are common in many developing countries. But reports indicate that their impact is diminishing in some places.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: Indigenous local communities try to live in tandem with nature. As a result, they manage the natural resources using local customs and traditions. And the easiest way to do this is to create patches of forest land that contain numerous valuable plants that are separated from human habitation, which they call sacred groves.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: In these groves, they conserve certain plant species for medicinal purposes, and for spiritual use. They also preserve animals they consider to be sacred. They revere these sacred groves, and consider them to be sacrosanct. Even though the are sacred groups have created mainly for medicinal and spiritual purposes, they, however, serve multiple purposes. Some of the benefits.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: A study in some of these sacred groves have unearthed the following. Sacred groves are more than spiritual groves. They actually treasure troves of knowledge that are of cultural, historical, and scientific benefit, and considered to be of outstanding value to humanity. Water bodies that constitute headwaters of major rivers, and streams that supply water to entire communities and towns can be found in them.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: Rare plants and threatened species that are difficult to find elsewhere are conserved here. They provide a habitat for birds, rare bids, insects, and reptiles. They also create a cool micro-climate that is significantly different from adjacent lands. They play a major role in natural resources management. They could possibly be an avenue to help mitigate the effects of climate change.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: In these [INAUDIBLE] resource, resource extraction is controlled by a variety of traditional rules and taboos often invoked to placate the deities involved. The presence of healthy plants ensures that the ecosystem maintains equilibrium by employing selective harvesting techniques that can maintain the ecosystem. Well-preserved sacred groves are storehouses of valuable medicinal plants and herbs and other flora have a high economic value.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: The people have the phenology of the plants at their fingertips. So they know when it flowers, they know when it fruits. They know when it is ready for harvesting, and they protect it with their very lives. Indeed, these sacred groves serves as refuge for threatened species. Now modern knowledge has now taught us that while these traditionalists were thinking of this spiritual side of the groves, they were inadvertently conserving nature for the betterment of society.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: This, I think, could be replicated in different ecological zones in response to the effects of climate change, and could possibly be an avenue that could be explored and used in the fight against climate change. For example, we continue to do the same things over and over again, and nothing is changing in terms of climate change mitigation.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: Maybe we need to start doing something different. And this can be an opportunity for us to begin to look at sacred groves as one avenue through which the climate can be controlled. Now the third type of indigenous knowledge I would like us to discuss is on living libraries. About 1,600 years ago, the great Alexandria library went up in flames.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: The real tragedy of the period was not the uncertainty of not knowing who to blame for the library's destruction, but rather the tragic loss forever of ancient history, literature, and learning. Today, we have a similar situation unfolding right before our eyes. Only this time, it is about knowledge that does not exist in books or huge edifices like modern libraries.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: It is another form of indigenous knowledge called living libraries. The only difference between living libraries and the regular, modern library are the books. Most of our local communities do not have libraries with books and computers. Rather, they have people who are substitutes for their books. They keep the memory of the people alive. In a living library, the people are the books.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: Living librarians have their own way of producing, codifying, storing, and retrieving knowledge and information. Now I would like us to talk about the living librarians of Dagbon. They are called the Baansi. Dagbon, a traditional kingdom founded in the 15th century, is one of the powerful and largest traditional groups in northern Ghana.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: The history of this powerful kingdom has been kept by the Baansi, who are important in maintaining the entire existence of the members of this community. Baansi is a collective name for musicians. The Baansi are court musicians who engage themselves in the art of praise singing. Libraries are also defined as repositories of knowledge, and the Baansis of Dagbon are just that.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: They are repositories of knowledge known as living libraries. They are also holders of cultural wisdom and history, and are custodians of all knowledge related to the history of the Dagbon kingdom. Plockey, in 2005 in their study, identified the Baansi as living librarians of Dagbon. They produce, transmit, and store knowledge which they recount at important ceremonies, such as the rituals performed during the installation of chiefs, naming of babies, funeral ceremonies, and indeed at all social fora using what they call their Timpani drums.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: And you can see a picture of the Timpani drum on this screen. In the process of communication, they entertain and train on the customs and traditions of the kingdom. They have full knowledge of the genealogy of the people, their history, and have immense knowledge on who has the credentials to ascend the throne. They form an important source of knowledge on the political economy, history, and literature of Dagbon.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: For instance, the use of praise names to serenade royals serves as an important source teaching for the people. The Baansi, as living librarians, have the history of Dagbon in their memory, and they consider themselves to be vessels of speech. They are repositories of knowledge who harbor secrets that are many centuries old. They consider themselves indispensable, since without them, the names of the kings would vanish into oblivion.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: They consider themselves the memory of mankind at least within the Dagbon enclave. By the spoken word, they bring to life the deeds and exploits of kings for younger generations. There is no doubt that they may be classified as librarians in their own right. How do we treat living libraries? How do we help the Baansi to preserve that knowledge and get it known?
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: Can the knowledge of these living legends be packaged and promoted in a way that would pave way for them to benefit from their knowledge? These living libraries can easily be equated to counter archives, whose knowledge cannot be lost. The libraries are the people, and with their demise, all this knowledge dies. There is, therefore, the need to document, record, and digitize their knowledge as well.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: So far, we have looked at three different types and characteristics of indigenous knowledge. There are many other types of knowledge, but due to time constraints, I've limited myself to only these three. All of them provide useful information that can be tapped for national or global development. Indigenous knowledge is recognize as an important source of developmental information.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: It is priceless to those who depend on it for their very existence. It is also acknowledged that information management personnel play a significant role in the developmental process. However, they pay more attention to explicit or published information. It is thus imperative for information management personnel to begin to learn more about indigenous knowledge if they are to meet the information needs of indigenous people, and all those who use the information.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: We need, therefore, to preserve knowledge not for the fun of it, but to learn from it. We need to create local pathways to global development. And in learning from indigenous knowledge, we can pick up the best practices of communities in local knowledge systems and publish and share them for local and global development. As partners in development, information personnel must begin to be proactive in indigenous knowledge management.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: We need to give a new meaning to development that empowers local people to use their own knowledge for their own well-being. As information personnel, we must begin to move out of our comfort zone. And it is important to remember that a comfort zone may be a beautiful place, but nothing ever grows there. We must, therefore, be able to get involved, just like at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: We had librarians playing key roles in producing face masks. We, as a professional group, should begin to play major roles in national and global development. We need to recognize local people as contributors and recipients of the knowledge they create. We also need to recognize that knowledge and the management of it is not the exclusive domain of technologically advanced communities.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: So revitalizing indigenous knowledge production. As information management personnel, our preoccupation has always been to preserve knowledge. How do we collaborate as scientists, as libraries, and publishers to bring valuable local information into the public domain? How do we promote indigenous knowledge of economically viable local products? Who benefits from the proceeds of this knowledge?
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: Should there be a sharing formula? Can anything be standardized? Should a procedure for collection be developed? What procedures should be used to validate information gathered? What documentation standards should be used? Is there any possibility of applying intellectual property rights? Can patience be developed?
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: By whom, and for whom? These are key questions that need to be answered. May I now make some suggestions on the way forward. To foster positive interactions between indigenous knowledge and other knowledge systems, there is the need for collaboration between the various players in information management. Each player must be regarded as an equal partner. There must be mutual respect and understanding for their knowledge.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: Dialogue between groups on what needs to be done must be transparent and open. There must be informed consent and just returns for indigenous knowledge holders, and practitioners through the flow of rewards and benefits. And there's a lot of practical work to be done, such as establishing the modalities for managing indigenous knowledge, developing guidelines on how material should be identified, copied, organized, stored, and retrieved to meet the specific needs and management regimes of particular communities.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: Assessing standards of technology needed. Developing consistency of practice across many local indigenous contexts. Assessing training needs for the local community. And identifying a champion whose passion will be to help mobilize local knowledge for development. And to conclude, I hope I've been able in the last 40 minutes to create awareness about indigenous knowledge, and its role in national development.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: I've also tried to explain the few differences that exist. Despite these differences, however, I do hope it has become evident that indigenous knowledge plays a key role in national development. Let us now come together to start a conversation on indigenous knowledge. Let us now start a global conversation on indigenous knowledge to create global connections. Thank you very much.
MARGARET SRAKU-LARTEY: [MUSIC PLAYING]
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