Comments for Biocultural Diversity Conservation

Comment on Endangered Languages, Endangered Knowledge: Vanishing Voices of the Great Andamanese of India by Ortixia Dilts

Ortixia Dilts — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 19:28:35 +0000

Note from Anvita: Finally the Great Andamanese dictionary is out. It is multilingual, multi script with coloured pictures and the accompanying CD-ROM has the sounds files of words and phrases recorded in the natural habitat. Actually it is more than a dictionary as it has recorded the first time the ecological and environmental information which was locked in the language of the community. The dictionary was launched here at SOAS on the 17th and I am happy the BBC covered it on its various radio channels and website. See the link http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-15754058
I am relieved that finally I could give back to the society before it lost its language completely

Comment on Ancient Botanical Knowledge as Living Knowledge: Medicinal Plants of Antiquity by Ortixia Dilts

Ortixia Dilts — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 23:12:24 +0000

The Medicinal Plants of Antiquity research was conducted in Italy at the National Library of Rome and at the Library of the historical botanical garden at Padua from 2003 through 2006. Research has made it possible to collect 70,000+ images. Scholars of the Institute for the Preservation of Medical Traditions are now processing this massive collection. They have digitized all the images and are now mounting them on the Web site http://www.sil.si.edu?digitalcollections/herbals. Moreover, they are adding metadata to the images: historical information about the books whose images are displayed on the site, their authors and publishers, and the names of the plants in a broad range of languages, from classical Greek to modern languages (English, French, German and Italian).
Pursuing and expanding his activity, Alain Touwaide, working in collaboration with anthropologist Emanuela Appetiti in the context of the Institute for the Preservation of Medical Traditions that they have created and based at the Botany department of the Smithsonian Institution (http://medicaltraditions.org), is compiling a library of ancient Greek medical texts, be their works already published or new ones, overlooked in earlier scholarship or still unknown. They have created a new Web site specifically devoted to such texts: http://GreekMed.org, which offers a collection of links to digital versions of Greek medical texts known through earlier publications. Check it back often, as new items are being uploaded every week! Piece by piece, Touwaide and his collaborators are covering the whole medical production of the Mediterranean tradition, from the most remote antiquity to modern science and scholarship.

Comment on nature and culture. the true web of life by Terralingua | Go Small or Go Home

Terralingua | Go Small or Go Home — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 02:25:35 +0000

[...] and their biocultural diversity companion portal (http://www.terralingua.org/bcdconservation/?page_id=949 ), while also developing an outreach campaign to let the general public, stakeholders, researchers [...]

Comment on Life with Crocodiles: Reintroducing Human-Wildlife Coexistence in the Philippines by Ortixia Dilts

Ortixia Dilts — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 18:13:23 +0000

In 2010 an adult Philippine crocodile attacked a pregnant woman, Glenda Arribay, in Cadsalan, a remote village on the forest frontier. The attack was widely published in the Philippine newspapers (see for example: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/regions/02/23/10/pregnant-woman-escapes-croc-attack). We anticipated a major set back for the project, but the Kalinga in the village have reacted pragmatically. These indigenous people claim that as long as you respect crocodiles, the animals do not pose a danger. Luckily, Glenda has recovered fully from her wounds and has delivered a beautiful baby. She think that the crocodile accidentally bit her when she crossed the creek.

The incident highlights the potential danger of living with crocodiles. The Mabuwaya Foundation therefore is trying to prevent human-crocodile conflicts. Together with the community we’re are creating a bufferzone along the creek. People maintain a strip of natural vegetation and plant fruit trees along the creek. Students of Isabela State University have designed a poster (see green posters above) to inform people on co-habitation. The foundation is trying to find creative ways to assure that a rapidly growing human population can coexist with crocodiles. Indigenous ecological knowledge and traditional practices can offer clues on how to design effective measures to prevent human-crocodile conflicts, and how to deal with them if they occur.

Jan van der Ploeg

Comment on Life with Crocodiles: Reintroducing Human-Wildlife Coexistence in the Philippines by Ortixia Dilts

Ortixia Dilts — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 22:36:16 +0000

Last October 19, the Philippines was hit by Super Typhoon Juan. The damage in the coastal areas of Isabela is catastrophic, and very high in the western foothills of the Sierra Madre. Over the past 10 years the Mabuwaya Foundation has worked in these areas. Rural communities have taken unprecedented steps to conserve the Philippine crocodile in the wild. We feel that we now have to do all we can to support these communities to survive and rebuild their lives. Please contact The Mabuwaya Foundation mabuwaya@yahoo.com to receive an appeal for help with some background information about the disaster. Or download an informational .pdf from the following link: here Do not hesitate to contact us for more information, Your sincerely, The Mabuwaya Foundation Team Tess Balbas, Dominic Rodriguez, Sam Telan, Jessie Guerrero, Willem van de Ven, Wilda Calapoto, Robert Arano, Myrna Cureg, Arnold Macadangdang, Merlijn van Weerd and Jan van der Ploeg

Comment on Countering Local Knowledge Loss and Landrace Extinction in Kenya: The Case of the Bottle Gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) by Ortixia Dilts

Ortixia Dilts — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 18:07:13 +0000

A recent article was posted on this project, and the Global Sourcebook at the follwing link:

http://blogs.worldwatch.org/transformingcultures/bottle-gourd/

Comment on nature and culture. the true web of life by Ortixia

Ortixia — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:54:13 +0000

When registering for the forum, please be attentive to your username as this is the name that will show up when you post in the forum itself.

Comment on Culturally Rich Agroecosystems: Maintaining Traditional Beliefs for Food Security in Nepal by lppant

lppant — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 14:44:42 +0000

Interested in this project, please read chapter 4 of the following book:

Pant, L. P. & Ramisch, J. (2010). Beyond Biodiversity: Culture in Agricultural Biodiversity Conservation in the Himalayan Foothills in L. German, J. Ramisch and R. Verma (eds.). Beyond the Biophysical: Knowledge, Culture and Politics in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management. New York: Springer
http://www.springer.com/environment/sustainable+development/book/978-90-481-8825-3

Comment on Endangered Languages, Endangered Knowledge: Vanishing Voices of the Great Andamanese of India by Ortixia Dilts

Ortixia Dilts — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 23:52:48 +0000

Anvita Abbi has passed on a story to us from the late Boa Sr. The Story, Maya Jiro Mithe can be found at the following page:
http://www.terralingua.org/bcdconservation/?p=869

Comment on Maya Jiro Mithe by Ortixia Dilts

Ortixia Dilts — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 23:49:56 +0000

Anvita Abbi is the contributor of the project:
Vanishing Voices of the Great Andamanese of India
http://www.terralingua.org/bcdconservation/?p=125

Comment on La Madre De Las Cosechas by Ortixia Dilts

Ortixia Dilts — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 23:41:29 +0000

Please visit Felipe Montoya’s project: Reviving Traditional Seed Exchange and Cultural Knowledge in Rural Costa Rica.
http://www.terralingua.org/bcdconservation/?p=232

Comment on Strengthening Culture and Conservation Through Intangible Heritage and Performing Arts: The “Dance for the Earth and for Her Peoples” Initiative by Ortixia Dilts

Ortixia Dilts — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 23:06:53 +0000

Project Contributer Rob Wild has contributed two stories to our portal:
Dancing in the Ring – Learning Wisdom from our Indigenous Cultures
http://www.terralingua.org/bcdconservation/?p=934
Growth – Revision for Higher Biology or Different Ways of Knowing
http://www.terralingua.org/bcdconservation/?p=927

Comment on Life with Crocodiles: Reintroducing Human-Wildlife Coexistence in the Philippines by vanderploegjan

vanderploegjan — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 07:57:54 +0000

In 2010 the Mabuwaya Foundation received funding from the Ruffords Maurice Laing Foundation (to monitor reintroduced crocodiles in Dicatian Lake in the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park) , the US.Fish and Wildlife Service (to create bufferzones along crocodile sanctuaries in the municipality of San Mariano), the Prince Bernhard Fund for Nature (to empower rural communnities to conserve wetlands) and several international zoos (to improve the head-start facilities).

Comment on Reviving Traditional Seed Exchange and Cultural Knowledge in Rural Costa Rica by Ortixia Dilts

Ortixia Dilts — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 18:38:04 +0000

Felipe Montoya has contributed a beautiful story called the Mother of Harvests to the story section of the portal. It can be found at the following link: http://www.terralingua.org/bcdconservation/?p=895