chapter 2

The VITEK has several potential uses and user groups, from the local on up to the global level. The main ones we can think of are described below. The ability to speak to multiple audiences for different reasons should be considered one of its most valuable assets.

2.1. Local Communities and Organizations

For local communities and the organizations that represent them, the VITEK can provide concise and objective information about the current status and future prospects of their traditional knowledge systems. We believe that the local stakeholders will be the primary beneficiaries of the proposed indicator. Dissemination of the results to the participating groups will help raise their awareness of the healthy/unhealthy state of their cultural heritage and stimulate them to ponder the need for preservation or recuperation initiatives. Many people are vaguely aware that loss or change may be occurring, especially when there is a noticeable gap when younger vs. older persons' knowledges, but they may feel no need to do something about it until they are confronted with concrete facts and figures that show how fast and far this is happening. The modular design of the VITEK test and measure enables disaggregation of the results, showing which types or areas of TEK may be most vulnerable or threatened. Thus remedial or documentary programs instigated by local groups can be focused accordingly. Moreover, the indicator can enhance their ability to communicate their concerns and needs to outside actors, such as policymakers and aid providers. The involvement of community members will be crucial for the site-specific adaptation and application of the VITEK testing instrument (section 7). We also place emphasis on the training of local people to administer the test and analyze the results so that they will be capable of carrying out the assessment on their own, or with minimal involvement of outsiders. This would give them greater access and control over the information produced by it.

Although the VITEK assessment is intended for use and application among any local population, its potential benefits are especially important for indigenous peoples. For such groups, TEK is a vital resource not only for their livelihoods and physical health but also for the maintenance of their self-determination, cultural identity, social cohesion, spiritual wellbeing, and other intangible qualities of life. Many indigenous groups constitute minority and marginalized populations within their countries. The VITEK offers them a crucial piece of information, represented in a universal scientific language (i.e. mathematics) that is comprehensible to others, which they can use to press their claims and defend their interests vis-à-vis state or private institutions.

2.2. Governmental Agencies

For national governments and their agencies, the VITEK will offer a powerful tool for cultural and environmental policy decisions. The index provides a fast and convenient measure for assessing the persistence, loss or change of traditional knowledge in selected subgroups of the national population. This will allow them to better identify groups whose cultural traditions are most endangered and thereby target ethnoeducational support programs to those who are most in need. Used together with ecological indices, the VITEK can help reveal the links between biological and cultural diversity and lead to more integrated environmental conservation programs. Periodic implementation of the VITEK assessment in various localities would permit the monitoring of the states and trends of traditional knowledges over time. This kind of information can be used to evaluate policy performance or progress toward meeting goals. Furthermore, it sheds light on the cultural costs/benefits of development and change processes. Coordinated management of the data generated by the assessment by a governmental agency could make this information available to the key policymakers

2.3. General Public

The VITEK serves the general public interest by providing easily digestible, readily understandable information about trends in cultural diversity and heritage, the plight of small-scale or minority populations and their unique lifestyles in an age of globalization, and the fate of potentially valuable traditional wisdom about the environment. Although many people are aware that global environmental change is one of the major issues confronting humankind in today's world, relatively few people recognize that TEK erosion or change may be an interdependent part of this process. Since public opinion shapes decision-making in democratic societies, the common citizen is also an important stakeholder and consumer of national performance indicators like the VITEK. The indicator will help to publicize whether trends are going in the desired direction or whether policies are working.

2.4. Nongovernmental Organizations

For nongovernmental organizations (NGO's), the VITEK offers a new source of specific and detailed information about the status of cultural knowledge and practices in the places where it is implemented. NGO's collectively comprise a major force and agent of social change throughout the world nowadays. They are heavily involved in the management of development and conservation in numerous countries. Many of them work directly with local groups to strengthen, preserve and innovate TEK and other cultural resources. On one hand, the indicator will expand the information base they rely on to identify problem situations in which TEK is threatened and plan appropriate action programs. On the other hand, by showing where TEK is persistent or resilient, the indicator can help them find prosperous situations which serve as potential models for program planning.

2.5. International Policy Organizations

For multilateral and international organizations that set and guide broad policy directions, the VITEK offers a reliable, comparable, global indicator that directly measures TEK change/continuity at different scales. There are several international organizations currently working to develop cultural indicators, including the CBD, UNEP, UNDP, IUCN and UNESCO, among others. The CBD is particularly important because of its considerable influence on downstream policy at the national level and because it has officially adopted a strategy of indicator development to determine whether policy targets (e.g. biodiversity loss reduction) are being met. There are currently no indicators directly focused on TEK states and trends although there are several which have been proposed and are being studied. The criteria for new indicator development is that they be scientifically robust and reliable, comparable, quantitative, variable in scale, and contain time-series data so as to permit trend analysis. The VITEK meets all of these conditions.

2.6. Scientific Community

For scientific researchers, the VITEK provides a comparative indicator of TEK variation and change which, if analyzed in relation to other social and environmental variables, can be used to test hypotheses about the causes of knowledge loss or persistence or the importance of it for biodiversity conservation. Implementation of the VITEK assessment in various localities and publication or posting of the results would establish an invaluable cross-cultural database that researchers could draw upon to compare and contrast different groups and sites, to distinguish general from specific trends, and to contextualize the results obtained in original field studies. The VITEK might also serve as a source of baseline data prior to undertaking more specialized investigations of aspects of TEK variation and change.