(taken from the Belize Culture Listserve) Richard R. WILK **********snipped********* A poignant example can be found in a file I have accumulated, which documents over twenty five separate feasibility studies, project proposals, implementation plans, and project assessments over more than a century. All are devoted to a single project; the commercializing the production of edible oil from the seeds of a palm tree (Orbignya cohune) which is native to the Belizean rainforest. Attracted by the high yield of seeds per tree, and easy access to dense stands, entrepreneurs, companies, governments, and NGOs have all planned and conducted numerous projects to extract the oil, using imported cracking and rendering technologies developed in tropical palm-oil industries in other countries. One company even built a railroad and a pressing plant employing over 600 people. Every single scheme based on imported technology has failed, even those directly subsidized by the government, often with drastic economic consequences. In contrast, while imported projects come and go, household-level production by indigenous people using a variety of simple local technologies has never stopped. If we recognize that sustainable technological solutions must be local, does this mean that they must be indigenous (in the meaning of locally generated within an existing cultural/social tradition using local tools and knowledge)? Some of the earlier writings on "Indigenous Technical Knowledge" (ITK) suggested that indeed, in the long term, only local indigenous technologies could be sustainable, practical, maintainable and equitable.(8) There was a definite utopian vision behind the idea of each society having its own local science, building a sustainable future on the foundation of indigenous techniques, which were themselves uniformly sustainable, productive, and environmentally benign. While the early promise of the ITK approach has only been partially realized, experience suggests certain aspects of indigenous technologies that contribute to their sustainability. These can also be used as guidelines in generating new technologies. The characteristics of indigenous technologies which contribute to sustainability are:
Maintained by Ray Auxillou, Silvia Pinzon, MLS, and Marty Casado. Please email with suggestions or additions for this Electronic Library of Belize. |