Learn from indigenous peoples' collective wisdom

Quezon City, 7 October 2009 --- A group of indigenous peoples belonging to EED Philippine Partners' Task Force for Indigenous Peoples’ Rights (EED-TFIP) on Wednesday called for the promotion and utilization of indigenous knowledge in using our natural resources.
 
“We have much to learn from the collective wisdom of the different indigenous peoples in the country. Lampisa, lapat, innabuyog and many other indigenous knowledge systems are often romanticized, deemed as backward, or brushed aside as insignificant,” said (EED-TFIP) convenor Jill Cariño during the press launching of the Indigenous Trade Fair and Knowledge at the Tree House Restaurant in Quezon City.

“But for indigenous peoples who use this knowledge in their daily lives, it is a way of life, one that has proven appropriate and sustainable, ensuring their food security and continued survival for generations,” added Carino.
 
EED-TFIP is organizing a trade fair on Oct. 16-18 at the Quezon Memorial Circle in celebration of the Tribal Filipino Week. Indigenous knowledge will be exhibited together with other technologies handed down from generation to generation in the three-day affair.
 
Cariño used the occasion to extend the indigenous peoples’ sympathy to the victims of typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng, saying that “we are all victims of disasters caused by inappropriate development strategies that have raped Mother Nature and contributed to climate change leading to floods, landslides, storm surges and other catastrophes in our communities.”
 
The EED-TFIP convenor reiterated the call of indigenous peoples to take a second look at indigenous farming technology which is better compared to western methods.
 
“The imposition of modern agriculture has also weakened the practice of indigenous sustainable agriculture while the promotion of hybrid and terminator seeds has caused the extinction of superior traditional varieties of seeds and plants,” Carino said.
 
Carino likewise called on every Filipino to care and protect the environment using the technology of the indigenous people.
 
“Let us care for the environment in the tradition of the indigenous peoples. Let us protect and promote indigenous knowledge for the benefit of humankind,” said Carino, who also asked for the recognition of the indigenous people’s rights as mandated in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
 
“Let us assert and defend the rights of indigenous peoples to land, food sovereignty and self-determination within a truly democratic and sovereign Philippines,” she said. ###
 
For Reference:
 
Jill Cariño
Convenor, EED-TFIP
+9189245966