Indigenous Knowledge and Sustainable Development

Biodiversity, indigenous knowledge, and sustainable development are very closely linked. The indigenous knowledge systems of the peoples of the South constitute the world largest reservoir of knowledege of the diverse species of plant and animal life on earth. For many centuries, their indigenous agricultural systems have utilized practices and techniques which embody, what one scientist has called «Principles of Permanence»principles that permit continuous cropping all year around without the use of chemicals which degrade the environment. Furthermore, not only do they not deplete the earth’s natural resources but they often replenish them.