Long answer questions a) 'Today many local knowledge systems are at the risk of becoming extinct' Explain this statement and also describe why we should encourage the use of local technology.
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Answer:
Local knowledge is the human capital of both the urban and rural people. It is the main asset they invest in the struggle for survival, to produce food, provide for shelter or achieve control of their own lives. Significant contributions to global knowledge have originated with local people, for instance for human and veterinary medicine. Local knowledge is developed and adapted continuously to a gradually changing environment. It is passed down from generation to generation and closely interwoven with people’s cultural values.
In the emerging global knowledge economy, a country’s ability to build and mobilize knowledge capital is as essential to sustainable development as the availability of physical and financial capital. The basic component of any country’s knowledge system is its local knowledge. This encompasses the skills, experiences and insights of people, applied to maintain or improve their livelihood.
Today, many local knowledge systems are at risk of becoming extinct. This is because globally natural environments are rapidly changing, and there are fast-paced economic, political, and cultural changes. Practices vanish, when they are inappropriate, in the face of new challenges, or because they adapt too slowly. However, many practices disappear because of the intrusion of foreign technologies, or development concepts, that promise shortterm gains or solutions to problems. The tragedy of the impending disappearance of local knowledge is most obvious to those who have developed and make their living from it. A case in point is the wild-food example from southern Ethiopia (see Box 2). These plants are especially vital for the survival of the poor, during food shortages, when there are no other means of satisfying basic needs. Moreover, the implication for others may also be detrimental, when skills, technologies, artifacts, problem-solving strategies and expertise are lost. Local knowledge is a part of people’s lives. Especially, the poor depend, almost entirely, for their livelihoods on specific skills and knowledge essential to their survival.