Indigenous Environmental Knowledge

1. PREFACE.- 2. FARMING.- Origins.-Responding to site and soil variations.- Coping with seasonal variations.- Maintaining soil fertility.- Coping with weeds and pests.- Cultural and religious for change.- 3. FOOD SUPPLIES AND NUTRITION.- Traditional diets.- Insights from nutritional science.- Input patterns for different classes of nutrients.- Starvation and malnutrition The paradoxical efficacy of traditional diets.- 4. HOUSE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION.- Design criteria.- The humid tropics.- The tropical highlands.- The desert fringe.- The temperate zone.- Pressures for change.- A future for traditional designs?- 5. FUEL SUPPLIES.- Traditional wood harvesting.- Disruptive influences.- Alternative energy sources.- Better ways of burning wood.- Rehabilitating forests.- Overall sustainability of firewood production systems.- 6. HERBAL MEDICINE.- Mixed expectations.- Patterns of village use.- Residual difficulties.- Remedial strategies.- 7. WATER SUPPLY AND WASTE DISPOSAL.- Water use.- Water quality issues.- Other water and waste related hazards.- Remedial strategies.- 8. PROSPECTS FOR VILLGE DEVELOPMENT.- Quality of life shortfalls.- External factors.- Influences arising from within communities.- Constructive interventions.- Augmenting incomes.- Comprehensive development plans.- 9. LESSONS FOR THE WORLD AT LARGE.- Contemporary issues.- Energy economies in agriculture and food distribution.- Energy economies in architecture and household management.- Protecting crop diversity.- Lessons from traditional medicine.- Improving dietary balance.- Attitudes to wild species.- REFERENCES.