International Conference on Local Indigenous Knowledge
This year’s ICLK (27-28 July 2016, St. Giles Wembley Hotel, Penang, Malaysia) theme, “Local Wisdom: Universal Heritage”, acknowledges local knowledge as an important element in developing a new form of knowledge that has universal value. Bringing together researchers, scholars, practitioners and students in the fields of local knowledge provided a platform for a network of representatives from academia and the industry to meet and share their knowledge, understandings, and research findings. The conference focus is on indigenous cultures in Malaysia and Indonesia, with specific reference to several habitats in the Philippines.
Discourse centered on recent works in the fields of architecture, healing therapy, theatre, fine arts, crafts, film music, dance, and the dynamics of local knowledge on contemporary practices, among others. Described were ways in which existing local knowledge is restructuring culture and society and strengthening the understanding and relationship between man, nature, animal and plant, and the Divine.
Prallagon Consulting Group, in its capacity as a consultancy on global human development, was a participant at the ICLK. It was important to show our understanding of ways in which local knowledge, past and present, validates indigenous communities in their efforts to highlight the necessity for including local knowledge in collaborative sustainable development venues used to devise, build and expand our capacity to achieve human development in a global context.
Indigenous Peoples are distinct social and cultural groups that share collective ancestral ties to the lands and natural resources where they live, upon which they depend as the basis for their identities, cultures, livelihoods, physical viability, and spiritual well-being. There are about 476 million Indigenous peoples worldwide, approximately six percent of the global population, represent about 4000 distinct languages different from the official language(s) of the country or region in which they live. Some estimates show that more than half of these native languages are at risk of becoming extinct by 2100.
Gain Access: Indigenous People ⎯- Global Action Plan
Photo: Local village family near Ipoh, Malaysia. By T. Randolph, ca 1987.