From the Editor
On February 24-26th, 2000, the Union of British Columbian Indian Chiefs will host a conference looking at traditional resource rights and cultural intellectual property rights. Though this conference is thousands of miles away, it has issues and notions we should look at here and now in Australia.
One of the panels which caught my eye was the 'Non Legal Instruments Panel'. Sounds dry as dust, doesn't it? Probably not - this panel will be looking at alternatives to the legal system for communities to protect their territories. The panel will look at market related measures, investment screens, shareholder advocacy and product certification, amongst other things. What does this mean? Quite simply, the Indian Chiefs in BC are looking beyond the legal system for some form of acknowledgment or recompense for their prior knowledge of a range of things - amongst them the plants and animals of their traditional lands.
Further down the list there is the abruptly named session on 'Article 8(j)'. This involves the Convention of Biological Diversity which in turn acknowledges Traditional Ecological Knowledge. TEK has some rather nice ideas such as consent of use and benefit sharing, acknowledgment of the traditional knowledge, lifestyles and sustainability.
There will also be a medicinal plants panel, a biopiracy panel and a biodiversity panel - all of them looking at issues and answers at the community level.
Further information on this conference can be found at www.h-net.msu.edu./ánnounce
If you're on the net, it's worth a look.
Here in Australia, our own report on Australian Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property Rights has now been published. Some highlights from it can be found here.
I recommend some thought and comment on this matter as it is one which affects the industry and, on a wider scale, our historical perceptions of Australian Indigenous peoples.
Index 12
The People of Yarrawarra Aboriginal Corp
Bush Dust - The Spicy Tasmanian
Letters
Hi Sammy,
Having just received the latest Bushfoods magazine, it's great to see the kind of articles that were in it. Thanks for making it happen and providing such a cross-sectional range of contributors. Obviously there seems to be a lot of issues relating to native food and medicinal plants, and it is great to see different perspectives.
A few of the articles have stimulated me to put down some of my own thoughts. I didn't fill out, nor pay a great deal of attention to the survey that was spoken about by Dee Murphy. Though it is great to see that there can be some discussion about things like that. Sounds like a great project that they have going down at Corindi Beach. Then the article about ethno-ecology was also interesting. Having an interest in ethnobotany for many years one thing that did strike me however, is that in some ways whilst it is worthwhile to address these issues specifically relating to our present situation in Australia, it is worth noting that every single race of humans has been dependant upon plants, in every land in the world. Not only for food, but medicines, spiritual practices, for tools and building, clothing and many important items necessary for survival.
Despite the fact that overall many modern or 'western' cultures gave up their relationship with much of nature, that doesn't mean that in every single member of those societies, there is a similar disregard, lack of knowledge or interest in the botanical world. Although we might've lost track of our roots, non-Aboriginal people are also from cultures where plants have historical and significant importance to people. To my mind, it is a very human thing to pursue an understanding of plants, no race or group of people can claim a monopoly on it.
Though obviously where there are long standing cultural and historical connections, then it is worthwhile realising that that heritage is worth acknowledging and saving. Also how long must one be disconnected from our past, to a greater or lesser extent, before we can no longer 'legitimately' feel we have something valid to offer? In some ways we have a unique situation in Australia, in that now, as we are only beginning to understand and look further into our native plants, we have the wealth of knowledge and experience of most countries and peoples of the world. Whilst it is true that we could learn much, not to mention the value it has for Aboriginal people themselves, to preserve and assist with the Aboriginal relations and understandings of native plants and country. It is also undoubtable that our knowledge of plants from many cultures can help us understand our own flora as well.
As is said in 'bushfood' workshops I've been to, we need only look at the cuisine of regions like SE Asia, to see how flavours such as we find in lemon-myrtle, are easily adapted to be used as lemongrass in cooking. Many of Australia's plants are endemic, though many are also local versions of plants well known overseas for centuries, eg native citrus. Also we can learn from the way plants are used in other places, in regard to medicinal plants, it is the fact that local plants have been found to contain substances that have already been well documented as useful (as noted in the native herb forum in the same last edition), that allows us to understand how useful some of our local plants may be. Whilst much of our flora is unique, in the north it also has connections with the flora of India, where there is perhaps the most ancient written or codified herbal medical system in the world. Not to mention the obvious overlap in plants with SE Asia and Oceania, where there is also a wealth of indigenous knowledge regarding plants.
So although I see, as Dee said, that there are issues and problems relating to 'bushfoods' and 'bush-medicines' in regard to Aboriginal Intellectual Property rights, or at least people capitalising upon this knowledge, or even just trading on the perceived wisdom of that knowledge (perhaps I do that when I sell a plant or tell someone that it was once eaten by Aborigines). At present, I can legitimately say that I don't make any money from it, because largely, I don't make even near a living wage from anything I do connected to bushfoods.
There is actually a whole range of places that we can derive knowledge from, and I haven't included the element of simple research that individuals of any background can undertake. Nature is a seemingly endless and dynamic system, and to the patient and meticulous observer and gardener, it is not at all improbable that hitherto unrecognised properties or uses will be found for any number of plants. It can seem that it is easy to end up in a kind of good vs bad situation, yet to my mind, the flora of the world is there for everyone's experience and knowledge, nourishment and inspiration.
Obviously the economic necessities forced upon us through modern society puts pressure on things and people. Some folks who have greater experience or resources can obviously run away with ideas and products that others can't. Natural products that can actually be proven to be beneficial can be exploited by companies. That is the nature of the society we presently have, and is in my opinion more of the reason for problems arising than purely peoples interest. We are all forced to make a buck (or in some cases go broke trying), and do so in a competitive environment. Some are here for love, some are here for money, most are probably here for a bit of both.
If I had my way (something which will never happen), I wouldn't allow Plant Variety Rights or any form of patenting or privatising plants, or even specific plant varieties, because I believe that ultimately all of nature is public property. These kinds of measures reinforce materialistic and profit motivated work. I mean for centuries people have been accidentally and intentionally hybridising and breeding new varieties of plants without needing these kinds of attitudes. Personally I also have troubles with the whole idea of Intellectual Property Rights for anyone as well.
Not sure why, but it just seems strange that the sum total of peoples ideas, knowledge or experience comes down to some material number or percentage point, and that there is some sort of privatisation of ideas. Rarely is a single individual responsible solely for any ideas, and often it is built upon the work of people beforehand, who were around when the idea of intellectual property rights never even existed. Often ideas appear to surface in many different places at the same time (anyone heard of morphogenic fields?). Perhaps that's also why I have never been able to get much back from my own knowledge sometimes, because I usually give it freely to anyone who asks, and I do agree that usually that brings you nothing more than a thanks, and often not even that. I can't bring myself to say call myself a 'consultant' and charge money, when if anyone asks that is essentially what I give for nothing most of the time. Yet I am aware of how others capitalise on even the most minor amount of knowledge, not just in this area. Just not my style perhaps? The only way to get past it, it seems in this competitive environment, is to become secretive and withhold information, organise legal protection and undertake a whole pile of other stuff that bores me almost totally.
Yet others evidently thrive, and indeed make a great living out of doing what appears to me to be exactly that, especially in the area of medicinal plants and corporations. I even realise that essentially a lot of the legislation was intended to protect the small player, but like many things relating to the legal system, people who already have wealth and knowledge of the legal system prosper mostly from any legislation, not those who are already in one way or another largely ignorant of or alienated from the legal system. Despite the best intentions of the legislation. It is obviously a complex situation, and a dynamic one that is largely a problem from the way things have gone before, especially in relation to Aboriginal involvement in this area of life in modern Australia. Hopefully though, we can all understand how complex and human our interests are, and through that come to further understanding and use of plants, not just for Australia, but for the whole world as well.
I found it interesting that Dee mentioned how people come seeking 'authenticity' through obtaining an 'Aboriginal' name for plants. Yet, to me it seems that in many ways this is 'authenticity' for local Aboriginal people, because their culture and language is something intimately connected to their experience. Authenticity to others might be something else, a botanical name, a common gardeners name, or their own name for whatever plant it might be. Whichever, I sure hope that everyone realises that any interest in plants is a really 'authentic' human thing on it's own. It is, and always will be the lot of the human being to live from and with the flora of the world, wherever they may find themselves being born.
It is easy to generalise about people and attitudes, but when it comes to individuals, things are rarely black and white, and it is perhaps unrealistic to lump individuals of certain cultural backgrounds into the same vague categories, or assume things about them because of that, either way. I'll shut up now, this letter rambled on about a lot more than I thought it would. Just outside magazines like this one there is no where else that I'm aware of where such issues can be debated.
bye Peter Mouatt
Research News
Feasibility for local, small scale commercial native plant harvests for indigenous communities
Through a project funded by Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC), Northern Territory University (NTU) and indigenous organisations are exploring the viability of indigenous communities to sustainably harvest plants from their estates for sale on the native food market.
The project sees the Northern Territory University assisting Laynhapuy Association in Yirrkala and Balkanu in Queensland with assessing the economic feasibility of trial harvesting native plants.
The feasibility is assessed through the NTU's Key Centre for Tropical Wildlife Management, the Centre for Indigenous Natural and Cultural Resource Management (CINCRM) and the School of Business. The project is headed by Peter Whitehead, Director of the Key Centre for Tropical Wildlife Management and Greg Wearne from CINCRM, with assistance from ethnobotanist Nick Smith, from Balkanu.
Jon Rika of Laynhapuy Association initiated the idea for the project after reading an article in a newspaper about Aboriginal associations generating an income from their land using the resources available to them. He approached Greg Wearne from CINCRM with the idea that the Yolngu in North East Arnhem land could do that too. The Laynhapuy Association will act as middleman between the native food wholesalers interstate and the homelands surrounding Yirrkala.
History has shown that business arrangements between Balanda (white European Australians) and Aboriginal people are often unsuccessful. This project aims to combat this with Laynhapuy selecting three representatives: Wapit Mununggurr, Moori Mununggurr and Margaret Duwundungu to liaise between Laynhapuy, NTU and wholesalers interstate.
A team from the NTU's School of Business is assessing the marketing and economic feasibility of the harvest. This team is made up of Tarun Williams, a Research Associate employed by the School of Business for the project; Pascal Tremblay, Lecturer in Tourism, Marketing and Economics; Ram Vemuri, Associate Dean and Senior lecturer in Tourism and Hospitality; and Kojo Saffu, Lecturer in marketing and management.
Other communities interested in taking part in the project are Maningrida in Northern Arnhem land and the Wik in Cape York. More research will be done with these communities in the near future.
Tarun Williams
Warrigal Greens Trials
In recent years there has been much interest in the potential of Australian native edible plants as commercial crops. It's ironic that at least one of them has a more extensive history of cultivation in Europe than here.
The leafy vegetable known in Australia as Warrigal greens, and tetragon in Europe, is the subject of a series of studies being undertaken by a University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), horticulture researcher Amani Ahmed, which are giving commercial growers a profile of the way the plant responds to a range of cultivation methods and growing conditions.
Ms Ahmed's PhD research is also gathering information on the best methods for propagating another native plant species now being grown commercially, the b bush tomato.
Warrigal greens (Tetragonia tetragonoides) found its way to Europe in the 1770s, courtesy of the botanist on the Endeavour voyage, Sir Joseph Banks, who first came across it in New Zealand.
The spinach-like Australasian native proved popular in Europe and North America during the 19th century, and is still grown today in France. In Australia, the wild plant is found growing mainly in coastal areas and inland near salt marshes.
Although James Cook fed warrigal greens to his crew to stave off scurvy and some use was made of the plant in the early years of the convict colony, it and other bushfoods were largely ignored in favour of the colonial settlers' familiar agricultural plants and methods.
Hence, local experience in the organised farming of bush food plants is very recent, and the kind of research Ms Ahmed is doing is providing important background information for growers, particularly those using hydroponic methods.
These days, warrigal greens are seen as having a bit more potential than being a useful treatment for scurvy. Ms Ahmed quotes the results of sensory evaluation tests, done at the Victoria University of Technology, that compared pesto made with warrigal greens to that made with basil - the warrigal greens variety being preferred.
So far, Ms Ahmed has completed two hydroponic trials with warrigal greens and a third is underway, looking at the effects of differing concentrations of nutrients on test crops. She also is undertaking a field study of the plant in the wild.
Warrigal greens contains the compounds oxalate, nitrate and saponin, which currently are removed by blanching in boiling water before eating.
According to Miss Ahmed, "There's nothing of great concern in that - spinach and rhubarb must be prepared in the same way for the same reasons. There have been no cases of anyone being made ill by eating the raw leaves of warrigal greens, but eating them uncooked over a long period could result in kidney stones."
The first of the hydroponic trials found that oxalate levels in the plant leaves could be lowered by reducing the nitrate to ammonium nitrogen ratio in the nutrient solution. The second trial, for which results are still forthcoming, looked at what effect varying the total amount of nitrogen would have on the levels of oxalate, nitrate and saponin in the test plants.
The third hydroponic trial is testing the plant's tolerance to salinity, while two more planned studies are likely to be concerned with the impacts of calcium and shading on greenhouse crops.
The results from the hydroponic trials are being compared with data being gathered in the field on the environmental variables wild plants experience, the conditions in which they do best and the levels of oxalate, nitrate and saponin that occur naturally in the wild.
Ms Ahmed's second project, on the propagation of the hush tomato (Solanum centrale), is aimed at identifying the best methods for producing commercial plants - both from seed and tissue culture.
"The germination study is testing the response of seeds to varying conditions, and it has shown that smoke plays a role in the germination process, backing up observations that fire favours the spread of bush tomatoes," Ms Ahmed said.
Tissue culture propagation is being explored as an alternative, because seed. propagation can result in too much variability in adult plants. If growers choose micropropagation, they will be able to select which plants to clone based on the characteristics of fruit flavour, colour, size and seed to flesh ratio.
Ms Ahmed is due to complete her research in March next year, with the results to be made available to growers through a series of journal articles.
Ms Amani Amed
PhD student
Department of Lnvirorimental Sciences
Univemity of Technology Sydney
Weetbourrrn St, Gore Hill, NSW 2065
From Miss Amed -
"So far, we have conducted two hydroponic trials, with a third currently underway. Results are available for oxalate in the first trial; our research has shown that a low nitrate to ammonium nitrogen ratio in nutrient solution lowers the oxalate content. We used five nutrient solution treatments with percentages of nitrate nitrogen to ammonium nitrate as follows
100:0, 97:3, 80:20, 50:50 and O:10O.
Harvests occurred 7,14 21 and 28 days after treatments began.
Oxalate concentration was determined using the Sigma Diagnostics oxalate kit.
Yield measurements are shown in Table 1. The ratio of nitrate to ammonium nitrogen caused some minor differences in yield but most parameters showed no significant differences between the treatments. The fresh weight of shoots and average leaf area of warrigal greens grown in the 0% N03-N:i00% NH4-N treatment were lower compared to those in the high nitrate low ammonium treatments (p<005).