Program

Session 1, Friday morning, 8:30–1:00

Peter Raven, Missouri Botanical Garden:
Welcome

Jan Salick, WLBC at the Missouri Botanical Garden:
Science and Traditional Knowledge: The ICSU, IUBS, NSF, and the Discipline of Ethnobotany

Gary Nabhan, Northern Arizona University:
Integrating Traditional Knowledge and Science from the Bottom Up

Jane Mt. Pleasant, Cornell University:
Indigenous Agriculture in North America: Recognizing Complex Knowledge in a Traditional Cropping System

Darshan Shankar, Foundation for Revitalization of Local Health Traditions:
Integrating Western and Eastern Science

Lorna Holtman, University of the Western Cape, South Africa:
Integrating Science and Traditional Knowledge in Education

Joji Carino, Tebtebba Foundation, UN Coordinator of Indicators for Indigenous Peoples:
Integrating Western and Traditional Knowledge in Policy and International Flora

Session 2, Friday afternoon, 2:00–5:30

Brief Talks, 2:00–3:00

Rainer Bussmann, WLBC at the Missouri Botanical Garden:
The William L. Brown Center and the Wm. L. Brown Award

Gary Martin, University of Kent, UK and Global Diversity Foundation:
Ethnobotany's First Attempts to Address the Issues

Jan Salick, WLBC at the Missouri Botanical Garden:
Brief Introduction to the Workshops

Workshops, 3:15–5:30

Biology and Traditional Knowledge—the Background

Workshop A: Definitions and Concepts

Leaders: Deborah Pearsall, University of Missouri, Columbia, and Wayne Law, New York Botanical Garden

What is science? What is traditional knowledge? Are these cultural concepts in themselves? How are these concepts misinterpreted in pseudoscience and anti- science? Are there other concepts more relevant to integrating knowledge systems?

Workshop B: Power and Interactions

Leaders: Will McClatchey, University of Hawai`i, Manoa, and Richard Stepp, University of Florida

Are there (what are the) power structures inherent in science and traditional knowledge that limit interactions? What can be done to facilitate interaction? Are there processes to avoid these power structures or to share power?

Workshop C: History

Leaders: Shonil Bhagwat, University of Oxford, and Wendy Applequist, WLBC at the Missouri Botanical Garden

Historically, the scientific study of traditional knowledge has a long history in the Western tradition, built on Greek, Roman, and Islamic foundations and in Eastern traditions, built on Chinese, Indian, and Islamic foundations. Document and discuss your favorite examples of historical contributions of traditional knowledge to science (need not be Western or Eastern).

Reception and posters/demonstrations, Friday evening, 5:30–6:30

Symposium Dinner, Friday evening, 6:30–7:30

Wm. L. Brown Award Presentation and Keynote Address, Friday evening, 7:30–9:00

The Fifth William L. Brown Award for Excellence in Genetic Resource Conservation will be given in November, 2008, to Dr. Nancy Turner, an ethnobotanist at the University of Victoria. Dr. Turner's area of research encompasses the fields of botany and ecology, most noticeably where they intersect with anthropology, geography, and linguistics. She is interested in the traditional ecological knowledge systems and traditional land and resource management systems of indigenous peoples, particularly in western Canada. She has worked with and learned from First Nations elders and cultural specialists in northwestern North America for nearly 40 years, with a strong record of collaboration with Indigenous communities to help retain and promote their traditional knowledge of plants and habitats, including traditional foods, materials and medicines, as well as language and vocabulary relating to plants and environment.

The Brown Award will be presented by Dr. Peter Raven, President of the Missouri Botanical Garden, to Keynote Speaker, Dr. Nancy Turner.

Session 3, Saturday morning, 9:00–1:00

Talks, 9:00–10:00

Kamal Bawa, University of Massachusetts, Boston:
Integrating Traditional Knowledge, Conservation, and Sustainable Development

Quinton Johnson, University of the Western Cape, South Africa:
Integrating Traditional Knowledge and the Medical Sciences: Challenges and Opportunities

Workshops, 10:30–1:00

Biology and Traditional Knowledge—Current Uses

Workshop E: Informing Science

Leaders: Charles Peters, New York Botanical Garden, and Javier Caballero, National Autonomous University of Mexico

Traditional knowledge has informed modern science in many areas, most notably in taxonomy, medicine, agriculture, natural resource management, and conservation.

Workshop F: Equitable Interactions

Leaders: Tamara Ticktin, University of Hawai`i, Manoa, and Armand Randrianasolo, WLBC at the Missouri Botanical Garden

Traditional knowledge is often adapted by science and re-applied in contemporary contexts and through contemporary management. What processes might facilitate more equal give and take?

Workshop G: Processes and Results

Leaders: Bill Balee, Tulane University, and Pablo Ezyaguirre, Bioversity International

What are the advantages and potentials for integrating different kinds of knowledge? What processes might facilitate these?

Session 4, Saturday afternoon, 2:00–5:30

Talks, 2:00–3:00

Pablo Eyzaquirre, Bioversity International:
Traditional Knowledge and Agricultural Biodiversity: Revitalising Our Food Security

Suresh Ghimire, Centre of Evolutionary and Functional Ecology:
Heterogeneity in Traditional Knowledge

Workshops, 3:00–5:30

Biology and Traditional Knowledge—the Larger Framework

Workshop H: Sticking Points

Leaders: Kamal Bawa, University of Massachusetts, Boston, and Rainer Bussmann, WLBC at the Missouri Botanical Garden

To what extent can true integration facilitate resolution of contemporary issues (e.g., collecting permits, benefit sharing, IP, information disemination, etc.)?

Workshop I: Education

Leaders: Lorna Holtman, University of the Western Cape, South Africa, and Gayle Fritz, Washington University St. Louis

How can integration of knowledge systems enrich and inform education and capacity building?

Workshop J: Policy

Leaders: Joji Carino, Tebtebba Foundation, and Gary Martin, University of Kent

How can integration of knowledge systems enrich and inform decision making and policy?