This paper aims to explain the major characteristics of pottery making in the Ituri rainforest during the last millennium by identifying and comparing technological aspects of archaeological and ethnographic assemblages with the primary goal of relating some present features of ceramic production to those of the past.
Agrobiodiversity is already proving to be important in helping rural communities and farmers throughout the world adapt to climate change. Diversity (genetic, species and ecosystem) in production systems can improve adaptability and resilience and is an essential part of adaptation to changing production conditions.
The spread of plants from one country to another through intentional and unintentional human activities is a serious threat to the world’s biodiversity; second only to habitat destruction. However, a number of studies have shown that invasive alien plant species can positively contribute to rural economies.
An inventory and analysis of the general uses of plants by the Vhavenḓa, a cultural group who historically occupied
the region knownas Venḓa, currently referred to as the Vhembe District, Limpopo Province, South Africa, are
presented. Information on plant uses was gathered through a literature review and interviews conducted
Plants are universally recognised as a vital component of
the world’s biological diversity and an essential resource
for ecosystem functioning – goods and services. Additionally,
plants have great economic and cultural importance.
Plants play a key role in maintaining the planet’s basic
environmental balance, ensuring ecosystem stability, and
Understanding the uses of indigenous plants that are of economic importance to local communities is very much important in rural development strategies. The Marula (Sclerocarya birrea) Anacardiaceae family is widely used.
Indigenous plant resources provide rural communities with non-timber forest products that provide energy, food, shelter and medicine. Indigenous plant users in the rural communities have developed selective management methods to sustain plant resources.
The publication of this work by the African Young Scientists Initiative on Climate Change and Indigenous Knowledge Systems is based on the understanding and acknowledgement that African Indigenous Knowledge Systems (AIKS) that have been locally tested and are culturally acceptable have sustained the lives of African people over centuries against adverse effects of climate change such as drought
Having lived amongst several of the groups of indigenous peoples of Amazonia, I
have observed both the quantity of medicinal plants which they use and the efficacy
of many of their cures. I have been treated by these people for intestinal upsets,
parasites, cuts and bruises, headaches and other minor ailments and have personally
Climate change threatens the livelihood of rural communities that depend on natural resources for food. Many people in developing countries living in the rural areas depend on indigenous food resources which in years are scarce and in poor supply as a result of marginal and erratic rainfall, low soil and ambient temperatures below the minimum temperature.