Indigenous economic systems Mainstream Development Issues

RIGHTS AIPP AIPP Regional Capacity Building Program - Training Manual on the UNDRIP 124 • The land is not just the soil but all the living and life-giving things it holds. Land is the source of life. Thus, it cannot belong exclusively to a single person or household or family; it is necessarily a resource and responsibility shared by all the members of a community. Even when a parcel of land is segregated from common access, for exclusive use by a person, household or family, its fate remains the concern of the entire community. • It is the community’s responsibility to defend the land. • It is also the community’s responsibility to manage the land’s resources wisely, conserving these for future generations. • Principles and guidelines pertaining to the use, disposition and management of natural resources are part of the community’s customary law, as are principles and guidelines per- taining to all responsibilities related with land, people and wealth.

2. Traditional occupations

Traditional occupations are still the chief sources of livelihood of most indigenous peoples in Asia. During the Fourth Indigenous Development Conference of Asia held in Sabah, Malay- sia in 2008, it was estimated that traditional occupations still accounted for 95 of indigenous peoples’ livelihood in Timor Leste, 90 in Cambodia, 80 in Malaysia and 70 in Thailand. In the Philippines, the figures vary from people to people, but it would probably be safe to say that, on the average, indigenous peoples there still derive more than 50 of their livelihood from tra- ditional occupations. The traditional occupations of Asian indigenous peoples include: • farming, which involves a combination of some or all of the following: » crop cultivation in the form of terraced wet-rice culture, swidden cultivation, homelot gardening, etc.; » the raising of domesticated animals, including buffalo, cattle, horses, goats, pigs, chick- ens, ducks, etc.; • fishing, hunting and gathering of materials or products from the wild; • basketry; • textile weaving and carpet making; • carpentry; • wood or stone carving or sculpting; • pottery; • wine and beer making; • sugar making; • salt making; • small-scale mining; • metal smithing; • jewelry making. In many indigenous Asian societies, there are also persons who earn some or all of their living as traditional specialists in one or more of the following: • healing, which involves one or a combina- tion of the following: » “herbal” medicine, which in many cases actually involves medicinal substances taken not only from plants but also from animals and minerals; » midwifery; » deep-pressure massage; Module-6 RIGHTS AIPP AIPP Regional Capacity Building Program - Training Manual on the UNDRIP 125 » bone setting; » surgery; » energy healing; » spiritual healing; • mediation with ancestor and nature spirits; • divining; • mediation of intra-community and inter-community conflicts. Development interventions ought not to put these traditional occupations at risk, consider- ing that they fulfill the following functions: • They are the means by which families and communities provide for their own needs in food, shelter and clothing, and even their cash needs. • Involving the pooling, sharing, or exchange of labor, material resources, products, or finan- cial resources, they help consolidate inter-family bonds and community ties. • Involving exchanges of seeds and broods, traditional farming promotes agricultural biodi- versity. • Traditional occupations serve as venues for the transmission of indigenous knowledge