UKZN Hosts International IKS and Environmental Ethics Conference

BY: .

UKZN’s DST-NRF  Centre in  Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS)  hosted the first  International Conference on IKS and Environmental Ethics which examined the implications for peace-building and sustainable development. 

The hub of the centre is at  UKZN which partners with the Africa  Programme of the UN-University  for  Peace in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, the  University of  Rwanda , and  the Department  of Science  and Technology (DST) in South Africa.

A contentious issue at the conference was the role of culture in environmental ethics. There has been criticism of contemporary approaches by international institutions, researchers, and academics for universalising environmental ethics and values.

The conference organisers managed to mobilise stakeholders from diverse backgrounds within and outside Africa. The conference sub-themes included environmental governance, peace-building, justice and human rights; climate change, food security systems and global health; rural development, sustainable livelihood and gender; education transformation, and science and technological development and communication.

According  to Professor Hassan Kaya, the  Director of the  DST-NRF Centre  in  Indigenous  Knowledge Systems, the objectives  of the  conference  were  to create an international platform and network for  interrogating and sharing  views  on Africa’s conceptualization of the environmental  crisis, especially the  role of IKS in the  development  of  environmental ethics  and its policy  implications on peace-building  and  sustainable  development.

 The aim was to come up with  a consensus  of  strategies  for  ensuring that  the outcomes  of the  conference identified currency in the  deliberations  of the  UN and AU on environmental ethics. It was highlighted that UKZN was the first University in South Africa and the continent to adopt an institutional IKS policy which has been endorsed by the University Council.

In his welcome address UKZN Vice-Chancellor, Dr Albert van Jaarsveld, said the international Conference was an important development for IKS as the University was looking forward to working with the Centre as a team so that it was soon recognised as a Centre of Excellence. This could be achieved by breaking new ground and doing things differently in knowledge production, including attracting the international community and for the local community to be intimately involved in IKS development.

The MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Mr Michael Mabuyakhulu, who attended as both a panellist and on behalf the KZN Premier, said the Conference was in line with the provincial government’s initiative of Sukuma Sakhe. This is about mobilising communities and building partnerships for sustainable livelihoods.

This was central to democracy and development because without community engagement there was a distortion of the relevance of the developmental agenda and the meaning of democracy. It also challenged people to redefine the meaning of human rights within the context of African value system (Ubuntu).

 Another prominent speaker at the conference was former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Venda and Board member of the DST-NRF Centre in Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Professor Muxe Nkondo, who commended the University on the high level of understanding about the importance and the role of IKS and culture in environmental ethics and peace-building in Africa.

Professor Palamagamba John Kabudi of the  Law Faculty of  the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania,  urged  conference participants  to conduct  more  research  on the role  of  hunter-gatherer communities, focusing mainly on their survival skills in the natural  environment.

Sithembile Shabangu