The World Indigenous People’s Day falls today :

Ensuring the future of indigenous people

by Sajitha PREMATUNGE

As Chief Seattle said we, being humans, did not weave the web of life, we are only a mere thread in it. The sad part is that most of these threads - such as the Mayans - have already dissolved into oblivion.

Although there are many cultural groups living in interaction in the world, few communities in existence today have the right to be referred to as indigenous.

Indigenous people live in every region in the world, ranging from the arctic to the Amazon. They have a close connection to their natural environment, which is often an invaluable source of food, health, spirituality and identity. Indigenous people in every part of the world have engaged in a continuous struggle to retain their land maintain their cultural identity, brought on by the pressure exerted by colonial exploration and settlement.

Indigenous Peoples also have rights as distinct cultural groups or nations. And protecting these rights is of utmost importance for the preservation of their cultures. Often their land is invaded and organized into governments that often do not respect their cultural systems of law and justice.

Fortunately for Sri Lanka the Veddah community has remained relatively unharmed by the developmental process. Veddahs were earlier considered neglected Sinhalese, nothing more than a deteriorated variety of the native Sinhalese. The only way to prove this was to prove the existence of a pre-Sinhalese Stone Age - an original culture that existed before the Vijayan era. This has been proven and it is an accepted fact that the Veddah population in Sri Lanka is just as diverse as the American Indians or the Aborigines.

But keeping with the global effort to salvage what is left of the world’s indigenous peoples, Sri Lanka has allocated Rs. 50 million for the livelihood development of our indigenous people.

“This is a landmark for Sri Lanka” said Gamini Gamage, Director, Biodiversity Secretariat. A chain of events that started with the president’s meeting with the Adhivasi leader Uruwarige Wannilaththo, is now underway. Director Gamage revealed that they have already completed the formulation of the National Policy on Traditional Knowledge and Practices, of which indigenous people are a major focus.

A traditional knowledge compendium is also in the making. “It will register such vital information as knowledge on traditional food, traditional knowledge that was in existence since before the Vijayan era” said the director. He also revealed that Sri Lanka’s attempt to save our indigenous people from the brink of extinction runs a few years back. The first attempt in this regard was the food festival held in the Kuveni Temple, Ehetuwewa, Galgamuwa in 2006. “In 2007 we held a three day symposium”. The folk museum in Hengawa, Kuliyapitiya has also been established and kept upto date. The annual Parisara Govi Litha is another attempt to keep ancient traditions alive.

The mango festival can also be considered as a successful attempt to recover latent knowledge of wild mango varieties in our indigenous people. “Sri Lanka has 160 to 170 varieties of mango” explained Director Gamage “most of which only indigenous people can identify”.

During the mango festival different varieties of mango were presented to indigenous people to be identified by taste.This year a single indigenous family dwelling village has been identified, based on which a model village has been built in the same area.

“If the original village was exposed to outside influence all at once it would damage the lifestyle of this unspoilt village” said Director Gamage. The model village will be completed by the end of this year.