ARTICLE

UNESCO Special Section

on the ESD Response to the
Three Rio Conventions
Copyright © 2012
SAGE Publications
(Los Angeles, London, New Delhi,
Singapore and Washington DC)
www.sagepublications.com
Vol 6(2): 241–252
10.1177/0973408212475232

Inkcubeko Nendalo: A Bio-cultural Diversity

Schools Education Project in South Africa
and its Implications for Inclusive Indigenous
Knowledge Systems (IKS) Sustainability
MICHELLE L. COCKS, JAMIE ALEXANDER AND TONY DOLD

Abstract
South Africa is currently the world’s third most biodiverse country, with
one of the highest concentrations of threatened biodiversity in the world.
Emerging research reveals the increasing pressure on this biodiversity with
many wild resources continuing to be utilised for livelihood purposes even
within urban environments. The Rio conventions, particularly the CBD,
call for an integrated approach to conservation that incorporates local
environmental knowledge and practices. In a bid to market itself as globally
competitive, South Africa’s Curriculum 2005 (C 2005) is primarily focused
on Western-based scientific knowledge, which sidelines the contribution
of indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) and ignores the holistic nature of
indigenous worldviews. The Inkcubeko Nendalo programme is designed to
revitalise cultural identity, showing children the value of local indigenous
knowledge and cultural environmental values. The programme is currently
being implemented at seven schools in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.

Michelle L. Cocks is Senior Research Officer at Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER),
Rhodes University, South Africa. Email: m.cocks@ru.ac.za
Jamie Alexander is a PhD student at Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER), Rhodes
University, South Africa. Email: Jamie.Alexander@ru.ac.za
Tony Dold is Curator at Selmar Schonland Herbarium, Department of Botany, Rhodes University,
South Africa. Email: t.dold@ru.ac.za
242 Michelle L. Cocks, Jamie Alexander and Tony Dold

The project’s contribution to local community environmental and heritage

awareness, successes and challenges are discussed both at a local level
and in response to the objectives signed in the Convention of Biodiversity
(CBD) and sustainable development. The project offers solutions to not only
effective local environmental education but also sustainable integrated
community conservation practices, revealing that the maintenance of
biodiversity and natural vegetation is as much in the interest of local
communities’ well-being as it is of global conservation planners.

Keywords: Indigenous knowledge systems, bio-cultural diversity, cultural

environmental values, environmental education, sustainability, South Africa

INTRODUCTION AND CONTEXT

T he three Rio conventions have resulted in a number of cross-sectoral priorities

for sustainable development. For example, the conventions themselves, together
with the international processes established to implement them, have provided a
number of useful policy guidelines and concepts for addressing global environmental
problems which have led to important advancements in both technical and scientific
understanding (Swiderska 2002). One sphere which has particular relevance to this
article is the signing of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) which brings
attention to the significance and relevance of indigenous knowledge systems (IKS)
for conservation. The CBD called on parties to:

respect, preserve, and maintain knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous

and local communities embodying traditional lifestyles relevant for the conservation
and sustainable use of biological diversity, and promote their wider application with the
approval and involvement of the holders of such knowledge, innovations and practices,
and encourage the equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the utilization of such
knowledge, innovations and practices. (United Nations 1992: 8)

In the signing of the CBD in 1993, the international community not only formulated
its commitment to increase efforts at biodiversity conservation, but also identified the
need to recognise the value of biodiversity for indigenous people and local communities
and to use such values in developing locally context-specific conservation programmes
(Laird 1999). This is a stark contrast to the paradigms which were supported in the
twentieth century, which portrayed local people as a threat to biodiversity conservation
(Beinart 2003; Beinart and Hughes 2007; Brockington 2002). Research carried out by
Berkes (1993), Berkes and Folke (1998) and Berkes et al. (2000) demonstrated the
importance of including cultural ecological knowledge into conservation plans to
promote biodiversity and sustainability. Berkes and Folke consider cultural ecological
practices to function as social mechanisms which promote environmental resilience
and sustainability, calling for the recognition and promotion of ‘social and culturally
evolved management practices based on ecological knowledge and understanding,
and the social mechanisms behind them’ (Berkes and Folke 1998: 414).

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 Inkcubeko Nendalo 243

This resulted in the argumentation that ‘promoting conservation in the context

of local culture would endow protected areas with significance that emphasis on
biological diversity, landscape, or economies does not’ (Infield 2001: 801), followed
by the realisation that solutions to biological problems often lie in the mechanisms
of social, cultural and economic systems (Mascia et al. 2003). This shift in focus
emphasised the relationship between biodiversity and human diversity, or what the
Declaration of Belem (1988) calls an ‘inextricable link’ between biological and cultural
diversity (Posey 1999). The need for an integrated approach to the conservation of
biological and cultural diversity became officially acknowledged in the Millennium
Development Goals (MDG) (Pretty et al. 2009).1 For example, specific attention
has been given to the cultural values of ecosystem services. ‘Cultural services’ now
constitute a primary category of ecosystem services, broadly defined as including
cultural identity, heritage values, spiritual (sacred, religious) meanings of nature,
inspiration in arts and folklore, aesthetic appreciation and recreation and tourism
(Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005: chapters 1 and 17).
Although the concept of bio-cultural diversity and the need to collaborate with local
indigenous communities has become increasingly mainstreamed into international
conservation policy (Maffi and Woodley 2010; Oviedo et al. 2000), implementation
and practice has been slow to emerge (Pretty et al. 2009). Responses to date
include a few isolated local revitalising projects such as output and hunter-support
programmes, culturally appropriate education schemes and ecotourism projects
(Pretty et al. 2009). The implementation of these projects has mainly taken place in
areas perceived as being culturally and biologically ‘pristine’, and whose societies are
considered traditional and isolated. The emphasis on ‘indigenous peoples’ and their
traditional practices in many policy and discussion documents (for example, Oviedo
et al. 2000) has limited discussion in most countries to ethnic minorities, with very
little attention being given to indigenous majority groups (Alexander 2011; Cocks
2006) or to areas that are not considered ‘pristine’ (Cocks 2006).
As Breidlid (2009) so eloquently illustrates, IKS remain missing from the global
arena in relation to sustainable development,2 which is still largely seen as being
achievable primarily within Western paradigms through economic interventions.
Potential threats to achieving sustainability do not include the loss of indigenous
knowledge and cultural practices, despite the integral role indigenous knowledge
has to play in sustainable development, resource use (Breidlid 2009; Munjeri 2004)
and development within the African context, which many consider ‘can only truly be
achieved through an African worldview’ (Chivaura 2006: 217).
Within South Africa, this has been further exacerbated by the lack of attention
given by the national schooling curriculum to IKS. South Africa’s Curriculum 2005
(C 2005), launched by the African National Congress (ANC), is primarily focused on
Western-based scientific knowledge and gives very little acknowledgement to the
fact that this knowledge is given in a cultural framework which is primarily based on
indigenous epistemology. South Africa’s educational policy moulds itself on promoting
South Africa as an ‘internationally competitive country’ (Department of Education
[DoE] 1997: 1), which sidelines the contribution of IKS to any African Renaissance
(Odora Hoppers 2002), ignoring the holistic nature of indigenous worldviews which

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244 Michelle L. Cocks, Jamie Alexander and Tony Dold

interrelate ‘the metaphysical, ecological, economic and scientific fields’ (Breidlid

2009: 141).
Communities in South Africa are characterised by a high degree of integration
with the global market economy. As such, their lifestyles, as potentially hybridised,
multi-local communities, might no longer be considered ‘traditional’. This is despite
recent research revealing that both rural and peri-urban amaXhosa people living in
the Eastern Cape continue to display cultural environmental knowledge: utilising
natural resources (Cocks et al. 2008; Cocks and Wiersum 2002; Shackleton et al.
2002); and expressing a profound appreciation for specific natural vegetation and
plant species (Alexander 2011; Cocks et al. 2012; Fox 2005). For example, it has been
shown that natural landscapes and their associated biodiversity are closely linked to
the strong nature-based religious beliefs of many amaXhosa, which can be said to
centre on a strong sense of interconnectedness with nature (Cocks et al. 2012). In
failing to understand and meaningfully engage with the values and worldviews of
the majority of South Africa’s population regarding nature, an important opportunity
for implementing conservation more effectively is being missed (Cocks et al. 2012;
Knight et al. 2010).
South Africa is the world’s third most biodiverse country (Mittermeier et al. 2004)
and it has one of the highest known concentrations of threatened plants in the world
(Wynberg 2002). Much of this biodiversity is found outside of nature reserve areas and
on communal rangeland areas (Shackleton 2000). Research has shown that pressures
on this biodiversity and the ecosystem services it provides (World Resources Institute
[WRI] 1992) are many—as the importance of wild resources to people’s livelihoods
has been well documented (Paumgarten 2005; Shackleton et al. 2007; Shackleton and
Shackleton 2004) and is now well recognised. While high population densities and
weak institutional capacity are clearly challenges, the failure to engage communal
land users in ways that accommodate their values, local knowledge and needs
has been increasingly recognised as a fundamental problem (Cocks et al. 2012). It
is now acknowledged that new and innovative conservation measures need to be
implemented urgently (Mascia et al. 2003).
One course of action which has been identified is education at all levels of society,
such as raising awareness amongst school learners. Many indigenous peoples are now
developing programmes which integrate elders into schools or use Local Ecological
Knowledge (LEK) and practices in programmes which reconcile alienated youth
with their rich and vibrant cultural heritage (Odochao et al. 2006; Roué 2006). It
has been shown that the inclusion of IKS into mainstream curriculums can promote
conservation as well as cultural revitalisation for indigenous peoples (Saenmi and
Tillman 2006). This is imperative as the future preservation of both our cultural
heritage and biodiversity relies on young people recognising the importance and
value of nature, and the need to use natural resources wisely.
Within the South African public schooling system, some attention is given to the
conservation of biological resources in the life science curriculum. For example, in the
Grade 10 life sciences curriculum, learners are given lessons on environmental studies
which emphasise the significance of biomes and diversity. The section on ‘Change
and Continuity’ covers plant diversity and conservation. Within the life-orientation
curriculum, emphasis is given to citizenship education which includes heritage

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 Inkcubeko Nendalo 245

studies. The two foci of biodiversity and heritage are not however cross-referenced in
any way and their interlinking relationship is not acknowledged. Furthermore, there
is no reference to cultural values or cultural custodianship towards the environment.
We believe that this disparity represents a missed opportunity to instil an awareness
of the importance of biodiversity for cultural diversity amongst school goers. While
South Africa’s outcomes-based education (OBE) curriculum has an environmental
component, and teachers are encouraged to utilise local examples to illustrate lessons,
this rarely happens in practice; the reasons for this are numerous and complex
(Alexander 2011). It is well documented that when indigenous communities lose
their cultural heritage in the form of customs, values and indigenous knowledge,
the youth can become a lost generation and turn to antisocial behaviour. Children
who are living between worlds (Fakudze 2003), separated from their parents’ culture,
most usually through the means of Western education, can exist in a situation of
‘social anomie’ (Roué 2006).
This article describes a novel bio-cultural diversity education initiative in schools
in South Africa. The project’s contribution to local community environmental and
heritage awareness, successes and challenges are discussed, both at a local level and in
response to the objectives signed in the CBD and sustainable development agendas.

Inkcubeko Nendalo

Inkcubeko Nendalo (‘Culture and Nature’ in isiXhosa) has been developed out of the
recognition that overexploitation of natural resources threatens not only biodiversity
but also IKS, and ultimately South Africa’s cultural heritage, and therefore aims to
raise awareness amongst school learners that ‘culture and nature have co-evolved
over time to become intertwined and mutually dependent…we lose one, and we
lose the other’ (Martin 2008: 13). In our modernising world, cultural practices are
threatened by the loss of biodiversity and increasing global homogeneity (Redford
and Brosius 2006). Conversely, the cultural value of many plants and animals could
be used as an argument to support the conservation of biodiversity.
Inkcubeko Nendalo is a unique initiative as its content is based on 15 years of
novel research by the project team in the field of bio-cultural diversity, documenting
the ‘inextricable link between cultural and biological diversity’ (Posey 1999). Our
ongoing research confirms that both rural and urban amaXhosa in the Eastern Cape
still find great cultural and spiritual value in nature and its products (Cocks et al.
2006; Cocks and Dold 2004a; Cocks and Wiersum 2002). Much of the Eastern Cape
province of South Africa falls within the second richest floristic region in southern
Africa, the Maputaland–Pondoland–Albany (MPA) hotspot which encompasses the
Albany Centre of Floristic Endemism and includes the Albany Thicket Biome, a
structurally and phylogenetically distinct biome with a unique evolutionary history
which is reflected in the rich cultural diversity of the Eastern Cape (Mittermeier
et al. 2004).
The programme promotes IKS and helps to build capacity amongst the learners
and teachers as they are empowered to act on the knowledge that is reaffirmed
by parents and elders after school. For the past three years, Inkcubeko Nendalo

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246 Michelle L. Cocks, Jamie Alexander and Tony Dold

has worked with Grade 10 learners in seven resource-poor government schools in

Grahamstown. All the learners are isiXhosa first-language speakers from low-income
families living in urban ‘township’ conditions where exposure to recreational natural
areas is severally limited by their economic status. However, many learners still have
some knowledge of traditional nature-based religious activities and customs as well
as reference to nature in isiXhosa language such as in idioms, proverbs, songs and
expressions. Inkcubeko Nendalo strives to build on this existing knowledge as a
basis to introduce the new concept of bio-cultural diversity conservation.
To date, course material has been developed for four formal classroom lessons
(during formal school hours) and a forest excursion (extra-curricula/after hours)
which are presented each year. The content of the classroom-based lessons, while
closely following curriculum requirements, reflects the richness and significance of
the biodiversity and cultural integrity of the region. Lessons make use of custom-
built teaching aids, including a number of well-known Xhosa cultural artefacts made
from plant material such as sedge mats (amakhuko), grass brooms (imitshayelo), a
cosmetic fungus (isibindi) and foam-making ‘dream plants’ (isilawu), in an interactive
participatory method of teaching. This is followed by the argument that cultural
heritage and cultural identity are reliant on continued access to the plants, animals
and places that in their entirety make up indalo (nature, biodiversity).
Weekly forest excursions to a small indigenous forest patch on the Grahamstown
commonage builds on classroom lessons and, most often, provides a first-time
opportunity for learners to experience nature in a recreational context. Regular
meetings with Grade 10 teachers and DoE subject advisors are held to ensure that
the programme remains relevant to the curriculum and that school teachers and
principals continue to support the programme.
Over heritage weekend (a public holiday) each year, 15 Grade 10 learners are
invited to take part in a two-day hike which includes a number of organised activities
highlighting the link between cultural diversity and biodiversity in a fun and interactive
environment. Learning activities and materials for both the forest excursion and the
hiking trail have been developed in consultation with teachers and the DoE.
Similar in content to the weekly forest excursions, the ‘walk in the woods’ exercise
with an ethnobotanist teaches the learners about useful plants from prehistorical to
modern times. Learners are encouraged to share their own knowledge of plants and
animals. The ‘quiet time’ activity requires each learner to find a comfortable place
to sit in the forest some distance from each other where they reflect in silence on
their surroundings. Thereafter each learner is asked to share with the group his or
her experience of nature. Unique to the weekend outing is a ‘story time’ activity that
encourages each learner to collect a small item from the forest and later present a
story, true or fictitious, about it to the group. Worksheets documenting the highlights
and lessons learnt on forest excursions and the weekend hike provide an opportunity
for learners to record their own experiences and interact with parents and elders at
home. The worksheets are brought back to Inkcubeko Nendalo a week later and
discussed together in the classroom.
A core theme running through both the classroom and outdoor lessons is the use
and significance of locally traded useful and medicinal plants in the Eastern Cape,
many of which are now recognised as fulfilling an important cultural and spiritual

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 Inkcubeko Nendalo 247

function in the region. In the last decade, over-collection and use of these species
has resulted in many of them becoming threatened and endangered (Cocks and Dold
2008). The sensitive implications of this trade and threats to local biodiversity are
illustrated and discussed. One of the artefacts used in the lessons is a well-known
local cosmetic called ummemzi that is obtained from the bark of the endangered
Cassipourea flanaganii tree which has more recently become locally endangered
(Cocks and Dold 2004b). Traditional plant cosmetics are discussed in the context
of social status symbols on one hand, and conservation and International Union for
Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red listing on the other.

FEEDBACK AND OUTCOME

Throughout the formal and informal lessons, learners are encouraged to tell their
own stories and share their own experiences. Illustrated worksheets are provided
after each lesson and learners are encouraged to share these with family members
and elders whose participation contributes to the learning by affirmation. Over
the last three years, the programme has reached 2,102 learners from seven schools
through 165 contact lessons. Feedback received from the learners and teachers on
the significance and value of the formal lessons is illustrated next.

Learners:

Inkcubeko Nendalo lessons are educating and interesting especially to us because we

live in cities and we don’t know anything about wild plants and which plants to use
in cultural activities, now we know that we should care for plants so that the next
generation can also get these plants.
We think it’s an important lesson, because it gives us more information and more
knowledge about our culture and the important useful plants. So to the Inkcubeko
Nendalo group, please keep it up because you are playing a very big role in our lives.
The Inkcubeko Nendalo lessons are very helpful to improve the understanding of
my culture. It teaches me a lot of things concerning my culture and I gain a lot of
knowledge from it.

Teacher:

The lessons are fruitful to both the learners and the teacher. The materials that are
used are important because the teachers are not able to collect these in the forest. So it
helps us a lot.

During the course of the year, the learners are obliged to complete a formal
assignment that contributes towards their grade assessments. The assignment has
been reviewed by the DoE and has received accreditation from this department.
The assignment is based on the course material covered in the classroom lessons.
Learners are asked to generate a list of important indigenous plants and their uses by
interviewing their parents and elders.

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248 Michelle L. Cocks, Jamie Alexander and Tony Dold

The divide between indigenous knowledge and scientific knowledge is bridged

by means of a visit to the Selmar Schonland Herbarium at the Albany Museum in
Grahamstown. Learners are introduced to the herbarium, and botanical names and
biological information are provided for each of the plants. To date, 565 Grade 10
learners have visited the herbarium. New isiXhosa plant names generated through
this process are added to the herbarium’s isiXhosa plant names dictionary.
Few learners from any of the participating schools have had the opportunity to
enjoy spending time in nature. A customised ‘forest trip’ allows for a limited number
of learners to participate in outdoor learning activities in the Grahamstown Nature
Reserve.3 Several activities in the forest focus on individual experiential learning.
To date, 759 learners have participated in forest excursions. Feedback comments
received from the learners illustrate the significance of the forest trip excursions.
I am not used to listening to birds so this place is totally different from the township.
We do not have time to be quiet in the township because there is a lot of noise.
I wish that I could bring my bed and sleep here.
The air is fresh and clean.

The feedback from the learners and teachers reveals the importance of both the
formal lessons as well as the more enjoyable experiences facilitated through the
forest excursion and hiking trip for the lessons. The comments themselves reveal
important insights into an array of complex issues. For example, many of the learners
expressed gratitude for the acknowledgement and affirmation of their local indigenous
knowledge brought about through the lessons and worksheets. Although there is some
acknowledgement of indigenous knowledge in the curriculum, at present adults, who
often have access to this knowledge, feel that the teaching of their children should
be left up to teachers and schools. The Western-based curriculum leaves little space
or agency for the learning of local knowledge within families. Cultural heritage and
IKS remain in the realm of cultural tourism, leaving the youth further alienated from
their ‘roots’. It has been well documented that formal schooling in South Africa is
often promoted and supported ‘at the expense of local knowledge and experience’
(Kaschula et al. 2005: 406). Because formal schooling is seen as the gateway to
employment and development, it has become synonymous with ‘empowerment and
superior knowledge’, which leaves little recognition for local indigenous knowledge
(Kaschula et al. 2005). Learners’ comments revealed that the interactive worksheets
that learners took home to complete together with their parents and elders made
some inroads into bridging this divide.
The feedback received from the learners in response to partaking in the forest
trip excursions reveals that underprivileged learners do not have the opportunity to
experience natural areas. Concern has been expressed by family members that the
younger generation should have access to nature so that they can stay in touch with
their cultural roots as expressed in these quotes:

‘Our children must go to the forest; they must know about everything in the forest;
everything about being Xhosa is from the forest; it is the isithethe (the manner of doing
things) of Xhosa people.’ (80 year old man, Grahamstown)

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 Inkcubeko Nendalo 249

‘I am showing my 3-year-old son traditional medicines from the forest. It is important

that he knows these things; it is part of being a Xhosa!’ (30 year old man, Benton)

The programme therefore exposed the dearth of recreational nature experiences

of township youth, who see parks and nature areas as elitist and beyond their
existence. Without access to nature for recreational and cultural activities, it remains
impossible for children to foster the cultural values which assist in the biodiversity
conservation. Comparative studies (Cocks 2006; Cocks et al. 2012) reveal how central
the environment is to Xhosa cultural identity and well-being. It is therefore important
that programmes are implemented which will enable children to recapture their
cultural knowledge and revive their indigenous self-image so that they may become
contributing leaders to a more peaceful, responsible, engaged and sustainable global
future. This is being perceived as being possible through the revival of cultural
identity, including indigenous knowledge.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

The CBD has brought to the world’s attention the plight of biodiversity, and indirectly,
cultural diversity. At present however, conservation practice is more weighted
towards biological diversity which leaves ‘cultural diversity as a secondary objective
or a stepping stone to protecting biodiversity’ (Pretty et al. 2009). This will remain
so, until paradigms change to acknowledge that global diversity is comprised equally
of biological and cultural diversity, and need to be considered as one (Pretty et al.
2009). This integrated approach needs to be implemented at grassroots level if it is to
acknowledge the role of local cultural knowledge in maintaining bio-cultural diversity.
Emerging research (Cocks et al. 2012) reveals that the maintenance of biodiversity
and natural vegetation is as much in the interest of local communities’ well-being as
it is of global conservation planners.
If local communities’ cultural values are going to become sustainably incorporated
into biodiversity management and conservation planning, there is a critical need for
educational awareness and programmes such as Inkcubeko Nendalo. There is a call
for education which does more than mimic Western paradigms (Breidlid 2009; Odora
Hopper 2002). If education is the means through which children ‘learn about our
cultural heritage and our values’ (Chilisa et al. 2003), it needs to incorporate local
indigenous knowledge for sustainability that goes beyond the economic sphere.
At present, the rigidity of the government’s educational policy does not reflect the
hybridised and highly flexible worldviews of South Africans. The Inkcubeko Nendalo
programme works to revitalise and elevate local indigenous knowledge by providing
the space and acknowledgement for local cultural environmental values. If these values
are lost, this opportunity will cease to exist. Hence, the need for such a programme
to be rolled out on a national scale with appropriate room for local diversity. The
challenge of this would be to retain space for locally relevant cultural values, as
reflected in our ‘rainbow’ nation’s 11 official languages. These principles should be
further extended beyond the classroom and into local conservation programmes.
Such a mission will make concrete inroads into moving beyond policy and beyond

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250 Michelle L. Cocks, Jamie Alexander and Tony Dold

the acknowledgement of the three Rio conventions that remains largely focused on
biological conservation and is so far still relegated to isolated case studies.

Notes
1. This is now being recognised as a basic right; see, for example, the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Universal Declaration on
Cultural Diversity (2001) and the Nagoya Bio-cultural Community Protocols (2011).
2. See, for example, the Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development (UN, JDSD,
2002), the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002, the manual developed by
the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005–2014).
3. See http://www.bioculturaldiversity.co.za/news.php?nid=7.

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