ABSTRACT
Throughout history, all human groups have depended on careful observations of the natural world. If they learned from these observations, they adapted successfully. If they did not, the consequences were probably deadly. Survival is the ultimate criterion for verifi cation of traditional ecological knowledge, and adaptation is key. Thus, the practice of indigenous knowledge is, above all, the story of how social/cultural systems adapt to specifi c ecosystems. The accomplishments of traditional societies in such areas as agriculture are not easily deniable, as almost all major domesticated species of plants and animals predate Western science.
