Key Concepts

  • Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) is the cumulative body of knowledge, practices, and beliefs about the relationship between living beings (including humans) and their environment, evolved by adaptive processes and handed down through generations
  • India's TEK is embedded in sacred groves, pastoral traditions, traditional water harvesting systems, indigenous agricultural varieties, and community-managed forests
  • The Biological Diversity Act, 2002 provides the legal framework for TEK documentation through People's Biodiversity Registers (PBRs)
  • Biopiracy — the patenting of India's traditional knowledge by foreign corporations without benefit-sharing — has been successfully challenged in the turmeric case (1997) and neem case (EPO)
  • Relevant for GS-1 (cultural heritage), GS-3 (environment, biodiversity, IPR), and occasionally GS-2 (governance, Biodiversity Act)

What is Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)?

TEK is distinct from conventional scientific knowledge in that it is:

  • Localised — developed for specific ecosystems, landscapes, and species
  • Oral and practice-based — transmitted through demonstration, ritual, and community memory rather than textbooks
  • Holistic — integrates ecological, spiritual, social, and ethical dimensions
  • Dynamic — adapted over generations as environments and communities change

The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) formally recognises TEK as a "distinct, valued system of knowledge" that complements mainstream science for biodiversity conservation.

Sacred Groves — Community Conservation

Sacred groves (Dev Van, Orans, Kavu) are patches of forest protected by communities on the basis of religious and cultural beliefs.

Regional Term State/Region
Dev Van / Deoban Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh
Orans Rajasthan (also used for community pastures)
Kavu Kerala
Jahera / Thakuramma Odisha and Jharkhand
Sarna Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh (tribal sacred groves)
Noa-noli Nagaland

Sacred groves serve as in situ conservation reservoirs — protecting biodiversity, maintaining watershed functions, and preserving rare and endemic species. India has an estimated 100,000+ sacred groves across the country, forming an informal network of protected areas that predate formal conservation law by millennia.

Pastoral Communities and Transhumance

India's pastoral communities maintain ecological knowledge systems built around seasonal movement (transhumance):

  • Van Gujjars (Uttarakhand/Himachal Pradesh): nomadic buffalo herders who move between valley pastures in winter and Himalayan meadows (bugyals) in summer; possess deep knowledge of forest resources and medicinal plants
  • Todas (Nilgiri Hills, Tamil Nadu): maintain sacred dairy herds and sacred groves (mund) in the Nilgiri Hills; their knowledge was instrumental in UNESCO's inscription of the Nilgiris as a Biosphere Reserve
  • Rabaris (Rajasthan/Gujarat): camel and livestock herders with extensive knowledge of arid-zone ecology

Traditional Water Harvesting Systems

India's pre-modern water management systems represent a sophisticated TEK tradition adapted to diverse regional ecologies:

Structure Region Description
Johad Rajasthan, Haryana Community-owned earthen check dam that harvests rainwater; the plural of johad is johads
Kund/Tanka Rajasthan (Bikaner, Thar Desert) Underground cistern in courtyard; stores rainwater for domestic use
Baoli/Stepwell Rajasthan, Gujarat, Delhi Stepped well that descends to groundwater; provides water year-round; also a communal and spiritual space
Kuhl/Kul Himachal Pradesh, Jammu Gravity-fed irrigation channels carrying glacial meltwater to agricultural fields
Phad Maharashtra (Nashik, Dhule districts) Communal irrigation system with a canal from a weir; managed by a community association (patkari)
Ahar-Pyne Bihar Traditional irrigation system of earthen embankments (ahars) connected to feeder channels (pynes)
Zabo Nagaland Integrated water management combining forestry, agriculture, and animal husbandry

The johad revival movement in Rajasthan, led by water conservationist Rajendra Singh (Magsaysay Award 2001, Stockholm Water Prize 2015), restored hundreds of johads and revived rivers in the Alwar district — a landmark example of TEK-based ecological restoration.

Traditional Agricultural Varieties and Biodiversity

India is one of the world's mega-biodiverse countries and a Vavilov Centre of Origin for several crop species (rice, mango, sugarcane, among others).

  • Indian farmers have maintained over 100,000 varieties of rice over millennia through participatory selection — FAO estimates India has one of the world's richest rice genetic diversities
  • Tribal and traditional farming communities maintain diverse seed systems, including drought-resistant, flood-tolerant, and salt-tolerant varieties that are increasingly valued for climate adaptation
  • The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act (PPV&FR Act), 2001 protects farmers' rights to save, use, sow, resow, exchange, and sell their traditional seed varieties

Biological Diversity Act, 2002 — People's Biodiversity Registers

The Biological Diversity Act, 2002 provides the legal framework for conserving India's biodiversity and TEK:

Mechanism Role
National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) Apex body; approves access by foreign/commercial entities to India's biological resources
State Biodiversity Boards (SBBs) State-level regulation and oversight
Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) Local-level bodies in every Panchayat and urban local body
People's Biodiversity Registers (PBRs) Community-level documentation of local biodiversity and associated TEK

As of November 2023, India has approximately 268,031 PBRs prepared and 277,688 BMCs constituted across 28 states and 8 Union Territories.

Biopiracy and India's Response

Biopiracy is the appropriation of traditional knowledge and biological resources by corporations or individuals without the permission or fair compensation of the communities that developed them.

Turmeric Case (1997)

  • In 1995, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) granted a patent to the University of Mississippi Medical Center for the use of turmeric in wound healing
  • India's CSIR (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research) challenged the patent by submitting documented evidence from ancient Sanskrit texts and modern Indian scientific literature
  • USPTO revoked the patent in 1997 — agreeing it was not novel, as turmeric's wound-healing use was well-documented prior art in India
  • First successful challenge to a biopiracy patent involving Indian traditional knowledge

Neem Case (EPO)

  • The European Patent Office (EPO) granted a patent to W.R. Grace (USA) and the USDA for a method of using neem oil as a fungicide
  • A legal challenge was filed by India, the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology (RFSTE), and IFOAM
  • EPO revoked the patent citing lack of novelty and inventive step — neem's anti-fungal properties were documented traditional knowledge

Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL)

India's response to biopiracy — the TKDL is a digitised, searchable database of over 360,000 formulations from Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, and Yoga, formatted to meet international patent classification standards so that patent examiners worldwide can identify prior art from Indian traditional knowledge.

PYQ Relevance

  • UPSC Prelims: Sacred groves regional names; BD Act 2002 institutions; PBRs definition; biopiracy cases (turmeric, neem)
  • GS-3 Mains: "Discuss how traditional ecological knowledge can complement modern conservation efforts in India"
  • GS-3: Biopiracy, TKDL, CBD (Convention on Biological Diversity) implementation

Exam Strategy

  • Sacred groves: learn at least 4 regional names — Orans (Rajasthan), Dev Van (Uttarakhand), Kavu (Kerala), Sarna (tribal, Jharkhand)
  • BD Act institutions: NBA → SBBs → BMCs → PBRs (national to local)
  • Biopiracy: Turmeric case = USPTO revoked 1997; Neem case = EPO revoked — both successful for India
  • TKDL = preventive tool; PBRs = documentation and community rights
  • Johad = check dam (Rajasthan); Kuhl = irrigation channel (Himachal Pradesh) — geography-based questions often test these