Role of Localization and Indigenous Knowledge in Sustainable Rural Development

Experiences have manifested that local techniques and indigenous knowledge are the best way for achievement of sustainable livelihood development. The indigenous knowledge is adapted to environmental, social and economic local conditions. It is a part of social and cultural capital oflocal communities and can be able to empower these communities. Thesystems of indigenous knowledge should be seen as a part of national resources. Indigenous knowledge is a key element of essential capital of local people who try to control their own lives. Traditional knowledge is more than a simple compilation of facts drawn from local and often remote environments. It is a complex and sophisticated system of knowledge drawing on centuries of wisdom and experience. It also constantly grows and changes with new information. For using this complicated system, one must include the indigenous peoples themselves as practitioners. Although traditional knowledge systems of indigenous peoples, are highly variable in their content and style, nonetheless all have a great deal to offer in sustaining life on the planet. Most of traditional knowledge systems assume that people are part of the land, rather than they own the land, so they consider themselves as true guardians. The wisdom derived from this philosophy can be used to take advantage when planning for sustainable development. Thus, there is a great benefit to use the two knowledge systems together. This paper debates the importance and role of indigenous knowledge in sustainable development, especially in remote region and rural community in Iran. It introduces some of traditional ways that local people used for irrigation and agriculture in the arid and semi arid zones so qanat or kariz. This ways is smart adaptation to hard environmental conditions and can be applied in development process.