Who says stories can only entertain people? Sometimes they can educate us and make us aware of the countless endangered tribes in the world.
For decades, the people of Yaghan have been spinning stories of enigmatic birds to preserve their language and culture. They’ve been spreading knowledge of how to coexist with nature and lead a simple life. But the question is, are their efforts enough? Are they making any difference?
TBH, their attempts are partially effective. That’s why more organizations are coming forward to help them achieve their goal. But these organizations are not just helping them; they are also gaining from them.
How are indigenous people helping us?
The global biodiversity is falling day by day. According to a 2020 UN report, one out of four species in the world is endangered. But the main problem is not extinction; it’s the lack of knowledge about the species. Earlier, when ornithologists studied tribes, they realized that indigenous people gained more knowledge about birds and nature from observation than they did from their biology books. That’s when they coined the term Ethno-ornithology, the study of the relationship between people and birds.
Since then, researchers have studied how birds played a role in numerous cultures and how their stories can help us understand nature and indigenous ways of life. The study got a boost when BirdLife International and the University of Oxford launched the Ethno-ornithology World Atlas (EWA). EWA is a global platform that allows people who want to protect indigenous knowledge to upload videos, study materials, and reports.
The reason behind EWA’s launch was the gradual disappearance of knowledgeable native people due to diseases and aging. Lately, many people from different tribes have lost their lives to the pandemic-causing virus. The situation was alarming because knowledge about tribes is already limited. Only a few tribal members are well-versed with their culture and history, and if they started disappearing, we would lose our only chance of knowing nature better.
How can you use EWA?
Using EWA is not at all complicated. Anyone who wishes to learn about the different tribes can make an account on the website and use the materials. Anybody uploading bird stories can decide how they want to share the information. They can allow only tribal members to go through those tales or give everyone access to their content. If you wish to share your knowledge with others, you can do that too, but make sure that you know the rules on the website.
