COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE AND LAND RESOURCE SURVEYS IN SWAZILAND

This paper argues for the incorporation of community environmental knowledge systems in modem land resource surveys. Such surveys, usually carried out by specialists from outside traditional communities, oftem do not incorporate the communities’ concepts and knowledge which modulate land use practices. They are therefore not helpful to the small farmers who are the primary land users. Recent studies have confirmed the viability of indigenous knowledge systems. In Swaziland, the farmers’ concepts of soil and slope unit systems have been validated and are found to be similar to the modem survey concepts of “soil series” and “land slope”. They have also employed other land attributes (such as animal life and vegetation elements) as indicators of land quality. The time has come when land resource surveys must take account of such indigenous knowledge systems so that the goals of improved land management and increased production may be achieved.