the global average, some 227,000 ha are lost to urban and industrial construction annually.
     Reviews carried out between 2000 and 2006, note that throughout the ESAP region, countries have improved their development policies, consequently scoring higher on in­dicators relating to the MDGs (UN, 2007). However, they also reveal that highly unequal countries—India, Pakistan and Philippines—have had less success than more equal ones such as China and Viet Nam (UNDP, 2006). The most noticeable policy improvements are related to gender and ef­ficiency of resource mobilization for poverty reduction even though large groups of rural women and indigenous peoples continue to be excluded from economic and social institu­tions (Narayan et al., 2000).
     Of the estimated 300 million indigenous/tribal peoples in the world, about 70% live in Asia and are generally among the most marginalized communities in almost every country with high levels of landlessness, illiteracy, malnutrition and no access to health services. Many of these communities ex­perience social discrimination, economic exploitation and political marginalization (www.ifad.ord/pub/factsheet/ip/e. pdf). Among indigenous/tribal peoples, women are further marginalized as they have little representation or voice in village councils. This is true even in matrilineal communities as in Meghalaya, India and among the Mosuo in Lijiang, China. Even when new state-sponsored organizations like Joint Forest Management councils are created, indigenous/ tribal women continue to be excluded (Kelkar and Nathan, 2003).
     Widespread gender-based inequalities in access, control and ownership of productive resources characterize rela­tions in the region in ways that hinder development and are inextricably linked to poverty outcomes (Mason and King, 2001). Exclusion from skills, capabilities, assets and recog­nition, for example, is one consequence of labor market re­structuring. Thus, it is hardly surprising that 70 to 80% of informal workers are women who are employed in low-paid jobs with long working hours. Further, their exclusion from formal employment and forms of informal work has denied women the dignity of livelihood.
     Cultural norms that govern women's work and mobility play a significant role in women's work relations. Increasing the participation of women and indigenous peoples in com­munity governance is a matter of drawing upon their labor, skills and knowledge to enhance resource management and AKST and their development choices and rights. Sustain-ability depends on allocating resources to excluded groups in ways that enable them to negotiate with government, the private sector and civil society. Gender specific approaches can overcome the marginalization of women in the gov­ernance of community resources. The capacity of women agricultural producers,  as holders  of AKST,  also needs strengthening if household and community livelihoods are to be improved. Given the feminization of agriculture and women's limited access to resources and markets, this may be accomplished by empowering women to secure access to and the management of land, knowledge and technolo­gies in ways that recognize women's economic contribution to agricultural production, ensure wage parity and provide women with vocational and technical training.

     Thus, if community livelihoods and the rural economy are to be enhanced, discriminatory barriers that limit the participation of women, indigenous peoples, certain caste groups and religious and ethnic minorities need to be iden­tified and eliminated. This may be accomplished through the development and implementation of policies and gover­nance structures, anti-discrimination legislation and ensur­ing resource equity.

5.3      Existing and Emerging Technologies in the ESAP region

5.3.1      Local and traditional knowledge and practices
Through millennia, local and traditional knowledge played an important role in maintaining and improving the liveli­hood of farming and indigenous communities—from pro­ducing food and providing shelter, to achieving control of their lives. Traditional knowledge systems are often the ba­sis for local-level decision-making not only in agriculture, but also in health care, food preparation, education, natural resource management and a host of other activities in rural communities. The valuable contributions made by these sys­tems to global knowledge will continue only with appropri­ate and adequate support, based on the recognition of their dynamic nature and interdependence with the environment where they evolved.
     Traditional  knowledge  is  both  cumulative   and  dy­namic, building upon the experience of earlier generations and adapting to the new technological and socioeconomic changes of the present (Johnson, 1992). Traditional knowl­edge includes indigenous indicators to determine favorable times for each phase in crop production, land preparation and plant propagation practices, seed storage and processing, sowing and intercropping, seedling preparation and care, crop harvesting and storage, food processing and market­ing and pest management and plant-protection methods (Grenier, 1998).

5.3.1.1   Impact
Traditional knowledge of crops and medicinal plants con­tribute much to our understanding of cropping systems in the ESAP region and may be adapted for non-traditional systems. In Nepal, hill farmers have a ranking system for the nutrient value of manure—from bat to buffalo—from different animals in terms of its use as fertilizer which cor­responds well with scientific findings based on macronutri-ent content (Tamang, 1993). Modern plant breeding also owes much to the landraces bred, conserved and developed by traditional communities over the millennia. These local varieties have been a continuous source of genes used in the development and improvement of high-yielding variet­ies, with conservation and innovations involving plant ge­netic resources practiced by farming communities for about 100 years (Rerkasem and Rerkasem, 2002; Nagarajan et al., 2006). For instance, a centuries-old seed management system allows farmers in Nepal to grow and protect their seeds (Timsina, 2000; Upreti and Upreti, 2002).
     Traditional knowledge of crops has also contributed greatly to modern medicine and biopesticides in the region