”Learning from Ancestors”

The United Nations University Institute for Sustainability and Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS) inaugurated the traditional Knowledge Initiative in 2007 to build further understanding and recognition of traditional knowledge and to convey initiatives by indigenous peoples, local communities and policymakers. The initiative studies the use of indigenous peoples ' current practices and the knowledge they have cultivated for many years. Research on the initiative is extremely important for a world where widespread development has caused so many problems.

In fact, modern society should be able to learn valuable insights and lessons from past indigenous societies on how to use resources efficiently and how to improve waste management systems. Between 2000 and 2050, the world's population is projected to increase by 50%, the world's economic activity is 500%, and the world's energy and resource utilization is 300%. These trends will stress more on the resources and Environment of the Earth, which is already multiplying a significant load. During the 1992 Earth Summit, world leaders warned that "the main reason for the constant deterioration of the global environment is the steady increase in the production and consumption and disposal of goods."

At the same time, the Rio Declaration affirmed that the "green economy" policy against sustainable development and the eradication of Poverty promotes sustainable and inclusive economic growth and promotes sustainable consumption and production. Resource utilization and waste management tend to be significantly different in developed and developing countries. If human life and society have unlimited abundance, the resources consumed and the waste produced (solid and liquid) will be many. Therefore, developed countries consume more energy, water, metal and plastic than developing countries. In the data of the World Bank of 2012, it was seen so.
The average American resident is 3.5 kg of waste per day, but for some African urban residents, less than 200 grams per person per day. In the initiative, the rate of waste generation in developed countries also shows a trend of stabilization or gradual increase. This trend reflects the maturity of the economic system of the industrialized nations and reflects a gradual increase or decrease in population. In order to ensure that economic growth does not lead to an increase in waste as it is, advanced countries have proposed efforts to improve resource efficiency and maximize the use of waste countermeasures, reuse and recycling.

On the other hand, in developing countries, the rate of waste generation has increased rapidly due to economic growth and urbanization. According to the World Bank, the rate of increase in waste generation rates will be fastest in Africa and Asia in the near future. For example, the waste discharged from sub-Saharan Africa over the next two decades is expected to triple. China will overtake the United States in 2004.
It is now the world's largest solid waste emission country. In many cities in developing countries, it is still difficult to provide the people with waste recovery and appropriate processing systems. As a result, the atmosphere, water and soil are contaminated, and public health has a negative impact. However, proper waste management can create employment opportunities and reduce the ecological footprint of society.

Therefore, in the policy and institutional design of solid wastes, we suggest that we should aim to minimize the generation of waste and to make the best use of waste material reuse and recycling. Technological innovations are often seen as answers to modern waste problems.　But what can we learn from the historical methods that the great ancient societies, such as the Aztec tribe of the Mexico, were taking advantage of? How will past systems, such as Aztec waste management and resource utilization, relate to the modern world?