Plant Conservation
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Plant Conservation PEOPLE AND PLANTS CONSERVATION SERIES Series Editor Martin Walters Series Originator Alan Hamilton People and Plants is a joint initiative of WWF, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew AVAILABLE Applied Ethnobotany: People, Wild Plant Use and Conservation Anthony B. Cunningham Biodiversity and Traditional Knowledge: Equitable Partnerships in Practice Sarah A. Laird (ed) Carving Out a Future: Forests, Livelihoods and the International Woodcarving Trade Anthony Cunningham, Brian Belcher and Bruce Campbell Ethnobotany: A Methods Manual Gary J. Martin People, Plants and Protected Areas: A Guide to In Situ Management John Tuxill and Gary Paul Nabhan Plant Conservation Alan Hamilton and Patrick Hamilton Plant Invaders: The Threat to Natural Ecosystems Quentin C. B. Cronk and Janice L. Fuller Tapping the Green Market: Certification and Management of Non-Timber Forest Products Patricia Shanley, Alan R. Pierce, Sarah A. Laird and Abraham Guillén (eds) Uncovering the Hidden Harvest: Valuation Methods for Woodland and Forest Resources Bruce M. Campbell and Martin K. Luckert (eds) FORTHCOMING Plant Identification: Creating User-Friendly Field Guides for Biodiversity Management William Hawthorne and Anna Lawrence Plant Conservation An Ecosystem Approach Alan Hamilton and Patrick Hamilton London • Sterling, VA First published by Earthscan in the UK and USA in 2006 Copyright © Alan Hamilton and Patrick Hamilton, 2006 All rights reserved ISBN-10: 1-84407-083-2 paperback 1-84407-082-4 hardback ISBN-13: 978-1-84407-083-1 paperback 978-1-84407-082-4 hardback Typesetting by MapSet Ltd, Gateshead, UK Cover design by Yvonne Booth Diagrams drawn by Martina Höft Printed and bound in the UK by Bath Press For a full list of publications please contact: Earthscan 8–12 Camden High Street London, NW1 0JH, UK Tel: +44 (0)20 7387 8558 Fax: +44 (0)20 7387 8998 Email: [email protected] Web: www.earthscan.co.uk 22883 Quicksilver Drive, Sterling, VA 20166-2012, USA Earthscan is an imprint of James and James (Science Publishers) Ltd and publishes in association with the International Institute for Environment and Development A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hamilton, A. C. (Alan Charles), 1945- Plant conservation / Alan Hamilton and Patrick Hamilton. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-84407-082-4 ISBN 1-84407-083-2 1. Plant conservation. I. Hamilton, Patrick. II. Title. QK86.A1H36 2005 333.95'316—dc22 2005019429 Printed on elemental chlorine-free paper DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF RICHARD SANDBROOK 1946–2005 Contents List of figures, tables and boxes xi The People and Plants Initiative by Alan Hamilton xvi Foreword by Professor Sir Ghillean Prance xvii Introduction xix People and Plants partners xxi Plant conservation websites xxiii Acknowledgements xxv 1 Perspectives on Plant Conservation 1 Plants and conservation 1 Conservation concerns relating to plant diversity 3 Conservation concerns relating to plant resources 8 Conservation concerns relating to ecosystem services 11 Approaches to plant conservation 13 2 Threats to Plants 19 Threats posed by biological and ecological processes 19 The human factor: Root causes of plant loss 21 Human activities directly causing plant loss 24 Invasive alien species and genes 28 Climatic change 31 Pollutants 32 3 Actors and Stages 35 Roles for plant conservationists 35 Roles for governments 36 The roles of international and regional conservation agreements 40 Roles for botanical institutes, networks, societies and NGOs 46 4 Information, Knowledge, Learning and Research 51 Information 51 Knowledge 53 Learning 57 Research 59 How can biodiversity research benefit conservation? A discourse and some suggestions 62 viii Plant Conservation 5 Plant Life 71 Types and names of plants 71 Human influences on plant types 74 The living plant 77 Vegetation types 81 Vegetation dynamics 83 6 The Management of Plants and Land 87 Resource acquisition and social modes 87 Management processes, tools and systems 91 Landscape management for conservation 97 Case study: Fodder systems at Ayubia, Pakistan 104 7 Meanings, Values and Uses of Plants 109 Symbolism of plants and nature 109 Needs, motivations and values 112 Material uses of plants 117 Future uses of plants 125 8 The Patterns of Plants 127 Detecting patterns of plant species 127 The evolution of plants 130 Environmental and historical determinants of plant patterns 132 Ice Age influences 137 People and plant geography 140 Case study: Projek Etnobotani Kinabalu (an ethnofloristic inventory in Malaysia) 142 9 Plants and Places: Choices, Priorities and Standards 145 Perspectives 145 Plants, places or resources? 149 Plants 150 Places 159 Some large-scale plant patterns relevant to conservation 164 Case study: Prioritizing plant resource for community use at Bwindi, Uganda 166 10 Possession, Property and Protection 169 Tenure and resource rights 169 Customary conservation 173 Statutory law 177 Protected areas 180 Case study: Church forests in Ethiopia 186 Contents ix 11 Approaches to In Situ Conservation 189 The local: The heart of plant conservation 189 Assessing the sustainability of resource supply 190 Strengthening resource management 196 Collaborating in resource management 200 Finding alternatives to wild harvest 204 Building cultural support for conservation 206 Linking livelihood support and plant conservation 208 Case study: Amchi medicine and conservation of medicinal plants in Nepal 212 12 Projects with Communities 215 The usefulness of applied ethnobotany 215 Preparations for community-based projects 217 Fieldwork 222 Field methods and tips 230 13 Ex Situ Conservation 239 Ex situ and circa situm conservation 239 Plant genetic resource systems 244 Reintroductions, restoration and revitalization 249 14 Plant Trade 255 Wild plants in trade 255 Historical dynamics of trade in wild plants 261 Actions in favour of conservation 264 Standards and certification 269 Market systems and their study 271 Case study: Certification of woodcarving in Kenya 274 Acronyms and abbreviations 277 References 281 Index of scientific names of plant species, genera and families 309 General index 315 List of figures, tables and boxes FIGURES 1.1 Macrozamia riedlei, a cycad 5 1.2 The local as the hub of plant conservation 16 2.1 Forest clearance for agriculture, East Usambara Mountains, Tanzania 24 2.2 Mechanical logging in tropical forest, East Usambara Mountains, Tanzania 27 3.1 Department of Botany, University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania 47 4.1 Training in market survey techniques near Mount Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia – part of a certificate course of the People and Plants Initiative 60 4.2 Stages in applied conservation research 61 4.3 Field workshop, Gunassa, Dolpo, in Nepal 62 5.1 Maytenus hookeri planted in Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, China, with Professor Pei Shengji, ex-director of the garden 73 5.2 Example of a population model of a plant species, showing six populations of the species (A–F), with differing numbers of individuals (sizes of circles) 78 5.3 The life cycle of a perennial medicinal plant from the understanding of some traditional medical doctors (amchis) at Dolpo, Nepal 79 6.1 Sycamore trees Acer pseudoplatanus felled on Madeira to control the spread of this invasive species 91 6.2 Slash-and-burn agriculture at Manongarive, Madagascar 96 6.3 Zonation in a generalized biosphere reserve 102 6.4 Experimental habitat restoration for the nationally threatened species perfoliate penny-cress Thlaspi perfoliatum 103 6.5 Fodder collection, production and livestock-rearing calendar at Ayubia National Park and adjoining villages, Pakistan 105 6.6 Different aspects of the fodder system at Ayubia National Park, Pakistan 106 7.1 Architectural design of a house near Kitalunghalo Forest Reserve, Tanzania 118 7.2 Granary at a house on the margin of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda, with researcher Onesimus Muhwezi 119 xii Plant Conservation 7.3 Vegetables in preparation for dinner in Long Pasia, Sabah, Malaysia; these villagers eat a wide range of cultivated, semi-wild and wild leafy greens 123 8.1 TWINSPAN classification of 419 sample plots in the forests of the East Usambara Mountains, Tanzania 131 8.2 Phylogenetic relationships of the main lineages of plants and some related groups 133 8.3 Brunia stokoei, a species belonging to the family Bruniaceae, endemic to South Africa and concentrated in the south-west Cape – illustrating the unique Cape Floristic Kingdom 136 8.4 Forest refugia in tropical Africa during the last Ice Age (maximum 18,000 years ago), showing routes of spread of forest species away from the refugia during the postglacial (since circa 13,000–10,000 years ago) 138 8.5 Ice Age Europe and patterns of postglacial spread of plants 139 8.6 Mount Kinabalu in Sabah, Malaysia – possibly the richest site in the world for plants 143 9.1 An example of a threatened species – the Round Island bottle palm Hyophorbe lagenicaulis in Mauritius 152 9.2 Relationships between the IUCN 2001 Red List conservation categories 156 9.3 Centres of Plant Diversity: These are prime sites for plant conservation on the global scale 166 9.4 Boundary of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda, one of the most valuable forests in East Africa for biodiversity conservation, surrounded by one of the most densely populated parts of rural Africa 167 10.1 Forest patch conserved to protect