ECONOMIC BOTANY Wednesday Jan 14 2004 01:03 PM ebot 58_110 Mp_66 Allen Press x DTPro System GALLEY 66 File # 10em CONSERVATION OF USEFUL PLANTS:AN EVALUATION OF LOCAL PRIORITIES FROM TWO INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES IN EASTERN PANAMA1 SARAH PAULE DALLE AND CATHERINE POTVIN Dalle, Sarah Paule (Department of Plant Science, Macdonald Campus of McGill University, 21111 Lakeshore Dr., Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, QueÂbec, Canada H9X 3V9; e-mail: sar- [email protected]) and Catherine Potvin (Biology Department, McGill University, 1205 ave Dr. Pen®eld, MontreÂal, QueÂbec, Canada H3A 1B1). CONSERVATION OF USEFUL PLANTS:AN EVALUATION OF LOCAL PRIORITIES FROM TWO INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES IN EASTERN PANAMA. Economic Botany 58(1):000±000, 2004. On both theoretical and practical grounds, respect for, and inclusion of, local decision-making processes is advocated in conservation, yet little is known about the conservation priorities on local territories. We employed interviews and eco- logical inventories in two villages in order to (1) evaluate the local perception of the conser- vation status of important plant resources; (2) compare patterns of plant use; and (3) compare perceived conservation status with population structure and abundance in the ®eld. One-third of the 35 species examined were perceived to be threatened or declining. These were predom- inantly used locally for construction or sold commercially, but were not necessarily rare in the ®eld. The destructiveness of harvest was the most consistent predictor of conservation status in both villages. Contrasting patterns were found in the two villages for the frequency of plant harvest and the relationship of this variable with conservation status. We suggest that local knowledge is an ef®cient means to rapidly assess the status of a large number of species, whereas population structure analysis provides an initial evaluation of the impact of harvest for selected species. CONSERVACIO NDEPLANTAS U TILES:UNA EVALUACIO NDEPRIORIDADES LOCALES EN DOS LOCAL- IDADES DEL ESTE DE PANAMA . Tanto desde una perspectiva teoÂrica como praÂctica el respeto e inclusioÂn de los procesos locales de toma de decisiones es una forma en que la conservacioÂn puede ser promovida. Sin embargo, poco se sabe sobre las prioridades de conservacioÂn en territorios indõÂgenas. En el presente estudio se emplearon entrevistas e inventarios ecoloÂgicos en dos localidades indõÂgenas para (1) evaluar la percepcioÂn de los habitantes locales sobre el estado de conservacioÂn de recursos vegetales importantes; (2) comparar los patrones de uso de plantas; y (3) comparar la percepcioÂn del estado de conservacioÂn con la estructura de las poblaciones y la abundancia de las especies en el campo. Una tercera parte de las 35 especies estudiadas fueron percibidas como amenazadas o en proceso de declinacioÂn. Se trata de plantas utilizadas principalmente como materiales de construccioÂn o que aportan productos que son comercializados, pero que no son necesariamente escasas en el campo. En ambas localidades la variable que predijo el estado de conservacioÂn de forma maÂs consistente fue el grado de destruccioÂn de las plantas asociado a las praÂcticas de cosecha. Encontramos patrones con- trastantes entre las dos localidades con respecto a la frecuencia de cosecha y a la relacioÂn de esta variable con el estado de conservacioÂn de las plantas. Sugerimos que el uso de conoci- mientos locales es una forma e®ciente de evaluar con rapidez el estado de un gran nuÂmero de especies, en tanto que el anaÂlisis de la estructura de poblaciones aporta una evaluacioÂn inicial sobre el impacto de la cosecha para algunas especies de intereÂs. 1? Key Words: conservation, comparative ethnobotany, indigenous territories, local knowledge, Panama, population structure, rapid assessment, useful plants. Efforts to conserve tropical forests are in- grounds, respect for, and inclusion of, local de- creasingly seeking the involvement of local cision-making processes is advocated (Norton communities. On both theoretical and practical 2001; Western et al. 1994), and it is increasingly recognized that cultural perception is an impor- 1 Received 29 June 2001; accepted 04 April 2003. tant component of conservation action. Further- Economic Botany 58(1) pp. 000±000. 2004 q 2004 by The New York Botanical Garden Press, Bronx, NY 10458-5126 U.S.A. ECONOMIC BOTANY Wednesday Jan 14 2004 01:03 PM ebot 58_110 Mp_67 Allen Press x DTPro System GALLEY 67 File # 10em 2004] DALLE & POTVIN: CONSERVATION OF USEFUL PLANTS more, conservationists are now seeking alliances knowledge in the two villages and identify with indigenous peoples, whose territories en- ecological and use characteristics associated compass a large proportion of the remaining for- with declining or threatened species; est in Latin America and elsewhere (Colchester (2) Contrast patterns of plant use in the two vil- 2000; Peres 1994; Schwartzman et al. 2000). lages, especially the frequency of harvest; One way in which local involvement may be and achieved is to focus conservation efforts on re- (3) Compare the perceived conservation status sources important to local economies (Ticktin et with population structure and abundance in al. 2002). A number of examples exist of local the ®eld. people adopting conservation actions (e.g., Our discussion then considers the utility of local Gadgil et al. 1993; Pinedo-Vasquez et al. 1990; knowledge and participation for plant conser- Ventocilla et al. 1995), and many of these are vation and makes recommendations for further motivated by perceived threats to local resource research. bases. Ethnobotany, by focusing on the knowl- edge, use, and management of plants by people, STUDY AREA can provide an understanding of the nature of The two focus villages of this study are situ- management problems and the potential for con- ated approximately 75 km apart. Ipeti is an Em- servation on local territories. Local knowledge bera village located along the Ipeti River near about the status of plant resources, for example, the foothills of Serrenia Maje (98009 N, 788059 has begun to be explored as a way to determine W), province of Panama, while Nurna is a Kuna conservation priorities (Potvin et al. 2002). Hel- village located near the headwaters of the Chu- lier and colleagues (1999) examined the use of cunaque River in the province of Darien (98009 local knowledge for identifying declines in ani- N, 788039 W). Both territories are covered by mal and plant species, as well as in forest cover forests classi®ed as ``humid tropical'' in the in highland Mexico, whereas vegetation change Holdridge life zone system (Instituto Geogra®co in an African savannah was assessed using local Nacional 1988) and range in elevation from ap- perceptions and population structure analysis by proximately 50 to 300 m above sea level. Av- Lykke (1998, 2000). Ethnobotanical research erage annual precipitation in the area is around can contribute to such an approach by charac- 2500 mm with annual temperature averages of terizing patterns of plant use and management 258C (Instituto Geogra®co Nacional 1988). and investigating how these relate to plant de- There is a pronounced dry season from Decem- clines or conservation priorities. ber to April (Tosi 1971). In this paper we present results from a study Whereas both villages are found in ecologi- aimed at examining the conservation priorities cally similar regions, they differ in the degree of for plant resources of two villages in the bio- anthropogenic alteration of their surroundings. geographic region of Darien, Eastern Panama. Ipeti is a recent village organized as an indige- Darien is home to three indigenous groups who nous ``Tierras colectivas'' of 3198 ha. When the have cohabited on these lands for hundreds of Bayano hydroelectric reservoir was ¯ooded in years (the Kuna, the Embera, and the Wounaan) the mid-1970s, the Embera people living in the and is a global priority for forest conservation area were relocated to Ipeti and to the neigh- (Davis et al. 1997). Problems of resource dete- boring community of Piriati, both along the Pan- rioration and over-exploitation on indigenous american highway (Wali 1993). Travel to Ipeti territories in the region have been reported (Her- from Panama City takes ®ve hours by bus. The lihy 1986; Ventocilla et al. 1995). We employed largely forested indigenous territory is embed- a participatory approach with local people in one ded in a matrix of land used by colonists for Kuna and one Embera community to examine cattle ranching. There are 50 houses in Ipeti and the conservation status of traditional plant re- we estimate the population to be around 400 sources. The two villages studied differ substan- people. Most inhabitants of Ipeti speak Spanish tially in land-use history. Speci®cally, our goals with the exception of some older women; the were to: younger generation tends to use Spanish rather than Embera in their daily activities. The local (1) Evaluate the conservation status of impor- economy appears rather diversi®ed. Men and tant plant resources as determined by local women work for day wages in various colonist Allen Press Wednesday Jan 14 2004ECONOMIC 01:03 BOTANY PM TABLE 1. ETHNOBOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PLANTS SELECTED FOR STUDY BASED ON THEIR IMPORTANCE TO THE LOCAL CULTURE IN IPETI AND NURNA. x I. Nurna (Kuna) II. Ipeti (Embera) DTPro System Herbarium Life Species Family voucher* form Name Principal use Part Name Principal use Part I. Plants only in Nurna Apeiba tibourbou Aubl. Tiliaceae SD 229a,b Tree Dubsip Rope ®ber Bark Ð Ð Ð Arrabidaea chica (Bonpl.) Bignoniaceae SD 237a,b Liana Magep Ritual Leaf Ð Ð Ð B. Verl. Bactris coloradonis L. H. Arecaceae SD 204a,d Palm Alar-uar Pot holder Stem Ð Ð Ð Bailey Cordia alliodora (Ruiz & Boraginaceae SD 227a Tree Ugar-uar Firewood Trunk Ð Ð Ð Pav.) Oken Gustavia superba (Kunth) Lecythidaceae SD 239a,b Tree Tupu-uar Edible Fruit Ð Ð Ð GALLEY 68 O. Berg ECONOMIC BOTANY Myroxylon balsamum (L.