Medicinal Plants from Swidden Fallows and Sacred Forest of the Karen and the Lawa in Thailand
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Junsongduang et al. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 2013, 9:44 http://www.ethnobiomed.com/content/9/1/44 JOURNAL OF ETHNOBIOLOGY AND ETHNOMEDICINE RESEARCH Open Access Medicinal plants from swidden fallows and sacred forest of the Karen and the Lawa in Thailand Auemporn Junsongduang1, Henrik Balslev2*, Angkhana Inta1, Arunothai Jampeetong1 and Prasit Wangpakapattanawong1 Abstract Background: Many ecosystem services provided by forests are important for the livelihoods of indigenous people. Sacred forests are used for traditional practices by the ethnic minorities in northern Thailand and they protect these forests that are important for their culture and daily life. Swidden fallow fields are a dominant feature of the agricultural farming landscapes in the region. In this study we evaluate and compare the importance of swidden fallow fields and sacred forests as providers of medicinal plants among the Karen and Lawa ethnic minorities in northern Thailand. Methods: We made plant inventories in swidden fallow fields of three different ages (1–2, 3–4, 5–6 years old) and in sacred forests around two villages using a replicated stratified design of vegetation plots. Subsequently we interviewed the villagers, using semi-structured questionnaires, to assess the medicinal use of the species encountered in the vegetation survey. Results: We registered a total of 365 species in 244 genera and 82 families. Of these 72(19%) species in 60(24%) genera and 32(39%) families had medicinal uses. Although the sacred forest overall housed more species than the swidden fallow fields, about equal numbers of medicinal plants were derived from the forest and the fallows. This in turn means that a higher proportion (48% and 34%) of the species in the relatively species poor fallows were used for medicinal purposes than the proportion of medicinal plants from the sacred forest which accounted for 17–22%. Of the 32 medicinal plant families Euphorbiaceae and Lauraceae had most used species in the Karen and Lawa villages respectively. Conclusion: Sacred forest are important for providing medicinal plant species to the Karen and Lawa communities in northern Thailand, but the swidden fallows around the villages are equally important in terms of absolute numbers of medicinal plant species, and more important if counted as proportion of the total number of species in a habitat. This points to the importance of secondary vegetation as provider of medicinal plants around rural villages as seen elsewhere in the tropics. Keywords: Ethnomedicinal plants, Protected forests, Traditional knowledge, Tribal community Background and a number of other similar processes and 3) provision Ecosystem services and goods have received much atten- of cultural and aesthetic benefits that may also be the basis tion in recent years. Typically services and goods include for ecotourism [1]. 1) supply of valuable commodities and materials such as As in many tropical regions, shifting cultivation is a agricultural-, forest-, mineral-, and pharmaceutical pro- major land use system in northern Thailand and it is a ducts, 2) support and regulation of environmental condi- major driver of deforestation in the upland areas [2,3]. tions through flood control, water purification, pollination, About 5% of the original forested areas in northern Thailand are under shifting cultivation [3] and fallow * Correspondence: [email protected] forests cover large parts of the highlands of this region 2Department of Bioscience, Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity Group, Aarhus University, Building 1540, Ny Munkegade 114-116, DK-8000, Aarhus C, [4]. Under this land use system fields are abandoned Denmark after cultivation and are left without intensive use for Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © 2013 Junsongduang et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Junsongduang et al. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 2013, 9:44 Page 2 of 10 http://www.ethnobiomed.com/content/9/1/44 5–15 years to regenerate to forest before they are again and we test whether it also occurs in a fallow/sacred- turned into crop cultivation [5]. The impact of this eco- forest cultural landscape mosaic in northern Thailand. logical transformation on the availability of usable plants The objectives of our study were to examine the eco- is not well understood, and there is little research system services from swidden fallow fields of different concerning the habitats from which shifting cultivators ages and adjacent sacred forests and in particular to gather wild plants. Nevertheless the shifting cultivators compare how these different habitats provide medicinal still obtain many of the plants that they need for their plants in two ethnic minority communities in northern livelihood from these fallow fields and regenerating Thailand, one of the Karen and one of the Lawa. Specific- forests [6]. ally we asked the following questions: 1) How species Sacred forests are segments of the landscape that rep- rich are the fallow fields of different ages and the sacred resents old traditions of preserving climax forest patches forests and how many of their species have medicinal based on local culture and religious beliefs and they are uses? 2) Of the species encountered how many are de- found throughout the world. A sacred forest represents rived from each habitat and how many medicinal a functional link between cultural life and the forest plants are provided by each habitat? management system of a region. Sacred forests have been studied in many parts of the world including Materials and methods Africa, [7], China [8], and especially in India [9-13]. Study areas Ethnobotanical studies of sacred forest in India [14-16] The study area is in Mae Cheam watershed in northern have documented informal management systems of sa- Thailand approximately 75 km southwest of the city of cred forest that not only conserve useful species, but Chiang Mai. This watershed is important for its bio- also harbor many unique plants for which local people diversity and its varied forest types and vegetation and have discovered medicinal values [17,18]. Sacred forests in addition it is inhabited by several ethnic minority are often seen as reservoirs of local biodiversity that pre- groups [28]. Our study was focused on two villages of serve a unique fauna and flora including their medicinal different ethnic groups, the Karen village Mae Hae Tai plants [11]. Depending on location and management, sa- and the Lawa village Mude Lhong (Table 1). The Karen cred forest provide a number of other ecosystem services is the largest of ethnic group in Thailand [29]. There are such as cultural amenities but many of these aspects re- four groups of Karens; the Sgaw Karen, the B’ghwe main poorly explored [19]. Ecosystem services in the Karen, the Pa-O Karen or Thaung thu and the Pwo form of medicinal plants from sacred forest can be im- Karen [30]. Karen-Sgaw is the largest group in Thailand portant for indigenous people in remote areas, since and also in the Mae Cheam watershed- [29]. The Karen many rural communities depend on wild plants for their are autonomous and economically self-sufficient and live diet and livelihood [20]. In Thailand there are many dif- in remote and isolated areas and have rituals that focus ferent types and sizes of sacred forests, ranging from a on living in harmony with the nature that surrounds single tree to large forests that sometimes cover entire them [31,32]. The Lawa do not live outside of Thailand mountains [21]. In northern Thailand sacred forests are and are sometimes not counted among the hill tribes. geographically dispersed and often associated with ethnic The history of the Lawa is long and poorly understood minorities living in the mountains [22]. Local laws and [31]. Regardless of such disagreements about their as- customs usually limit the villagers’ activities in these fo- signment, the Lawa are a minority group in the northern rests. Hunting, grazing, and logging may be prohibited or Thailand [29]. Their economy is based on agriculture, restricted and villagers are consciencious not to damage with rice grown according to a sophisticated rotation them [23]. The ethnobotany of sacred forests has never shifting cultivation system [33]. The two villages are been studied in Thailand. surrounded by several different habitats such as sacred Simplistic views of ethnoecological relationships be- forests, rice fields and swidden fallow fields of different tween ethnic groups and their surrounding ecosystems ages. Villagers are only allowed, by the village commit- often view the untouched virgin species rich forests as tee, to extract minor forest products from the sacred for- the main provider of useful plants, whereas secondary ests in quantities that must be agreed upon [33]. In Mae vegetation is often seen as degraded and useless. A Hae Tai (Karen), which is mainly Christian, villagers growing body of evidence however points to these se- maintain traditional beliefs related to the forest that sur- condary recovering ecosystems as important providers rounds them and they worship the forest in tree ordi- of useful plants. Examples of how secondary vegetation nation ceremonies to raise awareness of environmental make