Applied Ethnobotany: Case-Studies from the Himalayan Region
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PEOPLE AND PLANTS WORKING12 PAPER - SEPTEMBER 2003 This series of working papers is intended to provide information and to generate fruitful Applied discussion on key issues Ethnobotany: in the sustainable and equitable use case-studies from the of plant resources. Please send comments Himalayan region on this paper and suggestions Y. Aumeeruddy-Thomas & Pei Shengji for future issues to People and Plants Initiative International Plants Conservation Unit WWF-UK Panda House, Catteshall Lane Godalming Surrey GU7 1XR United Kingdom The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of WWF concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city, or area of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The opinions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors and do not commit any Organization. Authors’ addresses: Yildiz Aumeeruddy-Thomas 81 rue du Fbg Boutonnet 34090 Montpellier FRANCE <[email protected]> Pei Shengji Department of Ethnobotany Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences Heilongtan, Kunming Yunnan 650204 CHINA <[email protected]> Drawings on pages 22, 25, 30 and 31 reproduced with kind permission from “Concise flowers of the Himalaya” by Oleg Polunin and Adam Stainton. Oxford University Press India, 1990. Cover: Meconopsis paniculata, Yildiz Aumeeruddy-Thomas Published in 2003 by WWF Edited by Martin Walters Design: Ivette Fabbri Layout: Martina Höft © WWF 2003 Recommended citation: Aumeeruddy-Thomas, Y. and Pei Shengji. 2003. Applied Ethnobotany: case- studies from the Himalayan region. People and Plants working paper 12. WWF, Godalming, UK. An electronic version of this document can be downloaded from http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/peopleplants/wp APPLIED ETHNOBOTANY: CASE-STUDIES FROM THE HIMALAYAN REGION The People and Plants Initiative has, since 1992, reliant subsistence, and agroforestry based upon developed a series of field projects aimed at find- extremely diversified land use, bio-resources and ing appropriate conceptual frameworks, approach- human culture. This region is also characterized es and practices for the management of plant by secular trade exchanges between highlands resources, building both on indigenous local sys- and lower valleys. tems and on scientific knowledge. Applied eth- Regenerative biological resources have been nobotany using community-based approaches has managed since ancient times by local people in been used to address major conservation and relat- the mountain regions, for agriculture, horticul- ed development issues at each site. Case-studies ture, animal husbandry, forestry products, herbal giving precise descriptions of processes, methods medicine, hunting, rituals, cultural needs, and and approaches have been published in the People almost all of their subsistence needs. For them, and Plants working paper series, including work the mountain habitat provides a means of sur- undertaken in Indonesia (Aumeeruddy, 1994), at vival, not just an area from which resources can Bwindi National Park, Uganda (Cunningham, be exploited for short-term benefits. Over the 1996; Wild and Mutebi, 1996), in Loita, Kenya past two decades, however, environmental and (Maundu et al., 2001), and around Mt. Kinabalu, cultural changes, and economic development in Sabah, Malaysia (Martin et al., 2002). This work- the mountain region have accelerated, with a ing paper is a compilation of case-studies under- serious impact on its natural resources. taken under the People and Plants UNESCO-ICI- Practices of plant collection by local com- MOD Hindu Kush-Himalaya project, the major munities may be unsustainable and lead to over aim of which was to promote applied ethnobotany exploitation. For instance, a large number of in the Himalayan region and to encourage the sus- households in rural and remote areas of Nepal tainable management of plant resources. depend on the collection of non-timber forest It is important to emphasize that ethnobotany products (NTFPs), especially medicinal and aro- has an especially important role to play in the matic plants (MAPs) for sustaining livelihoods development of mountainous areas such as the through collection of these products for trade Himalayas. People in rural Himalayan societies (Edwards, 1996; Olsen and Helles, 1997). are highly dependent on natural resource use, due Evidence of overexploitation by commercial to isolation, and relatively poor access to arable collectors has been demonstrated in Dolpo lands. Over time, they have developed knowledge (Aumeeruddy et al., 2002) which contradicts the about the utilization of diverse biological assumption made by Olsen (1999) that collec- resources. They also possess substantial informa- tion by commercial collectors is sustainable and tion regarding soils, climates, vegetation types, that they regulate their practices, access to stages of ecological succession, land use, etc., and resources and regeneration of plant populations. in many cases have developed mechanisms or There is thus a need for balancing local knowl- techniques for maintaining biological diversity edge with scientific knowledge to ensure long- (Pei, 1994, 1998; Lama et al., 2002). Although term planning and conservation of plant they live in remote areas, Himalayan moutain resources. dwellers also have much ‘external knowledge’ of Traditional knowledge systems are hundreds the ways and habits of neighbouring societies with or even thousands of years old, and are still which they have interacted for trade or for political evolving. They involve not only the knowledge and cultural reasons over centuries (Fisher, 1987). of plants for medicine and food, but also include The economic system of the Himalayan strategies of protection for the utilization of plant region is characterized by self-sufficient and self- resources as well as management systems. PEOPLE AND PLANTS WORKING PAPER 12, SEPTEMBER 2003 1 APPLIED ETHNOBOTANY: CASE-STUDIES FROM THE HIMALAYAN REGION Y. AUMEERUDDY-THOMAS & PEI SHENGJI Contents 1 Introduction 2 Contents 5 Part 1: Resource Management in the Himalayas: case-studies compiled and lessons learned (Y. Aumeeruddy-Thomas) 5 The ethnobotany of fruit plants and its role in conservation and community development in Drosh Valley, Chitral (Hindu Kush-Himalaya Region) of Pakistan, by D. F. Hussain 7 Ethnobotanical study on traditional shifting cultivation practices based on the alder tree (Alnus nepalensis) by the Naga tribes of Nagaland India, by S. Changija, A. Yaden and A. Aier 9 The use of indigenous knowledge in mountain natural resource management: a case-study of the Wancho community, Tirap District, Arunachal Pradesh, India, by A. Godbole 11 Preliminary studies in the ethnobotany of Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh, and its linkage with biodiversity, by M. K. Alam and S. K. Khisa 13 The ecology and indigenous management techniques of tribal homegardens - a case-study of the Marma tribe in Rangamati Hill District, Bangladesh, by Dr M. Millat-e-Mustapha 15 A community-based case-study on the indigenous system of ‘sal’ (Shorea robusta) forest management, by S. Rajbandhary, N. Dongol and B. K. Karna 17 The application of indigenous knowledge of fodder trees in Kalikasthan, Rasuwa District, Nepal, by N. P. Manandhar and S. K. Archaya 19 General points and lessons learned 20 Part 2: Medicinal plant management: case-studies compiled and lessons learned (Pei Shengji) 20 Indigenous medicinal plants and their socio-economic and cultural significance in the Newar community of Nepal: a case-study of Bungmati VDC, Lalitpur, by M. Pokhrel, R. Shrestha and R. K. Sharma 23 Ethno-medicobotanical studies of the Gurung community of Bichuar Village in the Lamjung District of Nepal, by I. Shrestha 24 Indigenous knowledge of the Qiang community about the conservation and development of ethnomedical plants in Maoxian County of Western Sichuan, China, by Wu Ning 27 A study of the ethnobotany and conservation of Podophyllum hexandrum, Diphylleia sinensis and Fritillaria cirrhosa in the Zhongdian Tibetan Autonomous County in Yunnan, China, by Hu Zhihao and Qi Shunhua 29 An ethnobotanical survey of the propagation of rare medicinal herbs by small farmers in the buffer zone of the Valley of Flowers National Park, Chamoli, Garhwal Himalaya, India, by C. P. Kala 31 General points and lessons learned 34 General disscusion 36 References 38 Annex 2 PEOPLE AND PLANTS WORKING PAPER 12, SEPTEMBER 2003 APPLIED ETHNOBOTANY: CASE-STUDIES FROM THE HIMALAYAN REGION Y. AUMEERUDDY-THOMAS & PEI SHENGJI In this respect, ethnobotany will play an nobiological methods (Johnson, 1980; Brush, important role in the future in documenting and 1980; Alcorn, 1984; Altieri et al., 1987; Balée describing traditional knowledge about medici- and Gely 1989; Aumeeruddy, 1994; Pei and nal and edible plants, and their uses in different Sajise, 1995). All these studies give much atten- ecological zones and human Himalayan societies tion to conservation practices underlying local as well as at the global level (Pei, 1996). practices, local institutional background, con- This paper aims to show how applied eth- flicts of worldviews and value systems. nobotany may lead to a better understanding of Since 1992, the People and Plants initiative resource management in this region. The authors has coined the phrase ‘applied ethnobotany’ of this working paper have attempted to draw which actually relates to studies and methods lessons