Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge Vol. 11 (4), October 2012, pp. 586-592 Non-woody plant species of Papuan Island forests, A sustainable source of food for the local communities Reinardus L. Cabuy1*, Jonni Marwa2, Jacob Manusawai2 & Yohanes Y. Rahawarin1 1Forest Products Department, Forestry Faculty, Papua State University (UNIPA) Manokwari 98314 West Papua, Indonesia, 2Forest Management Department, Forestry Faculty, Papua State University (UNIPA) Manokwari 98314, West Papua, Indonesia *E-mail: [email protected] Received 16.04.12, revised 25.07.12 The aim of this study is to identify the non-woody plants that are utilized by local communities in Papua Island, Indonesia for food and beverages. Results of the study will provide baseline information for the local Government to develop management strategies and policies for the conservation of the forest resources, including the useful plants. The data was gathered through observation, interviews and focused group discussion with people which is strongly influenced in the communities. Data gathered included indigenous knowledge of plant use and others indigenous practices and perceptions pertaining to the use and management of the forest. There are 90 plant species belonging to 38 families that where identified that are used by the local communities primarily for food and beverages. Of which, 21 species that belong to Arecaceae are frequently used by the local communities. The plant parts utilized are usually the fruits and leaves. Keywords: Non timber forest products, Food and beverages, Forest vegetation, Indigenous knowledge IPC Int. Cl.8: A23L, A61K 36/00, A47G 19/26, A47J 39/02, C12G, C12C 12/04, C12G 3/08, C12H 3/00, A23L 2/00 Indonesia is one of the mega-biodiverse countries1. commodities that are produced from raw materials It has approximately 120.4 million hectares of forest that are gathered from the environment. Conversely, land and it knows worldwide as the largest tropical the community in north eastern Tarai District, India forest with a high degree of biodiversity. The forests are dependent on medicinal plant in curing different are important in providing and sustaining the needs of diseases7, similarly, the local people of southwestern the present and future generations. For the past Nigeria primarily depend on two plant species for decades, forest and agriculture sectors have been the their nutrition needs, namely Corchorus olitorus and main source of income2-3, this had a positive effect on Celosia argentina which are consumed as vegetables8. the foreign exchange earnings, national development These two species are also economically valued. and regional economic growth. In other countries, Forest are potential source of economically Ziaie et al,4 reported that more than 77% of the important plants and other resources. It was estimated Malaysian woody furniture products are being that in the course of time and on a worldwide scale, exported thus making them rank ninth in the global 1500-2000 plant species that are found in the forest market or second in the Asia. Indonesia had also have been used as supplementary food. In terms of contributed to the export of pulp and paper with value floristic richness, forest in Indonesia ranks fifth in the of US$706.8 million and US$ 363 million for all world and contains more than 38,000 plant species9. sawn wood5. The rubber industry has brought In South-East Asia, the number of plant species is Indonesia one of the largest exporting countries in close to 1000 species10. According to Mirjam et al.11, 2008 with production of 2.7 million ton6. plant species used as non-woody plants has been The degree of dependency of people on their estimated to be about 575 species. In Papua, natural environment can be definied by geographic Womersley12 reports that its forests have 20,000 – location, accesibility and technology. People who live 25,000 vascular plants, of which about 60% to 90% of in the remote and isolated villages depend largely on the plants in this region are endemic13. the agricultural crops that they cultivate and other Papua is one of the region which highly contributes _______________ to the richness of the tropical rain forest resources in *Corresponding author Indonesia. With a total land area of 40,803,132 ha, Cabuy et al.: NON-WOODY PLANT SOURCE OF FOOD FOR LOCAL COMMUNITIES IN PAPUAN ISLAND 587 Papua contributes 32.8% of the total land area of equipment to record the responses given. Each Indonesia forest14. The history of forest resource informant was given same question based on utilization in Papua is as old as the age of Papuan questionnaire cover kinds and types of vegetation, human civilization from primitive livestyle to the part of plant that utilized (fruit, leaves, tuber, pith, different stages such as hunter gatherer, shifting rhizome, seed and stem) and how to process until cultivation, peasant community to the modern stage. ready to eat. and further interviews were collected and The life of the people during each stage was sustained analysed by looking at the dominant response by by the resources that were gathered from the forest. scoring process as a representation of indigenous The utilization of forest resources for food has been people in selecting forest resources. while for plant recorded in ethnobotanical studies. Accoeding to identification purposes used plant identification Powell15, ethnobotanical uses of forest resources in person (taxonomical expert) to identify forest Papua include food, construction, fuel, medicine, vegetation species which utilized. furniture, art and many others. As many as 229 species of plants were identified by Powell15 that are used as food for the entire Papua Island. Some of the important food plants are Metroxylon spp, Musa spp and Pandanus spp. Many plant parts are used including nuts. With the richness of the forests, this study aim to identify the different plants in the forests that are used by the local community. This study will also focus on how the plants that are found in the forests are used and how this indigenous in handed down from generation to generation. Materials and methods The Study area The study area covers several villages in Papua Fig. 1Map of distribution of plant species utilized island (Fig. 1). The study particularly focused on Table 1Number of regency, tribe and geographycal village people who depend their everyday sustenance information from the sample site on the forest. The villages are located in different topography with a wide range of ecosystems No. Regency/ Position Range of Tribe (Table 1). People was being informant deliberately District Altitude chosen and taking into account their status in the 1 Mappi Southern 0-100 Yachay part mdpl hierarchy of cultures and how often interacted with 2 Jayapura Northern 10-100 Sentani forest for meets their basic needs. The number of part mdpl informants taken as much as 15-20 percent of the total 3 Sarmi Northern 0-500 Armati population sample for each experimental location. part mdpl 4 Yapen Northern 0-800 Yapen From the survey, shown that average number of part mdpl people in a community in each location ranged 5 Supiori Northern 0-700 Sowek roughly between 100-300 people or as much as part mdpl 25 to 35 households. 6 Kaimana Western 0-800 Irarutu part mdpl Data collection 7 Wondama Western 0-300 Wamesa This reseach uses descriptive method by direct part mdpl 16 8 Manokwari Western 500-1500 Mandacan field observation and semi-structural interview part mdpl which are intended to indentify local community who 9 Sorong Western 0-500 Mooi obtaining plant-based food from their surrounding part mdpl forest. Materials used i.e. interviewing instrument 10 South- Western 5-50 mdpl Ayamaru Sorong part (Questionnaire) to obtain comprehensive information 11 Teminabuan Western 3-10 mdp Teminabuan related to the use of forest and also paperwork part 588 INDIAN J TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE, VOL. 11, No. 4, October 2012 Results seen all over the world for meet a demand human 18,3 Edible plants being life in both directly and indirectly ways . Relatively, edible plants species cover seedy plant Most rural communities is always hunging up their group (Spermathopytha), talus/fungi (Thalophyta) and life on the forest due to it able to serve their necessity. edible fern (Pteridophyta). Group of seedy plants This also applies in Papua in which majority of their consisting of both monochotyledonae encompass of livelihood was closely integrated by the plants and 11 families, 33 species and dicotyledonae about animal life. Their predecessors depended upon the 19 families, 45 species yet for low level groups such richness of the forest, oceans and rivers for their daily as Thalophyta covers only 5 families and 7 species food, clothing, building materials, tools, weapons and and pteridophyta was the lowest point of 3 families medicine12. and 7 species. Fig. 1 show the number of plant eats by Many ways traditionally has been show regarding indigenous people all over the Papua Island. forest utilization by papuan community, for If compared with the total number of species which examples getting salt in Yali tribe, one of the is highly frequent used point out that highland tribes in Papua island. It was become a monocotyledonae constitutes the highest of forest highly desirable and valuable commodity for them as vegetation comes from Arecaceae group reached for it has many other functions that just regulating 21 species used then followed by Pteridophyta group the water content of the body. So as to meet they with 11 species and Zingiberales, Thalophyta and needs of salt, they extract directly ashes from certain Poaceae by 9 species, respectively. types of salt-rich plant to produce salt then it used for cooking19. That tribe also produced string bags Vegetation used Part of vegetation which is used as a source of food (sum) used to carry food are an important part of by people in Papua showed very different value.