PEOPLE AND PLANTS WORKING9 PAPER - FEBRUARY 2002 This series of working papers is intended to provide information and to generate fruitful discussion Projek Etnobotani on key issues Kinabalu in the sustainable The making of a Dusun Ethnoflora and equitable use (Sabah, Malaysia) of plant resources. G.J. Martin, A. Lee Agama, J.H. Beaman and J. Nais Please send comments on this paper and suggestions for future issues to People and Plants Initiative, Division of Ecological Sciences, UNESCO, 7 Place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris CEDEX 07 SP, France. The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO 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: Gary J. Martin John H. Beaman The Global Diversity Foundation The Herbarium B.P. 262 Marrakesh-Medina Royal Botanic Gardens Kew Morocco Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AB <[email protected]> United Kingdom <[email protected]> Agnes Lee Agama WWF Malaysia Jamili Nais P.O. Box 14393 Sabah Parks 88850 Kota Kinabalu P.O. Box 10626 Sabah 88806 Kota Kinabalu Malaysia Malaysia <[email protected]> <[email protected]> Photos: Gary Martin, Michael Doolittle, Robert Höft Published in 2002 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization 7, place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris Cedex 07 SP, FRANCE Printed by UNESCO on chlorine-free recycled paper Edited by Martin Walters Design: Ivette Fabbri Layout: Martina Höft © UNESCO / G. Martin et al. 2002 SC-02/WS/ Recommended citation: Martin, G.J., Lee Agama, A., Beaman, J.H & Nais, J. 2002. Projek Etnobotani Kinabalu. The making of a Dusun Ethnoflora (Sabah, Malaysia). People and Plants working paper 9. UNESCO, Paris. An electronic version of this document can be downloaded from http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/peopleplants/wp/wp9/index.html PROJEK ETNOBOTANI KINABALU THE MAKING OF A DUSUN ETHNOFLORA (SABAH, MALAYSIA) Introduction Mount Kinabalu, famous among botanists for its Ethnoflora. We hope these preliminary steps will remarkable floristic richness and high level of provide a continuing incentive to local communi- plant endemism, is located in the Malaysian state ties to manage unprotected forests in buffer zones of Sabah in northern Borneo. It is one of 234 sites around Kinabalu Park and to promotwe the via- designated as primary centres of plant diversity bility of Dusun ecological knowledge. in the world (Davis et al. 1995). Centrally locat- Chapter 1 of this working paper describes ed in the Flora Malesiana region, it rises to 4094 Mount Kinabalu, and the floristic and ethnob- m above sea level, and is the highest mountain otanical projects carried out there. Chapter 2 pro- between the Himalayas and New Guinea. It is the vides a general comparison between the diversi- centerpiece of Kinabalu Park, a 753 km2 protect- ty of the PEK specimens and those collected by ed area created in 1964, renamed as a State Park local and visiting botanists from 1857 to the pre- in 1984 and designated a World Natural Heritage sent, providing evidence for the efficacy of com- Site in 2000. munity-based collecting. Chapter 3 discusses the This working paper provides some of the proposed production of a Dusun Ethnoflora, and results of a community-based inventory of useful other future developments of the PEK. Chapter 4 plants carried out from 1992-1998 that was at the focuses on the palms of Mount Kinabalu, provid- heart of the Projek Etnobotani Kinabalu, an eth- ing baseline data for an ethnofloristic treatment nobotanical research and training project at of this key botanical family, a first step towards Mount Kinabalu. Over this period of six years, a complete Dusun Ethnoflora. seventeen local collectors from nine communi- ties (or kampungs) made more than 9,000 uniquely numbered plant collections at more than 500 sites around Kinabalu Park, and record- ed ethnobotanical data from fellow villagers. The community participants obtained specimens from a broad range of natural and anthropogenic vegetation types around their communities. Through this research, we have partially ful- filled our goal of carrying out ethnobotanical research with a team of local people, Park per- sonnel and visiting researchers who study pat- terns of Dusun knowledge of plants. In addition we have contributed to the conservation of pris- tine areas by developing the ability of Park per- sonnel to assess locally-used botanical resources and by strengthening links between the Park research staff and Dusun communities. During the project, we have provided research and capac- ity-building opportunities for students from Malaysia and other Asian countries, particularly through a series of certificate training courses. As the PEK continues, we are searching for ways to reinforce ethnobotanical research at Kinabalu Park and enrich interpretive programs and exhibits - particularly through the production of written and photographic materials on local plant use - for the more than 200,000 people who visit the Park every year. Of equal importance are efforts to return the results of the floristic inven- tory to local communities in the form of a Dusun Fredoline, soil surveyor with the Projek Ethnobotani Kinabalu, demonstrating the measurement of various hori- zons in a soil profile near Bundu Tuhan, Sabah, Malaysia. PEOPLE AND PLANTS WORKING PAPER 9, FEBRUARY 2002 1 PROJEK ETNOBOTANI KINABALU G.J. MARTIN, A. LEE AGAMA, J.H. BEAMAN & J. NAIS Contents 1 Introduction 2 Contents 3 Floristic and ethnobotanical projects at Mount Kinabalu 3 Documenting a centre of plant diversity: Mount Kinabalu 4 Making a floristic inventory: the Flora of Mount Kinabalu Project 5 Conducting a community-based ethnofloristic inventory:Projek Etnobotani Kinabalu 6 Sharing the methodology:the certificate training course in applied ethnobotany 6 Returning results to the community: Dusun medicinal plants manual 11 Productivity of community-based botanical inventories 11 Studying a region of high botanical diversity: the flora of Mount Kinabalu 12 Conducting a preliminary comparison: the palms of Mount Kinabalu 13 Broadening the analysis: the monocotyledons of Mount Kinabalu 15 Completing the analysis: the dicotyledons of Mount Kinabalu 15 Interpreting the results: complete floristic inventories 20 The making of a Dusun Ethnoflora 22 Discerning patterns of classification: the structure of Dusun classification 22 Characterizing Dusun resource management patterns: the cultivation status of plants 24 Documenting local and scientific vegetation types: plant resource distribution 26 Mapping distribution and access to plant resources: GIS and numerical applications 26 Correlating elevation and use of plant resources: ecological ethnobotany 27 Establishing one hectare plots: quantitative ethnobotany approaches 28 Assessing conservation status: criteria for assessing vulnerability 29 Understanding the social context of forest access: transformation of Dusun use and management of plant resources 29 Drawing upon the literature: the contribution of bibliographic sources 29 Summarizing the results: the ethnoPEK database 34 The palms of Mount Kinabalu (Sabah, Malaysia) 35 A note on local classification of palms 36 I. Areca 57 XI. Korthalsia 39 II. Arenga 61 XII. Licuala 41 III. Calamus 62 XIII. Metroxylon 49 IV. Caryota 62 XIV. Nenga 50 V. Ceratolobus 63 XV. Oncosperma 51 VI. Cocos 63 XVI. Pinanga 51 VII. Daemonorops 66 XVII. Plectocomia 56 VIII. Dypsis 67 XVIII. Plectocomiopsis 57 IX. Elaeis 68 XIX. Salacca 57 X. Eugeissona 69 XX. Nypa 71 Ethnobiological inventories, biodiversity loss and erosion of local knowledge 71 The call for a global biodiversity inventory 72 Local benefits from resource inventories 72 Integrating gloabal and local perspectives 74 Revisioning participatory approaches to biodiversity inventory 75 Further reading 78 Acknowledgements 79 References 2 PEOPLE AND PLANTS WORKING PAPER 9, FEBRUARY 2002 PROJEK ETNOBOTANI KINABALU G.J. MARTIN, A. LEE AGAMA, J.H. BEAMAN & J. NAIS Floristic and ethnobotanical projects at Mount Kinabalu Documenting a centre of plant astrophic selection of adapted genotypes by droughts on ultramafic substrates diversity: Mount Kinabalu (Beaman and Beaman 1990). Genera in three different groups (tree ferns, Mount Kinabalu has arguably the richest flora in orchids, dicots) already have been the world. This contention is supported by a data- examined using morphological base developed by John Beaman and his col- and molecular data that indicate leagues that includes nearly 5,000 plant species that high-elevation endemics that occur in an area of about 1,600 km2. have been derived from more Kinabalu Park provides protection for about half widely distributed taxa at lower the total area, whereas the other half outside the elevations. Park has been transformed by the agricultural The geology of Mount and forestry activities of local Dusun people. Kinabalu has been rather thor- Because most plants are very restricted in occur- oughly investigated over the past rence, deforestation endangers many plant popu- half century (Collenette 1958; lations and has probably already caused the Jacobson 1970). The lower slopes of the extinction of some species. mountain have thick layers of late Cretaceous to Mount Kinabalu is one of the youngest Tertiary sandstones and shales of the Trusmadi mountains in the world, and its flora includes large numbers of closely related species that There is no other place in the world appear to be neo-endemics. The extremely high that supplies in so short a journey such species diversity of Mount Kinabalu apparently a stupendous transect of plant-ife.…I results from a combination of factors, among conclude that, if ever there was a nexus which the most important are: of natural phenomena demanding bio- 1. great altitudinal and climatic range from tropical rain forests near sea level to freez- logical research, it is around Kinabalu. ing alpine conditions at the summit; E. J. H.