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SANDRA BECK
Zertifizierungsinstitut im ökologischen Landbau (BCS), Germany
People in Ladakh / India have always used wild plants, in their traditional diet as well as for their material and spiritual needs.
The field studies were carried out in summer 1999 and collected as much data as possible on the availability and use of wild plants in Ladakh. Interviews formed the basic information for the collection of 62 plant species in the village areas as well as at their high pastures and resulted in an extensive documentation of their traditional use in Ladakhi households. [64]% of the documented plant species are used for food, which corroborates that the intensifying cultivation of crops has increased the quantity of vegetable consumption but not the diversity.
The massive social change in Ladakh over a short space of time has influenced the utilisation and knowledge of local plant resources in the region massively. Thus cultural erosion, along with loss of diversity is a global phenomenon, the traditional knowledge and collection of wild food plants suffers of depreciation, even in marginal areas like Ladakh.
In July 1991, the EU Council Regulation No.2092/91 entered into force. Since that time uniform EU stipulations apply to production, wild crafting and processing of organic foodstuffs. The type of plant we find to be certifiable as ``Wild Plant'' is applicable, when there is no other human influence but harvesting.
The steps fulfilled for carrying out inspection and certification are the following ones:
Certification and marketing may increase the value of such wild crafted plants and may be beneficial for the cultural knowledge, but the advantages and disadvantages of certification must be critically evaluated.
Keywords: Certification, Ladakh, wild plants
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