Tropentag, September 14 - 16, 2010 in Zurich "World Food System – A Contribution from Europe"

Rural Communities' Exploitation from Surrounding Biodiversity in Khamin Protected Area: An Ethonobotanical Survey

Shahid Beheshti University, Environmental Sciences Research Institute, Iran

Abstract

Diverse linkages between people's lifestyles, their local knowledge and their utilisation of the surounding biodiversity can be observed. Khamin mountainous protected area with a domain of 25586 ha is located in southwestern Iran in tension of the Zagros Mountains range. In order to study the exploitation of local inhabitants of the surrounding phyto-society, an ethnobotanical survey was conducted from April to September 2008. By using a semi-structured questionnaire and through interviews with local informants, information on exploitation patterns was gathered. Altogether 75 species belonging to 35 plant families were utilised by the local population. These species were mainly shrubs and perennial herbes. The most utilised plant families were Umbelliferae, Compositae, and Rosaceae with 11, 7 and 7 species respectively.
The analysis of the utilisation patterns showed that from the 75 recorded plants, 43 species (57.3%) had food uses, and 38 species (50.7%) had medical uses, which was demonstrator of mighty linkages and dependency of local people to surrounding natural phytosociety. Also a magnitude of plants, were employed for producing instruments and construction, but only two species i.e. Quercus brantii Lindl. and Tamarix sp. were used for preparing fuel. Persian oak (Quercus brantii Lindl.) as dominant cover, was the most utilised plant species for local inhabitants, although local informants declared their local knowledge as quickly disappearing. Some species were conserved in rural farming systems and some such as Pyrus syriaca Boiss., wild varieties of Ficus carica, Celtis caucasica Willd., Pistachia atlantica Desf., and Rhus coriaria L., were at transition to domestication in gardens and rural homegardens. It seems that more attention and considerations should be paid on local communities in protected areas and their knowledge should to be more esteemed.

Keywords: Ethnobotany, local knowledge, protected area, rural community, sustainable management

Contact Address: Fakhreddin Hashemi Schadegan, Shahid Beheshti University, Environmental Sciences Research Institute, Evin street, 1983963113  Tehran, Iran, e-mail: schadeganyahoo.com