Land-Use and Socioeconomic Change, Medicinal Plant Selection and Biodiversity Resilience in Far Western Nepal

Abstract

Indigenous plant use-systems have evolved under, and constantly adapted to human and non-human impacts. In the last decades however, increasing socioeconomic and cultural transformations, including land-use change, outmigration, globalized markets, the introduction of new species, and climate change have led to a decreasing availability of indigenous resources, and are ultimately leading to a reduction of local use-knowledge. Participant observations, discussions, walks-in-the-woods, semi-structured interviews and informal meetings were carried out in 12 villages of far western Nepal between 2011 and 2015 to assess how sociocultural changes have affected the sustenance of indigenous systems and local biodiversity, when compared to studies carried out in the previous decades. Our findings show that there were no statistically significant differences in subject variable means, but differences were relatively important to plant parts-use and plant growth-forms (p = 0.183 and 0.088 respectively). Cissampelos pareira, Acorus calamus, Calotropis gigantea were found to have the greatest relative importance, whereas Ageratina adenophora, Melia azedarach, Carum carvi were most important based on use values. Among them, C. pareira and A. adenophora were introduced. The spatial distribution of species collected for medicine showed that all habitats were important for collection however, habitats close to villages were more favored. The use of non-indigenous and easily available species and more accessible habitats is becoming more prevalent as primary forests become increasingly overexploited, indigenous species become limited, and sociocultural cause of land use change expand. The utilization of indigenous and non-indigenous species and nearby habitats, although possibly affecting the quality of medicinal species, nonetheless reveals the dynamism of indigenous medicines as an adaptive asset mitigating human and non-human environmental changes.

Ethnomedicinal plants used by local inhabitants of Jakholi block, Rudraprayag district, western Himalaya, India

“…These valuable medicinal plants contain rich bioactive compounds which serve various pharmacological activity. Ethnic people depend on the plants around them to gain economic values and primary health care benefits which is based on need, observation, experience of older ethnic people, and trial and error [ 3 ]. About 65% of the Indian population depend on traditional medicine [ 4 ].…”

Monitoring Urban Growth and the Nepal Earthquake 2015 for Sustainability of Kathmandu Valley, Nepal

“…Rapid population growth and urbanization have caused much agricultural land transformation of anthropogenic structures and has intensified overexploitation of extant land covers. The escalated land use change is partially due to Nepal becoming a more service-based economy [36]; yet, 70% of Nepal's gross national product still depends on agricultural sector. Despite agricultural productivity, many people have migrated from rural areas for the quest of better living [37].…”

“…Countless numbers of people are also still reported to be living in temporary shelters in Kathmandu. Due to the easy access of urban facilities, such as physical infrastructure, economic probability and advanced life, people are intending to move to city areas, resulting in villages being unattended and full of ruderals [36]. The investment of land markets and real estate has played a vital role in mushrooming the settlements in urban areas.…”

“…Additionally, poor equipment, unskilled labor, poor quality building materials and a lack of timely maintenance were risk factors for the quake damage result in fragile homes. Through spatial analysis and geological surveys, we conclude that the establishment of non-resilient, unregulated constructions Due to the easy access of urban facilities, such as physical infrastructure, economic probability and advanced life, people are intending to move to city areas, resulting in villages being unattended and full of ruderals [36]. The investment of land markets and real estate has played a vital role in mushrooming the settlements in urban areas.…”

Agroforestry systems of a Zapotec community in the Northern Sierra of Oaxaca, Mexico

“…In this context, the importance of plant resources has been evaluated quantitatively through ethnobotanical indices, with use value (UV) being the most widely used indicator (Phillips & Gentry 1993a,b, Ribeiro et al 2014, Shaheen et al 2015, Kunwar et al 2016, Lopes et al 2017. The use of plant resources is influenced by socioeconomic factors, with age, gender, schooling, language and economic activity being the most influential (Saynes-Vásquez et al 2013, Andriamparany et al 2014, Laleye et al 2015, Segnon et al 2015, Kunwar et al 2018.…”