Open AccessThe use of different indicators for interpreting the local knowledge loss on medical plants
Author(s) -
Camilla de Carvalho de Brito,
Taline Cristina da Silva,
Ulysses Paulino Albuquerque,
Marcelo Alves Ramos,
Washington Soares Ferreira Júnior,
Fernanda Novais Barros,
Eraldo Medeiros Costa Neto,
Patrícia Muniz de Medeiros
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
revista brasileira de farmacognosia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.432
H-Index - 46
eISSN - 1981-528X
pISSN - 0102-695X
DOI - 10.1016/j.bjp.2016.09.006
Subject(s) - bioprospecting , traditional knowledge , psychological resilience , ecology , environmental resource management , local community , geography , psychology , biology , social psychology , environmental science , indigenous
The increasing loss of local ecological knowledge may have negative impacts on the resilience of socio-ecological systems and may also negatively impact bioprospecting efforts, since local ecological knowledge is an important source of information for searching new drugs. Recent studies try to evaluate whether communities are experiencing loss of local ecological knowledge. However, some of them make conclusions which are erroneously based on specific analyses of a single indicator. We propose an integrative analysis of three indicators, namely: number of plants cited by young people and elders, therapeutic choices and people's connectance in terms of medicinal plant learning. The study was carried out in the community of Sucruiuzinho (Bahia, Brazil). We conducted semistructured interviews and a therapeutic recall with 24 local dwellers. We did not find evidence of local ecological knowledge loss in the studied community. Although younger people know fewer plants, they are well connected in terms of knowledge transmission. Moreover, in illness events, young people and adults have similar proportions of choice for plants when compared to allopathy. Concomitant use of the three indicators leads to a more realistic scenario of local ecological knowledge loss than the use of only one of them