Protection from land degradation through conservation of medicinal plants by involving ethnic communities. (بنغلاديش)

The indigenous community in Bolipara village of the Thanchi upazlia (sub-district) of the Bandarban district are reducing or preventing land degradation through the cultivation and conservation of medicinal plants. This practice provides the raw material needed, by local traditional healers, to produce herbal medicines for the indigenous and tribal peoples.

The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) are well-renowned for its unique physiography that harbors rich biodiversity, and for its distinct and rich culture, traditional, and customary practices because of the predominance of many indigenous communities. It is also one of the few remaining areas in Bangladesh where traditional environmental knowledge (TEK) plays an important part in the daily life and customary practices of indigenous communities. Medicinal plants, of course, are a key component of the local health care system. However, the production and use of traditional medicines (mostly herbal in nature) substantively declined as medicinal plants have become rarer – this is due to rapid changes in land use patterns driven by population growth and economic trends. The risk that interest in and local knowledge of medicinal plant use will reduce or even disappear over time as has occurred in other parts of the world, changing the very nature of indigenous life. Land degradation is another major ecological concern for this area. Shifting cultivation with curtailed fallow periods, deforestation, and unplanned cultivation along the hill slopes has caused land degradation in Bolipara union. It is located in Thanchi upazila (longitude 21º78´, latitude 92º42´) under Bandarban hill district of Bangladesh. The total population of the union is more than 10,000. The ethnic communities living in the area include Bowm, Chakma, Khumi, Marma, Mru, Tripura and Chack. Most of the family depends on agriculture and horticulture for their livelihood. BNKS (Bolipara Nari Kalyan Somity) is an NGO who work here to promote the socio-economic and cultural status of the marginalized and socially excluded peoples. ‘Bolipara Kobiraj Kalyan Somiti’ is another local institution of traditional herbal healers.
In 2008, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) took the initiative to reduce and prevent land degradation in Bolipara through the cultivation and conservation of medicinal plants by indigenous communities. While forest conversion reduces the diversity and availability of medicinal plants, reforestation with medicinal plants can promote and accelerate forest succession on a previously deforested site. As a part of the IUCN project, medicinal tree species like Tamarindus indica, Terminalia arjuna, Terminalia bellerica, Terminalia chebula, Azadirachta indica, Bombax ceiba, Meusa ferrea, Phyllanthus emblica, Pongamia pinnata, and Saraca asoca were planted on the degraded slopes with a 2m x 2m spacing. In between the tree lines, shrub and herb species like Ocimum tenuiflorum, Adiantum caudatum, Ageratum conyzoides, Bryophyllum pinnatum, and Centella asiatica were planted with same spacing in a crisscross manner. The establishment of medicinal plants requires various inputs and extension services from medicinal plant nurseries to demonstration sites and the engagement of communities and community groups (please see more details under the download link: https://portals.iucn.org/library/node/9589).
In this instance, the planting and conservation of medicinal plants was conducted under the supervision of Buddhist monks (from local temples) and ‘Bolipara Kobiraj Kalyan Somiti’(BNKS). The local community were involved with Nursery preparation (seed collection, bed preparation, poly-bag preparation, manuring, irrigation, etc.), preparation of plantation site (jungle cutting, debris collection, preparation of inspection paths, etc.), plantation activities (pit preparation, tying up of plants with sticks for support, application of fertilizers, compost and biocide, etc.) and maintenance activities (vacancy filing, weeding, fertilizer application, etc.). After the medicinal plantation was established in 2008, the degraded land started to regain its health since trees and plants positively influenced the understory microclimate, the structural complexity of vegetation, and the development of humus layer. The indigenous medicinal plants and trees, because of their deep roots, also reduced topsoil erosion, and prevented gully erosion formation. Currently, the site is observed to have good canopy cover, and functions as a good habitat for a number of bird species and monkeys. The local herbal healers have the access to the plantation site and are able to obtain the raw materials needed to produce their medicines in short periods of time and with less effort. The local community people can collect dry leaves and dead branches from the plantation for firewood. This technology is simple enough to implement by the local people without any need of external financial and technical support. The local herbal healers have to collect raw materials to prepare their medicines.
Medicinal plants are an important component of Bangladesh’s national wealth. Even as they serve as important therapeutic agents in various traditional and modern medicines, our understanding of their abundance, distribution, and novel pharmaceutical compounds is poor. The planting/cultivation and conservation of medicinal plants and adequate engagement of local indigenous communities of Bolipara village is a good example of an action that can promote sustainability in all its dimensions (reduced land degradation, social and economic well-being through increase in raw material availability for traditional healers, etc.). Lack of marketing channel of medicinal raw materials and lack of scientific knowledge and tools for medicinal raw materials handling is a potential threat for sustaining the technology in the long run. The capacities of the local herbal healers can be strengthened through training and the marketing channel can be improved through engaging private sector in traditional medicine value chain.

الموقع: Bolipara village, Thanchi, Bandarban, بنغلاديش

عدد مواقع تنفيذ التقنيةالتي تم تحليلها: 2- 10 مواقع

انتشار التقنية: منتشرة بالتساوي على مساحة (approx. < 0.1 كم2 (10 هكتار))

في منطقة محمية بشكل دائم؟: كلا

تاريخ التنفيذ: 2008

• من خلال ابتكار مستخدمي الأراضي
• كجزء من النظام التقليدي (> 50 عامًا)
• أثناء التجارب/الأبحاث
• من خلال المشاريع/ التدخلات الخارجية