Morgan L. Ruelle

Medicinal Plant Use and Health Sovereignty: Findings from the Tajik and Afghan Pamirs

AbstractMedicinal plants are indicators of indigenous knowledge in the context of political volatility and sociocultural and ecological change in the Pamir Mountains of Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Medicinal plants are the primary health care option in this region of Central Asia. The main objective of this paper is to demonstrate that medicinal plants contribute to health security and sovereignty in a time of instability. We illustrate the nutritional as well as medicinal significance of plants in the daily lives of villagers. Based on over a decade and half of research related to resilience and livelihood security, we present plant uses in the context of mountain communities. Villagers identified over 58 cultivated and noncultivated plants and described 310 distinct uses within 63 categories of treatment and prevention. Presence of knowledge about medicinal plants is directly connected to their use.

Diversity of Plant Knowledge as an Adaptive Asset: A Case Study with Standing Rock Elders1

Diversity of Plant Knowledge as an Adaptive Asset: A Case Study with Standing Rock Elders. Indigenous knowledge is often represented as being homogeneous within cultural groups, and differences in knowledge within communities are interpreted as a lack of cultural consensus. Alternatively, differences in knowledge represent a range of possibilities for communities to respond to social and ecological change. This paper examines the diversity of plant knowledge among elders who live in the Standing Rock Nation of the northern Great Plains. Elders know how to use different plants, and also hold different knowledge about the same plants. Analysis indicates that elders each contribute unique, complementary, and seemingly contradictory plant knowledge to their community. Compiled seasonal rounds help visualize differences in knowledge about the temporal availability of plants. These differences are linked to variations in use, including references to specific gathering sites, strategies to harvest multiple species, and selection of plants at different stages of development. Elders’ diverse knowledge about the seasonal availability of plants may facilitate community adaptation to climate change in the 21st century.

Ecology of Time: Calendar of the Human Body in the Pamir Mountains

Abstract Villagers in the Pamir Mountains of Afghanistan and Tajikistan integrated the human body into the seasons and rhythms of their ecological relations to generate “calendars of the human body.” These calendars illustrate that culture does not exist outside of its ecological foundation (i.e. nature), but is firmly situated within it. Farmers undertook agro-pastoral and hunting activities using their own bodies not only for labor, but as a measure of the changing tempo of the seasons. Their bodies both interacted with life on the land and acted as organic clocks to mark the passage of time. While these calendars are no longer widely used, memory of their usage survives, and words from the calendars marking specific ecological events in local languages are still in use. This paper (1) investigates the historical presence and human ecological significance of a calendar of the human body; (2) illustrates the diversity of these calendars based on the specific context of their use from valley to valley in the region; (3) demonstrates the complex connectivity of the users (agro-pastoralists) within their habitat; and, (4) explores the efficacy of this calendar in developing anticipatory capacity among villagers in order to reduce anxiety associated with climate change. The calendar of the human body not only measures time, but gives it meaning.

Woody plant diversity in an Afromontane agricultural landscape (Debark District, northern Ethiopia)

Woody plants serve a wide range of economic, sociocultural, and ecological functions within traditional farming systems. Conservation of woody plant diversity within agricultural landscapes is therefore critical to farmers’ livelihoods. We studied the conservation status of woody plant species and associated indigenous knowledge of small-holder farming communities in the Debark District of northern Ethiopia. We conducted interviews with 60 informants and ran free-listing, preference ranking and direct matrix ranking exercises to measure the use of woody plants by farming communities. To compare farmers’ ranking of plants with their abundance in the landscape, we measured plant frequencies, densities, and diversity by undertaking a vegetation survey. Compared with 55 woody plants named by farmers during interviews, only 14 species were encountered in the vegetation plot data; most of the remaining species were rare and therefore located by targeted searches. We found relatively low indices of species diversity (H′ = 0.58) and evenness (J′ = 0.21), indicating the low conservation status of most woody plants. Trees and shrubs indigenous to the Debark landscape have been recently replaced by an exotic tree species (Eucalyptus globulus) with a more competitive growth rate, which is valued by farmers as an economic species. The most preferred indigenous tree species (e.g. Olea europaea ssp. cuspidata and Juniperus procera) have become increasingly rare, as reported in interviews and confirmed by direct field observation and vegetation plot data. Households have started planting some indigenous woody species; however, the vast majority of new plantings are E. globulus. Swift coordinated actions are necessary to prevent the rapid replacement of indigenous woody plant diversity by a monoculture of non-native trees. A community-based program for integrated ecological restoration of indigenous woody plant diversity would require support from local government agencies and non-governmental organizations.

Foodways Transmission in the Standing Rock Nation

Effective foodways transmission is critical to maintain the food sovereignty of indigenous peoples. In order to determine their own foodways, indigenous communities have developed diverse systems to convey knowledge related to the procurement, preparation, distribution, and consumption of food. In recent years, community organizations are taking a more active role in facilitating foodways transmission. In the Standing Rock Nation of the northern Great Plains, several community organizations, including tribal government agencies, are creating opportunities for elders to share their knowledge about traditional foods. The impetus for these activities comes from elders themselves, who attribute high rates of diet-related diseases to a loss of knowledge about traditional foods. We conducted eighteen semi-structured interviews with elders and organizers in the midst of these activities to reflect on processes of foodways transmission, including the implications of facilitation by community organizations. Interviews were focused on four human ecological concepts: perception and diversity; human ecological relations; context; and practical wisdom. Insights generated through our discussions were immediately applicable to the ongoing activities in Standing Rock and can inform elders and community organizations leading similar efforts in other communities.

Anticipating Climatic Variability: The Potential of Ecological Calendars

Indigenous and rural societies who have contributed least to anthropogenic climate change are facing its harshest consequences. One of the greatest challenges of climate change is lack of predictability, especially at the local scale. An estimated 70-80% of the world’s food is produced by smallholders with less than two hectares of land (FAO 2014; Lowder et al. 2016). These small-scale farmers and herders face an ever-shifting ‘new normal’ climate, increasing inconsistency in the seasonality of temperature and precipitation, and higher frequency of what were once considered extreme weather events (Jolly et al. 2002; Thornton et al. 2014). Climate variability is disrupting food systems and generating a debilitating anxiety (Carroll et al. 2009; Kassam 2009a,b; Coyle and Susteren 2011; UN Human Rights Council 2016). Anticipatory capacity – the ability to envision possible futures and develop a plan of action to deal with uncertainties – is needed urgently (Tschakert and Dietrich 2010). Communities and researchers must create innovative systems to recognize and respond to climate trends and prepare for a greater range of possible scenarios (Reid et al. 2014; Cuerrier et al. 2015). To build anticipatory capacity for climate change, communities need systems that are effective at the scale of the village and valley (Berkes and Jolly 2001; Downing and Cuerrier 2011). While climate scientists have increased model capabilities to make more accurate projections of global climate conditions, the uncertainties of global climate modeling together with those of downscaling methods means that these models are not always reliable at regional and local scales (Salick and Ross 2009). Synergy between indigenous ecological knowledge and climate science has already benefitted many local communities, as well as international understanding of climate change drivers and impacts (Jolly et al. 2002; Nickels et al. 2005; Nyong et al. 2007; Kassam 2009a; Alexander et al. 2011; Boillat and Berkes 2013; Rapinski et al. 2017;). Similarly, ground-truthing climate models with indigenous ecological knowledge can be used to refine downscaling methods and to inform planning and policies at local, regional, and national levels. Projections of climate models are least accurate within mountainous regions, where weather stations are scarce and rugged topographies dramatically alter climate patterns (Hall 2014). In addition, significant environmental degradation in many mountain regions, such as reduction of vegetation cover due to overgrazing or hydrological transformations resulting from road and dam construction, are obscuring the entangled effects of climate change. Nevertheless, food producers in these remote regions require the ability to anticipate patterns of temperature, precipitation, and runoff from glaciers and snowfields. Many indigenous and rural societies have developed unique systems to recognize and respond to climatic trends and variability. Over the course of multiple generations living in particular landscapes, indigenous people have accumulated knowledge of the relative timing of celestial, meteorological, and ecological phenomena. Understanding these relationships has enabled these communities to anticipate weather and other seasonal processes, and thereby coordinate their livelihood activities (Acharya 2011; Turner and Singh 2011). However, indigenous knowledge systems have suffered centuries of disruption and destruction as a result of colonialism, violent conflicts, and loss of land. Global climate change introduces unprecedented rates and magnitudes of change, exacerbating existing inequities (Turner and Clifton 2009). Although * Karim-Aly S. Kassam ksk28@cornell.edu