Sarah-Lan Mathez-Stiefel

Distribution and Transmission of Medicinal Plant Knowledge in the Andean Highlands: A Case Study from Peru and Bolivia

This paper presents a study of patterns in the distribution and transmission of medicinal plant knowledge in rural Andean communities in Peru and Bolivia. Interviews and freelisting exercises were conducted with 18 households at each study site. The amount of medicinal plant knowledge of households was compared in relation to their socioeconomic characteristics. Cluster analysis was applied to identify households that possessed similar knowledge. The different modes of knowledge transmission were also assessed. Our study shows that while the amount of plant knowledge is determined by individual motivation and experience, the type of knowledge is influenced by the community of residence, age, migratory activity, and market integration. Plant knowledge was equally transmitted vertically and horizontally, which indicates that it is first acquired within the family but then undergoes transformations as a result of subsequent contacts with other knowledge sources, including age peers.

Can Andean medicine coexist with biomedical healthcare? A comparison of two rural communities in Peru and Bolivia

BackgroundIt is commonly assumed that indigenous medical systems remain strong in developing countries because biomedicine is physically inaccessible or financially not affordable. This paper compares the health-seeking behavior of households from rural Andean communities at a Peruvian and a Bolivian study site. The main research question was whether the increased presence of biomedicine led to a displacement of Andean indigenous medical practices or to coexistence of the two healing traditions.MethodologyOpen-ended interviews and free listing exercises were conducted between June 2006 and December 2008 with 18 households at each study site. Qualitative identification of households’ therapeutic strategies and use of remedies was carried out by means of content analysis of interview transcriptions and inductive interference. Furthermore, a quantitative assessment of the incidence of culture-bound illnesses in local ethnobiological inventories was performed.ResultsOur findings indicate that the health-seeking behavior of the Andean households in this study is independent of the degree of availability of biomedical facilities in terms of quality of services provided, physical accessibility, and financial affordability, except for specific practices such as childbirth. Preference for natural remedies over pharmaceuticals coexists with biomedical healthcare that is both accessible and affordable. Furthermore, our results show that greater access to biomedicine does not lead to less prevalence of Andean indigenous medical knowledge, as represented by the levels of knowledge about culture-bound illnesses.ConclusionsThe take-home lesson for health policy-makers from this study is that the main obstacle to use of biomedicine in resource-poor rural areas might not be infrastructural or economic alone. Rather, it may lie in lack of sufficient recognition by biomedical practitioners of the value and importance of indigenous medical systems. We propose that the implementation of health care in indigenous communities be designed as a process of joint development of complementary knowledge and practices from indigenous and biomedical health traditions.

Knowledge and valuation of Andean agroforestry species: the role of sex, age, and migration among members of a rural community in Bolivia.

BackgroundAgroforestry is a sustainable land use method with a long tradition in the Bolivian Andes. A better understanding of people’s knowledge and valuation of woody species can help to adjust actor-oriented agroforestry systems. In this case study, carried out in a peasant community of the Bolivian Andes, we aimed at calculating the cultural importance of selected agroforestry species, and at analysing the intracultural variation in the cultural importance and knowledge of plants according to peasants’ sex, age, and migration.MethodsData collection was based on semi-structured interviews and freelisting exercises. Two ethnobotanical indices (Composite Salience, Cultural Importance) were used for calculating the cultural importance of plants. Intracultural variation in the cultural importance and knowledge of plants was detected by using linear and generalised linear (mixed) models.Results and discussionThe culturally most important woody species were mainly trees and exotic species (e.g. Schinus molle, Prosopis laevigata, Eucalyptus globulus). We found that knowledge and valuation of plants increased with age but that they were lower for migrants; sex, by contrast, played a minor role. The age effects possibly result from decreasing ecological apparency of valuable native species, and their substitution by exotic marketable trees, loss of traditional plant uses or the use of other materials (e.g. plastic) instead of wood. Decreasing dedication to traditional farming may have led to successive abandonment of traditional tool uses, and the overall transformation of woody plant use is possibly related to diminishing medicinal knowledge.ConclusionsAge and migration affect how people value woody species and what they know about their uses. For this reason, we recommend paying particular attention to the potential of native species, which could open promising perspectives especially for the young migrating peasant generation and draw their interest in agroforestry. These native species should be ecologically sound and selected on their potential to provide subsistence and promising commercial uses. In addition to offering socio-economic and environmental services, agroforestry initiatives using native trees and shrubs can play a crucial role in recovering elements of the lost ancient landscape that still forms part of local people’s collective identity.AbstractIntroducciónAgroforestería es un método de uso de la tierra sostenible con una larga tradición en los Andes bolivianos. Un mejor entendimiento del conocimiento y valoración de las especies leñosas puede apoyar la mejora de los sistemas agroforestales orientados a actores locales. Este estudio de caso se realizó en una comunidad campesina de los Andes bolivianos con los objetivos de calcular la importancia cultural de especies agroforestales seleccionadas y analizar la variación intracultural del conocimiento sobre las mismas y de su valoración según sexo, edad y migración de los campesinos.MétodosLa colecta de datos se basó en entrevistas semiestructuradas y listados libres. Se usaron dos índices etnobotánicos (Composite Salience, Cultural Importance) para calcular la importancia cultural de plantas. La variación intracultural de la importancia de las plantas y del conocimiento sobre las mismas se evaluó mediante modelos lineares y modelos lineares generalizados (mixtos).Resultados y discusiónLas especies leñosas culturalmente más importantes fueron principalmente árboles y especies exóticas (p.ej. Schinus molle, Prosopis laevigata, Eucalyptus globulus). El sexo desempeñó un menor rol al contrario a los efectos positivos de la edad y efectos negativos de la migración sobre la importancia cultural de las plantas y el conocimiento sobre las mismas. El efecto de la edad posiblemente resultó debido a la disminución de apariencia ecológica de especies nativas y su reemplazo por árboles exóticos, la pérdida de usos tradicionales o la utilización de otros materiales (p.ej. plástico) en vez de madera. La menor dedicación a la agricultura tradicional podía haber implicado un abandono sucesivo de herramientas tradicionales, y una transformación general del uso de las plantas leñosas posiblemente se relacione con la disminución del conocimiento medicinal.ConclusionesDebido a los efectos de edad y migración sobre la valoración de plantas leñosas y el conocimiento sobre los usos de las mismas, recomendamos que se debe prestar una atención particular al potencial de especies nativas para abrir perspectivas prometedoras a la generación campesina joven migrante y aumentar su interés en la agroforestería. Por eso, se deberían seleccionar especies ecológicamente compatibles según su potencial para proporcionar la subsistencia y posibles usos comerciales. Aparte, las iniciativas agroforestales usando árboles y arbustos nativos pueden jugar un rol importante en la recuperación del paisaje tradicional que todavía forma parte de la identidad colectiva de los campesinos locales.

Whose Knowledge, Whose Development? Use and Role of Local and External Knowledge in Agroforestry Projects in Bolivia

Agroforestry often relies on local knowledge, which is gaining recognition in development projects. However, how local knowledge can articulate with external and scientific knowledge is little known. Our study explored the use and integration of local and external knowledge in agroforestry projects in Bolivia. In 42 field visits and 62 interviews with agroforestry farmers, civil society representatives, and policymakers, we found a diverse knowledge base. We examined how local and external knowledge contribute to livelihood assets and tree and crop diversity. Projects based predominantly on external knowledge tended to promote a single combination of tree and crop species and targeted mainly financial capital, whereas projects with a local or mixed knowledge base tended to focus on food security and increased natural capital (e.g., soil restoration) and used a higher diversity of trees and crops than those with an external knowledge base. The integration of different forms of knowledge can enable farmers to better cope with new challenges emerging as a result of climate change, fluctuating market prices for cash crops, and surrounding destructive land use strategies such as uncontrolled fires and aerial fumigation with herbicides. However, many projects still tended to prioritize external knowledge and undervalue local knowledge—a tendency that has long been institutionalized in the formal educational system and in extension services. More dialogue is needed between different forms of knowledge, which can be promoted by strengthening local organizations and their networks, reforming agricultural educational institutions, and working in close interaction with policymakers.

Focus Issue: Implications of Out- and In-Migration for Sustainable Development in Mountains

Today, about 1 billion people worldwide are international or internal migrants (IOM–GMDAC 2016:5) and migration is taken into account in several targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (IOM 2017). Migration is also greatly affecting mountain societies and mountain ecosystems, with direct negative and positive implications for their development. Migration processes are very diverse, context-specific, highly complex, and often poorly understood. Although general data on population changes exist, they often fail to reveal dynamic local outand inmigration patterns and do not account for migration within mountain areas, for example from rural to urban areas. Nor do demographic data reveal the reasons for people’s migration choices, the types of migration, and the social, economic, cultural, institutional, and ecological negative and positive impacts of migratory processes on both places of origin and destination areas.

Research Priorities for the Conservation and Sustainable Governance of Andean Forest Landscapes

The long-term survival of Andean forest landscapes (AFL) and of their capacity to contribute to sustainable development in a context of global change requires integrated adaptation and mitigation responses informed by a thorough understanding of the dynamic and complex interactions between their ecological and social components. This article proposes a research agenda that can help guide AFL research efforts for the next 15 years. The agenda was developed between July 2015 and June 2016 through a series of workshops in Ecuador, Peru, and Switzerland and involved 48 researchers and development experts working on AFL from different disciplinary perspectives. Based on our review of current research and identification of pressing challenges for the conservation and sustainable governance of AFL, we propose a conceptual framework that draws on sustainability sciences and social–ecological systems research, and we identify a set of high-priority research goals and objectives organized into 3 broad categories: systems knowledge, target knowledge, and transformation knowledge. This paper is intended to be a reference for a broad array of actors engaged in policy, research, and implementation in the Andean region. We hope it will trigger collaborative research initiatives for the continued conservation and sustainable governance of AFL.

Focus Issue: Modernization and Sustainable Development in Mountains

The modernization paradigm, often criticized as oriented only towards economic growth without considering social justice and environmental integrity, is still influencing development, including in mountains. But it is also slowly changing under the influence of postgrowth and transition debates, the ideals of common welfare and wellbeing, and the concept of resilient economies. Under what conditions can this shift within the paradigm take place in mountains, and could sustainable modernization in mountains become a trendsetter? What is needed to make modernization lead to sustainable development? Sometimes there are synergies between the two goals, but more often trade-offs exist that need to be assessed and wisely dealt with in order to reduce negative impacts. In this Focus Issue, several papers address modernization and sustainable development, showing that development in mountains can take up positive aspects of modernization—for example, improved energy production and use, multilocal livelihoods, combined use and conservation of natural resources, agrotourism, and improved governance—and thus lead to greater sustainability if handled well.

Promoting Local Innovations: A tool for adaptation to climate change and sustainable development in Mountains

Throughout their history mountain communities have had to adapt to changing environmental and socio-economic conditions. They have developed strategies and specialized knowledge to sustain their livelihoods in a context of adverse climatic events and constant change. As negotiations and discussions on climate change emphasize the critical need for locally relevant and community owned adaptation strategies, there is a need for new tools to capitalize on this local knowledge and endogenous potential for innovation. The toolkit Promoting Local Innovation (PLI) was designed by the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE) of the University of Bern, Switzerland, to facilitate a participatory social learning process which identifies locally available innovations that can be implemented for community development. It is based on interactive pedagogy and joint learning among different stakeholders in the local context. The tried-and-tested tool was developed in the Andean region in 2004, and then used in International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) climate change adaptation projects in Thailand, Burkina Faso, Senegal, and Chile. These experiences showed that PLI can be used to involve all relevant stakeholders in establishing strategies and actions needed for rural communities to adapt to climate change impacts, while building on local innovation potential and promoting local ownership

Saberes locales: un aporte clave para el desarrollo sustentable de la región andina

Los saberes locales son de suma importancia tanto para el desarrollo humano sustentable como para la conservacion ambiental. En los Andes, la vida de las poblaciones locales depende en gran medida de sus saberes. Estos saberes son vigentes y dinamicos, y responden a los cambios socioeconomicos y ambientales mediante un proceso de resistencia cultural y de adaptacion. Sin embargo tambien son vulnerables y, consiguientemente, es importante apoyar su fortalecimiento. Los saberes locales deben ser integrados efectivamente en los proyectos de desarrollo. De hecho, un dialogo entre los saberes locales y los denominados “cientificos” permite dar paso a soluciones novedosas a los nuevos retos socioambientales que enfrentan las comunidades andinas en un mundo globalizado.

Dynamics of Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Local Use and Conservation of Native Trees and Shrubs in the Bolivian Andes

Native trees and shrubs are essential components of rural landscapes in the semi-arid inner-Andean valleys of Bolivia. They can be found as hedges and bushes in various agroecosystems such as terrace walls, slopes, field boundaries and fallow land. Their distribution and floristic composition are the result of dynamic spatial and temporal interactions between local farmers and the environment. Local uses of natural resources and biodiversity reflect the constantly evolving Andean culture, which can be generally characterised as an intertwining of the human, natural, and spiritual worlds. The aim of the present ethnobotanical study was to analyse the dynamics of traditional ecological knowledge, to ascertain local farmers’ perceptions and uses of native woody species in Andean communities and to associate the results with local conservation activities for the trees and shrubs concerned. Our case study was carried out within two communities of the Tunari National Park (Dept. Cochabamba) in Bolivia. For data collection, research methods from social science (semi-structured interviews, participative observation, participatory mapping) as well as vegetation surveys were combined. Local actors included women and men of all ages as well as families from different social categories and altitudinal levels of permanent residence. Our study indicates that, due to a multitude of socio-economic pressures (e.g. migration of young people) as well as changes in use of biodiversity (e.g. replacement of native by exotic introduced species), the traditional ecological knowledge base of native trees and shrubs and their respective uses has become diminished over time. In many cases it has led to a decline in people’s awareness of native species and as a consequence their practical, emotional and spiritual relationships with them have been lost. However, results also show that applied traditional ecological knowledge has led to local conservation strategies, which have succeeded in protecting those tree and shrub species which are most widely regarded for their multifunctional, constant and exclusive uses (e.g. Schinus molle, Prosopis laevigata, Baccharis dracunculifolia). The presentation will discuss the question if and how applied traditional ecological knowledge positively contributes to local initiatives of sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity in rural areas.