Hmong ethnobotany and conservation in Laos

A participatory ethnobotany study with indigenous Hmong elders on spiritual-cultural practices and livelihood uses of plants and their conservation suggests that the traditional cultural uses for plants may be a mechanism for the conservation of biodiversity in the rapidly deteriorating forests of Luang Prabang in the Lao People's Democratic Republic. Results offer an overview of traditional Hmong cultural uses and conservation of biodiversity in the rapidly deteriorating forests of Luang Prabang in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.

Read 'Hmong ethnobotany and conservation in Laos' in Ethnobotany Research and Applications (Whitney et al. 2014; 2015)

Tshawb nrhiav nroj tsuag tau muaj kev koom tes nrog cov kws tshuaj ntsuab Hmoob nyob rau zos Long Lan, Xeev Luang prabang, Los Tsuas Teb chaws tau pib tshawb los rau ntawm lub xyoo 2012 thiab 2013. Nrhiav txog lub laj lim thiab tswv yim ntawm cov laus neeg nyob zos Long Lan thiab cov zos nyob ib puag ncig twb yog ib qhov sij hawm muaj txiaj ntsig tau paub txog txoj kev cai coj siv nroj tsuag thiab pov hwm nyob nrog lub neej. Tau paub txog ntawm 74 hom tau muaj 49 yam (nroj tsuag) twb tau muab sau zoo, qhov nov muaj 25 yam tshuaj ntsuab (17 yam yog cov muaj hnub nyooj ntev thiab 8 yam yog cov muaj hnub nyooj luv), 20 yam yog cov ua ntoo, 17 yam yog cov nroj, 10 yam yog cov hmab, thiab 2 yam yog suab. Muab xam tau pom txog nroj tsuag muaj txiaj ntsig zoo heev rau ntawm txoj kev siv yoom thiab pov hwm nyob nrog lub neej. Qhov tshawb rhiav no tau ceeb toom txog tias txoj kev siv yoom nroj tsuag raws li txoj cai Hmoob coj yog ib txoj cai zoo rau ntawm kev pov hwm hav zoov hav tsuag rau qhov hav zoov niaj hnub no raug luaj ntov nyob rau xeev Luang prabang, los Tsuas Teb. 

Check out the related iNaturalist collection (still growing).

References

Whitney, Cory, Min (Meej Vaj) Vang Sin, Giang Le Hong, Can Vu Van, Keith Barber, and Lanh Tran Thi. “Conservation and Ethnobotanical Knowledge of a Hmong Community in Long Lan, Luang Prabang, Lao People’s Democratic Republic.” Ethnobotany Research and Applications 12 (2014): 643–58. https://doi.org/10.17348/era.12.0.643-658.
———. “Hmong Conservation: Lessons in Ethnobotany from the Elders of Long Lan, Luang Prabang, Lao People’s Democratic Republic.” In 38th Annual Conference of the Society of Ethnobiology “The Many Faces of Ethnobiology,” 70–71. May 6-9: Society of Ethnobiology, 2015.

Forests, Biodiversity, and Food Security

"Forests are a considerable source of biodiversity and, as such, are inextricably linked to people's food security, nutrition and health in a number of fundamental ways." -International Forestry Review

The many links between nature and food security are so complex that they often go unnoticed. Many believe that natural spaces have ceased to be important to food security. Therefore protection of them, and the multiple ecosystem services and functions (ESSF) they provide, often takes a backseat to agricultural production. - However, biodiversity does contribute to nourishing people around the world. Roughly one billion people are reliant on wild harvested products which adds not only considerable calories but also much needed protein and micronutrients. This is true of both urban and rural populations (e.g. 4.5 million tons of bushmeat a year comes from the Congo Basin). Even ESSF direct contribution to food is not as important as inputs to agricultural production e.g. regulation of water flow and quality, provision of pollination services, maintenance of nutrient cycling and soil fertility, mitigation of climatic extremes, control of agricultural pests and diseases.

ESSF is complex and dynamic and therefore difficult to understand. For our entire existence we have nourished ourselves directly from the bounty of forests, grasslands and other wild places. Our existence and theirs is a symbiosis of complex interactions. A simplified version of this interaction is obvious: what we exhale and excrete is nourishment for the wild places; wild places in turn produce food, clean water and oxygen. The relationship includes deep connections, spirituality, cultural diversity, and many other resources, services, knowledge. The diversity of ESSF is also one reason why natures crucial role in food security goes unappreciated. 

We have forgotten that these wild places are still nourishing us and that we should respect and nourish them.

I think of it as 'use it or lose it'. I also know that 'we will not fight for what we do not love' and that the cultural importance of native species has lead to much of the activism for environmental conservation.

So much of the critical conservation enacted in our world happens invisibly and is carried out by people without degrees or professional titles; while most of the resources go to environmental groups who are well-intentioned and well-staffed but rarely have the extensive site-based knowledge. What we need is a movement. This must be based on research with inquiries linking the use of biodiversity and the conservation of it through well managed (sustainable, holistic) utilization of native species. 

A special issue of the International Forestry Review on "Forests, Biodiversity, and Food Security" is taking a step toward rectifying these knowledge gaps through multidisciplinary and international studies that focus on a variety of approaches and perspectives, as well as a wealth of data and analysis on the question of what forests contribute to food security, nutrition, and human wellbeing. It suggests the answer lies again in diversity: a diversity of approaches, perspectives, methods, and tools. 

http://www.ecofilms.com.au is part of the DVD title "Establishing a Food Forest" with Permaculture teacher Geoff Lawton from a trip he made in Vietnam a while back to visit a 300 year old Food Forest built on 2 acres of land and still functioning well in the same family 28 generations later. More info: http://www.ecofilms.com.au/ (more on diversity and genetic resources maintained in Vietnamese Home gardens, in: Agrobiodiversity conservation and development in Vietnamese home gardens, Agricultural Ecosystems and Environment 2033. and Vietnamese Home Gardens, Cultural and Crop Diversity in Home Gardens and Agrobiodiversity)

More from Geoff Lawton http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5ZgzwoQ-ao&feature=relmfu

And some Eco Films on the permaculture model and how that is encouraging more appreciation of humans in nature http://www.ecofilms.com.au/category/permaculture/

Ca' Penelope: Agritourismo

The Organic Agritourismo farm Ca' Penelope, in Maranello, Italy, has become my second home. It is also the home of many animals, several wwoofers and a host of hard working, inspiring, and friendly Italians http://www.capenelope.it/.

The Farmers of  Cà Penelope and I on the new label for their own organic lambrusco wine 

Walking around in these hills I have been noticing, once again, the stark difference between the plowed fields and the fresh edible greens of the forests and fields of springtime... It makes me think of wild collecting and the words of Walt Whitman:

These, I, Singing in Spring. by Walt Whitman

THESE, I, singing in spring, collect for lovers,
(For who but I should understand lovers, and all their sorrow and joy?
And who but I should be the poet of comrades?)
Collecting, I traverse the garden, the world—but soon I pass the gates,
Now along the pond-side—now wading in a little, fearing not the wet,
Now by the post-and-rail fences, where the old stones thrown there, pick’d from the
fields,
have accumulated,
(Wild-flowers and vines and weeds come up through the stones, and partly cover
them—Beyond
these I pass,)
Far, far in the forest, before I think where I go,
Solitary, smelling the earthy smell, stopping now and then in the silence,
Alone I had thought—yet soon a troop gathers around me,
Some walk by my side, and some behind, and some embrace my arms or neck,
They, the spirits of dear friends, dead or alive—thicker they come, a great crowd,
and I
in the
middle,
Collecting, dispensing, singing in spring, there I wander with them,
Plucking something for tokens—tossing toward whoever is near me;
Here! lilac, with a branch of pine,
Here, out of my pocket, some moss which I pull’d off a live-oak in Florida, as it
hung
trailing
down,
Here, some pinks and laurel leaves, and a handful of sage,
And here what I now draw from the water, wading in the pondside,
(O here I last saw him that tenderly loves me—and returns again, never to separate
from
me,
And this, O this shall henceforth be the token of comrades—this Calamus-root shall,
Interchange it, youths, with each other! Let none render it back!)
And twigs of maple, and a bunch of wild orange, and chestnut,
And stems of currants, and plum-blows, and the aromatic cedar:
These, I, compass’d around by a thick cloud of spirits,
Wandering, point to, or touch as I pass, or throw them loosely from me,
Indicating to each one what he shall have—giving something to each;
But what I drew from the water by the pond-side, that I reserve,
I will give of it—but only to them that love, as I myself am capable of loving.