Roles of medicinal plants to dao ethnic groups livelihood in ba vi commune ba vi distric ha noi

Acknowledgements In the process of implementing topics, I have received the guidance of Dr Tran Viet Ha, the staff in Bavi National Park, and local people in Bavi commune To have completed this topic, I would like to express our sincere gratitude for the valuable of theirs helps Despite great efforts, the ability and time are limited to topics inevitable shortcomings So the spirit realms and learn the requirements, I respectfully request that we receive feedback from teachers and friends to more complete I would like to thank you! Table of contents I Introduction II Goals and objectives 2.1 Goals 2.2 Specific objectives III Methods 3.1 Study site 3.2 Selection of village 3.3 Data collection Techniques 3.3.1 Reconnaissance Survey 3.3.2 Questionnaire Preparation and Testing 3.3.3 Household Questionnaire Survey 3.3.4 Transect survey methodology 3.3.5 Survey method plots 3.4 Data Processing and Analysis IV Results 10 4.1 Population, economic - social at Hop Nhat village 10 4.2 Three important MPs with development for livelihood 13 4.3 The situation of three important MPs in the region 14 4.4 The situation and exploit MPs market 16 4.5 Solutions for conservation and development of the MPs in order to improve livelihood 18 V Discussion 20 VI Conclusion 20 VII Recommendation 21 Acronyms The Confédération Interalliée des Sous-Officiers de Réserve Non Timber Product Medicinal plant CISOR NTP MP List of tables Table 1: Grade table Table 2: Land classification in Hopnhat village, Bavi commune 11 Table 3: Percentage of gender and age level 13 List of Figure Figure 1: Bavi National Park Figure 2: The current configuration of villages and Park lands Figure 3: Transect lines Figure 4: Three main groups for assessment Figure 5: Importance ranking of income sources in Hop Nhat village 12 Figure 6: Suggestion of local people 13 Figure 7: Percentage of wild and cultivated the MPs were used 15 I Introduction Forest areas play a very important role for human beings in terms of economy, society and environment Rural people, especially people living in or near forests, depend on forest products as sources of food, fodder, medicines, building materials and as a source of income More than 240 million people around the world live in forested regions Many are poor and depend on forests for income Forest-based activities in developing countries provide an equivalent of 17 million full-time jobs in the formal sector and another 30 million in the informal sector, as well as 13-35% of all rural non-farm employment In Vietnam, an estimated 24 million of the country’s 82 million inhabitants live near forests or are dependent on forests, and nearly million ethnic minority people spend much of their time hunting and gathering forest resources (Poffenberger et al 1998) For about twenty years now, increasing interest and high expectations in the topic of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) have been expressed by scientists, development practitioners, and conservationists The use of NTFPs is considered as a means to preserve biodiversity-rich forest areas, because NTFPs harvesting is said to be less destructive than other forest uses, particularly timber harvesting (PETERS 1996) Simultaneously, the socio-economic situation of local forest users may be improved through commercializing specific NTFPs Some NTFPs, such as medicine plants, have high market value and may contribute substantially to the improvement of local rural livelihoods Medicine plants have also cultural meanings and are important for the preservation of local communities' indigenous knowledge However, the promotion of NTFPs to improve rural livelihoods tends to be problematic They are likely to be substituted easily and the quantities collected from wild growing are unpredictable and mobile Also opportunities of income-generation through the development of NTFPs for rural livelihoods have been assessed but it seems not commensurate with its potential A number of research projects all over the country are ongoing, most of them as collaborations between Vietnamese government institutions and international donors and non-governmental organizations Bavi commune, Bavi National Park, in the North of Vietnam famous for healing, is facing similar problems Hundred species of medicinal herbs are facing with threatened – where has been owned for more than 500 species of medicinal herbs But now, with 60% of pharmaceutical Vietnam to import, which is few species had known as the strength of the Vietnamese plant exploitation Over exploitation and lack of attention to conservation is the main cause making resources dwindling medicinal plants, many species verge of extinction Three are many research into the NTFPs topic was launched which have been done so far in Bavi However, most of these focus on products with high probability of expansion in industrial scale Besides, there are many studies focusing on medicinal plants targeted at keeping local knowledge to provide a complete list of medicinal plants, or focus on a kind of medicinal plants plant's ability to expand This way shows problem in the poor community and ethnic people who lack of education as well as conditions Stemming from the above reasons, I choose research directions: "Assessing the role of some important kind of non-timber forest products with Dao ethnic minority life to propose a number of measures to alleviate poverty, improving the life quality in Bavi commune, Bavi District, Ha Noi " II.Goals and objectives 2.1 Goals Proposing conservation and development measures of some important NTFPs to stabilize the livelihood of Bavi commune, Bavi district, Hanoi 2.2 Specific objectives • Evaluate and select some kind of important MPs with development of people's livelihood in the study area • Investigate, evaluate the situation some important MPs in the region • Proposal for a number of solutions to effectively contribution, improving the conservation and development of NTFPs in the study area to improve livelihood III Methods 3.1 Study site Bavi National Park lies in Ha Noi, about 60 km from Hanoi center and accounts for 15 rare plant species, plant species particular to the Bavi area, 129 medicinal plant species, and 24 rare animal species Figure 1: Bavi National Park The Park area embraces all lands above 100 m, for a total area of 10.814,6 For management purposes, three zones were designated in the Park: the land from the 400 m contour upwards was considered to hold the richest biodiversity and was marked for strict protection; the 100 m to 400 m zone was identified as an ecological rehabilitation zone; and the buffer zone (100 m and below) was designated for multiple use and managed collaboratively by the management board with local households The establishment of the Park in1991 forced the Dao villagers in Hop Nhat to resettle, this time below the 100 m contour, creating the new village of So which consisted of 95 households within the redefined Park boundary To facilitate the move, each relocated household received one of land in the buffer zone for gardens and housing Figure shows the current configuration of villages and Park lands Figure 2: The current configuration of villages and Park lands Bavi commune is located right at the mountain foot, with 1972 people, about 405 households and almost belonging to Dzao ethnic group 80% of the inhabitants here have knowledge of MPs and earn living based on their family owned herbal remedies However, it is very spontaneous, mainly supplying the raw materials thru wildly gathering Moreover, planting, clarifying and making a strategy to develop these and commercial medicinal plants has never been focused on yet, thus the livelihood of inhabitants here is very unstable In addition, lacking of the surface area for planting and extending the precious medicinal plants which need so much growing up at the high altitude of Bavi mountain such as Hoa Tien species for curing the rheumatism, neurroleptic, anemia, etc, Dzao ethnic community has a very good experience and knowledge in identifying and differentiating the medicinal plants in nature and using them as herbal remedy for curing diseases and healthy recovery 3.2 Selection of village The selections of surveyed villages were based on local knowledge about medicinal plants and dependence on medicinal plants in livelihood The Dzao people have a tradition of using and collecting medicinal plants At present, among three villages of Bavi commune - Yenson, Hopson and Hopnhat, the Dzao in Yenson village either rarely go to, or have stopped going to collect medicinal plants Only the Dzao in Hopson and Hopnhat village still practice this tradition However they are both Dzao so research just focus on Hopnhat village where traditional medicinal plants are more famous 3.3 Data collection Techniques 3.3.1 Reconnaissance Survey In order to get a view of the nature of the study area and prior to data collection, a reconnaissance survey was initiated to acquire some basic ideas regarding to biodiversity and livelihoods through the personal interview with the local people of the study area During the survey, views were exchanged with the peoples about the objectives The survey has helped to realize the existing condition of the area 3.3.2 Questionnaire Preparation and Testing Considering the objectives of the study a questionnaire was prepared for the selected community after prepared the questionnaire, questionnaire was testing to fulfill objectives of the study and to collect the selected information of the study Then some points were adding or cutting and final questionnaire was prepared The information collected includes:  Survey of NTFP species important to the region's economic development  A survey on the current status of exploitation, use, value NTFPs some important crops topics of interest  Extraction method, extraction frequency Table is used for analyze data from interview Three kind of MPs which have highest grade respectively Ehretia asperula Zoll., Ardisia sylvestris Pitard., Stephania dielsiana Y.C Wu The result of table is relative with data in figure These three kinds of MP are most popular and get highest mark from market framework Ehretia asperula Zoll grow naturally in the forests of our country Not only effective in terms of medicine, there is a black tree crops Radiation "poverty alleviation" in some districts of Hoa Binh province However, trees This wealth is depleted before the massive extraction of people In late 1999, the subject of the doctors Academy Military Medicine is accepted, the official tree of black radiation is recognized as one of not many You have medicinal effects as adjunctive therapy patients cancer Ardisia sylvestris Pitard listed in the Red Book Vietnam Threat level: Level V But places such as distributed not so many poor grain by regeneration, to be exploited large quantities should take to renewable sources of particles On the other hand where seedlings were strong mining deforestation should there be extinct because no habitat appropriate Thus, the three most species for sustainable in Bavi commune are Ehretia asperula Zoll., Ardisia sylvestris Pitard., Stephania dielsiana Y.C Wu 4.3 The situation of three important MPs in the region Almost households cultivated medicinal plant at the yard In other hands, they are not the main source if the healer can buys or exploit from the nature During the interview process, in fact, they try to harvest as much as possible 14 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% Wild 50% Wild/Cultivated 40% Cultivated 30% 20% 10% 0% Ehretia asperula Zoll Ardisia sylvestris Pitard Stephania dielsiana Y.C Figure 7: Percentage of wild and cultivated the MPs were used The figure shows over 60% of cultivated/wild, about 10% of cultivated and nearly 30% of wild but in fact the result must be lower because when entering their garden I just observed very little of the MPs with very little amount The MPs are not too difficult for cultivate in small scale because local people when take MPs from wild to their garden they not take care much Sometimes, I ask them to show me the MP they even cannot remember the location of some They just know in overall which corner When they need to use they go to garden to find It means the MPs are easy to grow But 10% of cultivated seems like too small number with potential ability According to transect and plot method in wild, there is no sign of the three species in wild Local people still get some from wild because they go to very deep into forest More than 40% people said they spend at least 2days into forest per week They even exploit from other district nearby such as Tam Bao National Park in Vinh Phuc and Thai Nguyen province or to the forest in Hoa Binh province where they can find their expected plants Since medicinal plant collectors and herbal healers have to go farther to another 15 area outside Bavi National Park to collect medicinal plants, their knowledge within the area where they go harvesting medicinal plants has been broadened They now not only understand the ecology of Bavi national park area but also the ecology of the new areas They, moreover, can apply the knowledge they already have about the ecology of the area where the expected medicinal plants grow in finding that plants in the new area From zero result of transects where local people often go showed a warning sign to the conservation of endangered species medicine today Although there are laws aimed at regulating the use of the forest near the hamlet, local people continued to unrestrictedly harvest of MPs As a result of the local people’s increasing needs, the degradation of forest land, and harvesting by outsiders, forest resources are reported to be being gradually depleted 4.4 The situation and exploit MPs market Under the enclosure context of the park, the life of local people is insecure In order to cope with the enclosure as well as the status of being excluded from resource use, local people, especially the local herbal healers in Hop Nhat village, have adopted individual tactics and collective activities People apply the collective activities when individual tactics cannot work such as in case of asking for land in the area of the 400 meter contour for medicinal plant plantations Strategies of local people are very flexible and complicated By tactics such as negotiation, cooperation and nonconformity and even manipulation of relationships, the local herbal healers can partly gain access to forest resources though in some cases it is still illegal access It also reveals that, when their living situation changes, local people immediately accumulate the new acquired knowledge and make full use of their integrated knowledge in order to adapt to that new changing situation Those changes in living situation have apparently led to the changes in 16 the knowledge of local people especially on medicinal plants, their resource tenure and space which are gendered Within the country, there are several big markets of medicinal plants such as medicinal plant markets in Gialam district and in Hadong town of Hatay province There is a rumour in Hopnhat village that two herbal healers have been to the China - Vietnam border market to sell their herbal medicine It takes at least two or three weeks for these two herbal healers to go and sell their herbal medicine The commercialization of medicinal plants has led to differentiation among local Dzao people in terms of production The local herbal healers have been differentiated into levels: (1) The practical healers who collect medicinal plants and give treatment; (2) Medicinal plant collectors who go collecting medicinal plants for wholesale and not practice healing; (3) Medicinal plant gatherers who just stay at home and gather all market demanded medicinal plants to sell to middlemen in order to earn the small commission Going to collect medicinal plants, local people have risk of being confiscated their tools such as knives, basket, etc and even being arrested or fined by the forest rangers of the national park Therefore, medicinal plant collectors often choose the direction where they think they will rarely meet the forest rangers Besides choosing the direction, they also hide themselves whenever they see the forest rangers from far distance or run away In other cases, some people choose the tactics of explaining the reason why they need medicinal plants, and normally they will use the reason of giving urgent treatment to the people they know who have suffered from serious disease According to them, whether they can keep their collected plants or have to leave them in the forest will depend on the “sympathy” of 17 the forest rangers If the forest rangers “understand” the need of collecting medicinal plants, they will let them go with the collected plants To gain this kind of “sympathy”, local people have to create good relationship with the forest rangers Trying to make full use of their relationship with the forest rangers is the other way that the local people use to gain the access to forest resources Some old herbal healers who are famous in the village for treatment of some specific diseases sometimes also have the forest rangers as customers for their medicine These herbal healers, therefore, use this relationship to avoid arrest as well as the confiscation of their plants and tools by the forest rangers In addition, since they are old, forest rangers sometimes respect them and not arrest them The forest rangers, with the aim of forest protection, also try to make good relationships with the local people since they want to avoid or to reduce as much as possible the tense conflicts with the local people Therefore, in some cases, when they meet herbal healers in the forest, they still let the herbal healers especially the old experts go with their collected medicinal plants if the collected volume is not much In fact, the forest rangers know clearly who the herbal healers are and who the herbal collectors for wholesale are in the village To the group of medicinal plant collectors, the forest rangers will apply the penalty more strictly 4.5 Solutions for conservation and development of the MPs in order to improve livelihood  Medicinal plant garden in household scale model Improve understanding of the local population, encouraging drug model home garden which should refer to the importance of high local authorities especially women's associations By the high proportion of women in exploit the issue of medicinal plants in the wild Should have the attention of the authorities for drug king model home Should open training sessions for people of three medicinal plants which suggested above Model 18 should be expanded gradually over time for many medicinal plants to fully meet the demand for medicinal plants  Traditional village medicine Measures and penalties to encourage timely Regularly check the model home gardens through to praise their title in order to build a traditional village medicine Furthermore, giving permits for forest assessing for some households  Scientific basis Promote scientific research activities Specify the basis on preliminary scientific basis of healing of medicinal plants to promote marketing activities in order to enhance the value of medicinal plants and market expansion Thereby creating a strong market for traditional medicine  In situ conservation approach to medicinal plants 1) Medicinal plant conservation as part of nature conservation (with local knowledge, innovations and practices) 2) Conservation of medicinal plants in special medicinal plant areas (e.g medicinal plant hotspot areas) 3) Medicinal plants in special places within the cultivated landscape  Ex situ approach to medicinal plant conservation 1) Genebanks and field genebanks 2) Botanical gardens 3) IBC’s effort in Wondo Genet need to be expanded 4) Cultivate in homegardens 19 V Discussion Although our report shows the roles of MPs in the livelihood strategies and household economic activities in Hop Nhat village, it also has some limitations First of all, the report is focused only at the village level Even cultivation is good way for this case but with lacking of monitoring it may be consequence in long run Livelihood improvement, sustainable development and conservation need a very carefully investment to meet VI Conclusion In Hop Nhat village, the idea of space is not only the physical space like plots of land or home gardens as example, the space is also the social space where women can expand their rights over resources by using membership in such projects directed to women as the credit fund programs for women or the social forestry projects and medicinal plant conservation project MPs are not the main source of income but at the third position MPs play a very important role in Bavi commune livelihood With a high price in trade local people is not invested as much as it should Two method of interview and giving mark in research show the same result in the three most important kind of MP, somehow strongly mention Ehretia asperula Zoll., Ardisia sylvestris Pitard., Stephania dielsiana Y.C Wu should be noticed Solution for sustainable development, livelihood and conservation is MPs But the balance for three cases is big challenge Home garden seems like the best way out Beside, building a traditional village medicine is unique 20 VII Recommendation  Need to research in a bigger level  Study more about market framework to make a clearly view in role of the MPs with livelihood  To guarantee sustainable use of wild plants in the region, a consistent control and monitoring system has to be built up  Need to have deeper research on how to plant breeding and species  The research later should further expand the scope of research and the number of species of medicinal plants should be preserved 21 References Agarwal, Bina.1992 “The gender and environment debate: lesson from India”, Feminist Studies 18 (1): 119-158 Anan Ganjanapan.1998 “The Politics of Conservation and the Complexity of Local Control of Forests in the Northern Thai Highlands,” Mountain Research and Development 18: Anderson, Edward E.1993 Plants and People of the Golden Triangle: Ethnobotany of the Hill Tribes of Northern Thailand Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books Ankli, Anita, Sticher, Otto, and Heinrich, Micheal.1999 “Yucatec Maya medicinal plants versus non-medicinal plants: indigenous characterization and selection”, Human Ecology 27 (4): 557-580 Arnold, M.J.E, and Perez, M.R 2000 “Can non-timber forest products match tropical forest conservation and development objectives”, Ecological Economics 39 (3): 437-447 Be Viet Dang (et al.) 1971 Nguoi Dzao o Viet Nam Hanoi: Social Science Publishing House Berkes, Fikret 1999 “Role and significance of “tradition”, indigenous knowledge”, Indigenous Knowledge and Development Monitor (1): 19 - 29 Braidotti, Rossi (et al.) 1993 “Women, the environment and sustainable development: emergence of the theme and different views”, in Women, The Environment and Sustainable Development Towards a Theoretical Synthesis (pp 77 – 105) London: Zed Books, Instraw Brosius, J.Peter 1986 “River, forest and mountain: The Penan Gang landscape” Sarawak Museum Journal 36 (57, New series): 173-184 Brosius J Peter 1997 “Endangered Forest, Endangered People: Environmentalist Representation of Indigenous Knowledge” Human Ecology 25: Bruce, W J and Fortmann, Louise 1999 “Contemporary uses of tree tenure”, in Buck, 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Agroforestry in Sustainable Agriculture Systems (pp 237 – 243) Baca Raton: CRS Press Brun, Viggo and Schumacher, Trond 1994 Traditional Herbal Medicine in Northern Thailand Bangkok: White Lotus Brush, Stephen B 1996 “Whose knowledge, whose genes, whose rights?”, in Stephen B Brush and Doreen Stabinsky (eds.) Valuing Local Knowledge: Indigenous and Intellectual Property Rights (pp 1-21) Washington, D.C.: Island Press Carney, Judith A 1996 “Converting the wetlands, engendering the environment: the intersection of gender with the environment”, in Richard Peet and Michael Watt (eds.), Liberation Ecologies: Environment, Development and Social Movements (pp.165-187) London and New York: Routledge Carrier, James G 1998 “Property and social relation in melanesian anthropology”, in Property Relations: 85 – 103 Hoang Van Sam 2004 “Use conservation of pant species in national park, a case study in Ben En, Vietnam” An Van Bay 1998 ” An overview of NTFP sub-secter in vietnam” Appendix The questionnaire for local people Have you ever used, traded, cropped or exploited non timber products If yes Which kind of non timber products? Which kind of non timber products are the common types in here? Are medicine products… non timber products? If use medicine products, How often? Used for What? Why you them? If trading medicine products buy or sell for what and with who? And how much? If cropping, which kind you crop? What are the main careers of your family? What are the main sources of income of the family? How is monthly income of your family? Doyour family trade medical plants? How long have you traded medical plants? Where you get this skill? 10 What kind of patients have you treated? What are the particular diseases? What kind of medicine? 11 Why patients know you trade medical plants? 12 Who is usually collecting medical plants? 13 When you collect medical plants? And where and how you get them? 14 How many percent does the planted medical plants account for? How much you collect from nature? Table 1: Grade Table for market framework Name GroupI Group II GroupIII (scale 5,4,3 point) (scale 4,3,2 point) (scale 3,2,1 point) Price Suit Cash Demand flow local Uniqueness conditions Total point Scientific Processing Commercialization Significance basis and Expiry for date conservation Ehretia asperula Zoll 5 4 3 33 Ardisia sylvestris Pitard 5 3 31 Stephania dielsiana Y.C Wu 5 3 28 Morinda officinalis Haw 5 2 3 27 Asarum maximum Hemsl 4 2 1 25 Table 4: Investigating by route - Route number ……………………………….Date………………………… - Coordinate of starting point…… - Coordinate of ending point Investigator……………………………………………………………… No Local Scientific Coordinate name name State Habitat Regeneration Note Table 5: Investigate by sub-plot - Sub-plot number…………… - Investigator………………………………….Date……………………… - Slope……………………………Aspect…………………………….…… - Coordinate………………………………………………………………… - Forest status……………………………………………………… ……… - Canopy cover……………………………….Cover.…………………………… No Local name Scientific name Individual Grow Distance plant (I) or status from regenerated studied plant(R) plant (m) Note Figure 8: Stephania dielsiana Y.C Wu Figure 9: Home medicine garden Figure 10: Ehretia asperula Zoll Figure 11: Ardisia sylvestris Pitard Figure 12: Interview Figure 13: Field work ... collecting medicinal plants At present, among three villages of Bavi commune - Yenson, Hopson and Hopnhat, the Dzao in Yenson village either rarely go to, or have stopped going to collect medicinal. .. district and in Hadong town of Hatay province There is a rumour in Hopnhat village that two herbal healers have been to the China - Vietnam border market to sell their herbal medicine It takes... Phuc and Thai Nguyen province or to the forest in Hoa Binh province where they can find their expected plants Since medicinal plant collectors and herbal healers have to go farther to another