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Therapeutic use of plants by local communities in and around Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary: implications for protected area management in Bangladesh

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Abstract

Traditional systems of medicine have become a topic of global importance recently. Increased commercialization of economically important medicinal plants has resulted in overharvesting, threatening their survival. The present study was carried out to document the indigenous uses of medicinal plants by the local communities in and around Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary, Bangladesh. Data collection was predominantly qualitative recording the species use, identifying their relative importance (RI) and assessing the informants’ consensus factor (Fic) on associated knowledge. We interviewed 140 households of the local community and 5 local herbal practitioners. A total of 44 plant species were in use to treat 33 ailments under 10 broad disease categories. Five species were found to have high use versatility (RI > 1), Emblica officinale L. being the most versatile. Respiratory problems scored the highest Fic value (0.56) involving the use of 30% of the species recorded. Terminalia bellerica Roxb., Sterculia villosa Roxb., Dillenia pentagyna Roxb. and Terminalia arjuna Bedd. were being harvested commercially. Use by the community, particularly for subsistence consumption, seemed to be sustainable, but commercial extraction of some species appeared unsustainable. Buffer zone-based commercial farming of medicinal plants with a commercial value could serve a dual purpose of assuring sustainable alternative income generation for local communities as well as conserving the natural resources in protected areas.

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Notes

  1. The Forest Department (FD) allows these communities to live on the public land inside and around the sanctuary but with no legal rights.

  2. Forest farming is defined as the cultivation of plants under a forest canopy (Becker and Workman 2003).

  3. Bangladeshi currency unit Taka; 1USD = 69Taka (as of May 2010).

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Acknowledgements

The authors sincerely acknowledge the support and assistance provided by the Forest Department of Bangladesh during field visit. Thanks are extended to Md. Abdul Halim, Mohammad Abu Syed Arfin Khan and Md. Mostafizur Rahman for their active assistance during data collection. The authors are grateful to Dr. Michael S. Philip, ex-editor of Forests, Trees and Livelihoods for his voluntary assistance in improving the language of the manuscript. They also acknowledge the Ministry of Science and Education, Japan for granting scholarship to support the research and study of the first author. Finally, thanks are extended to the editor and anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript.

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  1. Forest Policy Laboratory, Department of Forest Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Shinshu University, 8304 Minamiminowa-Mura, Nagano-Ken, 399-4598, Japan

    Mohammad Shaheed Hossain Chowdhury & Masao Koike

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Chowdhury, M.S.H., Koike, M. Therapeutic use of plants by local communities in and around Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary: implications for protected area management in Bangladesh. Agroforest Syst 80, 241–257 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-010-9316-9

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