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Medicinal Plant Garden in Evatraha, Madagascar
Abstract: Madagascar is a land in danger of losing its endemic biodiversity as well as the traditional medicinal knowledge of its plants. Traditional healing is essential to health care in rural villages, which compose 80% of Madagascar. I propose to study with traditional healers in the Antanosy region to document the uses of medicinal plant species, and to help create a medicinal plant garden with the NGO, Azafady as part of an environmental conservation program as well as for my own further education in traditional healing systems. I aim to learn ethnobotanical skills of data collecting on plants, integrated with culturally-based medicinal knowledge, and to work with the villagers of the Antanosy region to retain their valuable healing knowledge and biodiversity. Aims: -Increase environmental awareness of endangered plants, especially in Malagasy youth. -Create a medicinal plant garden that will provide a source of sustainable medicine and education. -Give the community a means to preserve their ways and land through valorizing biodiversity and traditional knowledge. -Write a trilingual Antanosy ethnobotanical text to be distributed to the village pharmacies for preservation of knowledge. -Set up a website for international education and exchange of information. -Personal Goal: Learn from traditional healers, practice my Malagasy, and give something back to the community. Methodology: -Interviews and study sessions with traditional healers and knowledgeable villagers through a French-Malagasy translator. -Field treks to experience and observe medicinal plants in the field, take voucher specimens for identification, and work with an artist to illustrate important plants for the Antanosy ethnobotanical text and garden guide. -Documentation on a laptop in Ft. Dauphin, the nearest village with a telephone, color print outs of plants and environmental awareness media for communication with villagers and traditional healers, exchange of information with larger institutions in Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar, professors at my home university, etc.. -Technical and material aid, moral support, and the valuable connections that Azafady Madagascar has got in the Antanosy region will make this huge- for- one- person project a feasible learning experience for me, while contributing to a project which will continue to benefit Antanosy villagers far into the future. Projected Results: -ethnobotanical text on Antanosy traditional medicine and possibly a wallchart of Antanosy endangered plant species. -sustainable medicinal plant garden in Evatraha, retaining wilderness areas and cultivating endangered endemic plants. -environmental education and an income-generating microproject that helps the villagers to preserve their forest. -a contribution to the ethnobotanical research nationally and internationally. -increasing awareness in the ecotourism sector. -creating a website for international information exchange and involvement. -my further education in Malagasy culture, traditional healing systems, and the value of medicinal plants in treatments. This project works on many levels, affecting me as an individual in my education, the surrounding community who will be participating in the project and the local economy, the national capacity for ethnobotany, and the international community of ecotourists and institutions interested in valuable medicinal plants and traditional healing ways.
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