Medicinal
Plant Garden in Evatraha, Madagascar
Madagascar
is one of the most isolated places on the earth, with only two paved roads
leading through its vast land. It
has a unique endemic biodiversity, but has undergone immense devastation and
continues to be threatened. In a
land that is poor even in comparison to sub-Saharan Africa, modern health care
is far from an available and affordable choice for the great majority of its
people.
Azafady,
an English NGO with an office in Fort Dauphin/Tolagnaro, the main southeastern
town of Madagascar. chose the Antanosy region on which to focus its public
service efforts because its unique littoral primary rainforest is threatened by
exploitation and invasive development. Azafady’s work includes the
installation of latrines, materials aid for community-initiated projects, and
supply of inexpensive pharmaceuticals, in order to empower the villagers and
enable them to preserve their land. Madagascar Azafady is the President of the
Regional Committee for the Environment, and were recently awarded the Sting
Conservation Award (2001). Azafady’s
environmental conservation program for the Antanosy region aims to transmit an
environmental consciousness to the Malagasy youth.
Main
production goals will be the launching of a medicinal plant garden in Evatraha,
Madagascar, the creation of an Antanosy ethnobotanical text, a wall chart on
endangered medicinal plants, and an associated website for international
involvement. These activities should increase conservation awareness and
contribute to the valorization of biodiversity and preservation of traditional
knowledge both nationally and internationally.
The preservation of traditional knowledge is linked with an ethic of
respect, sustainable use, and conservation of the land. The philosophy is that
in order to be effective, environmental education must be deeply connected to
the people’s experience, so as to foster their will to treat the land as
guardians of future resources.
I
propose to work through a French-Malagasy translator to study with Antanosy
traditional healers, such as the ombiasy
(shaman), and other knowledgable individuals in order to document traditional
uses of medicinal plants. I will
travel in the Antanosy region to learn about the diversity of use in several of
the villages. Trekking in the
primary and secondary forests of the Antanosy region with botanists will enable
me to study plants in the field. I
will collect voucher specimens for species identification by Parc Tsimbazaza,
record Latin and Malagasy names of plants, traditional use, dosage, and method
of preparation. The PetitJean et
al. (1990) database will allow supply information on the history of chemical
analysis on specific plant species. Research
on species and population abundance will enable me to increase awareness in the
villagers (and tourists) of endangered plants and their specific habitats.
I will try to assess the essential health needs and most burdensome
diseases of the community, with Dr. Harinesy, a specialist working with Azafady in rural areas,
and through interviews with the village committees.
With
the knowledge of which plants are priority for the health needs of the community,
and which plants are endgangered, we (the local healers and villagers of
Evatraha, the Azafady team, and myself) will be able to create a useful
medicinal plant garden with important representative species.
A terrain of 11 hectares has been reserved by Azafady, and contains the
areas of rainforest necessary for the habitat of many medicinal plants. A
village committee will need to be organized to ensure management and maintenance
of the garden and associated enterprises, distribute responsibility and tasks,
and for decision-making concerning the garden and use of any profits.
Villagers will be hired to maintain the vast grounds and cultivate new
specimens of medicinal plants. A traditional-style
Malagasy hut will be constructed to serve as an office, tourist
welcoming center and store, with an attached tool shed for storage of supplies,
and a shaded shelter for the cultivation of young plants.
The
garden will serve as educational as well as a medicinal resource for the people.
A map of the herbal areas, labelled beds, and a trilingual written guide to the
herbs and their uses which I will make with the help of a translator will
facilitate viewing the garden for the local population and visitors.
The garden will be an attractant for ecotourists interested in herbal
medicine, educating them through workshops taught by the traditional healers. In addition, the sale of booklets and posters about Antanosy traditional medicine and
herbs,
and possibly a line of natural sustainably harvested products, will provide revenue to keep the garden
self-sustaining after initial funding.
Economic benefits will help valorize traditional healing knowledge and
biodiversity in the region, which in turn helps to protect the people’s land
from exploitation by external industries. By providing an alternative source of
herbal medicines for the local community, the garden will help relieve stress on
wild populations and encourage the preservation of traditional knowledge as an
essential health resource.
Through
the documentation of medicinal plants and their traditional uses, including
photo prints, that I will take with a digital camera, drawings of my own, and
line drawings of plants by a Malagasy artist, I will compile a booklet about
Antanosy traditional healing and medicinal plants and their uses to be printed
at least in Malagasy, French, and English.
Copies will be distributed to village pharmacies being installed by
Azafady currently, for the safekeeping of the villages, and their preservation of
valuable traditional medicinal knowledge.
I will work on a wall chart of essential endangered plants and
their traditional uses in the Antanosy region, in association with the Centre
d’Interpretation Environmentale (Ranopiso). Communicating through visual
teaching tools including printed media, comic formats, and color prints of
photographs will improve the efficacy of the program for environmental awareness,
especially in a culture that has not been overexposed to these mediums.
Webspace
has been reserved for me at www.madagascar-medicinal-plants.com,
in order to construct a site with documentation and photos of traditional
healing methods and medicinal plants to make such information accessible around
the world. This will be an
educational resource for institutions abroad, and encourage communication and
information exchange. Copies of the
ethnobotanical booklet will be available over the net.
While internet is far from accessible in the villages, and even in Ft.
Dauphin at this time, I hope an e-site will encourage international interest and
involvement with the Antanosy villagers’ struggle to preserve their land and healing
knowledge.
The
proposed project will have an impact similar to the effect a stone makes when
thrown into a pond. On a personal
level, I will immerse myself in a foreign element, studying the Malagasy
language as well as traditional healing systems, and adapting generally to
living and working in Madagascar. The
project will impact the environmental awareness of individuals, especially the
villagers and youth involved, and contribute to sustainable, environmental
tourism and economic revenue for the Antanosy region.
Documentation of ethnobotanical material will contribute
capacity-building and education in the field of ethnobotany and traditional
medicine on the national level, the value of which has been recognized by
international institutions, notably the WHO.
The international community will be informed and involved through a
website, which will include profiles of medicinal plants and their traditional
usage, as well as discussing Malagasy traditional beliefs and values concerning
the environment.
During
my undergraduate studies at Brown University in the Religious Studies department
I concentrated my studies on the world views and healing systems of other
cultures, while supplementing these studies with environmental and biological
sciences. I studied ethnobotany
through Berkeley’s Integrative Biology department as well as independently
researching and using medicinal plants in the San Francisco Bay Area. Having a good handle of the French language, and a basic
understanding of environmental ecology, I was able to participate in a study
abroad program in Madagascar, an experience that took theoretical knowledge into
the realm of experience and interaction. This
experience has given me valuable connections with the Antanosy healers, and an
elementary grasp of the Malagasy language, but most of all, the desire to work
further with these people and the NGO, Azafady.
I would like to be able to return something to the people who have opened
themselves to me, through helping to preserve their most essential resources-
their land and the healing knowledge connected with it.
|
