Cultivation of medicinal plants as a tool for biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation in the Amatola region, South Africa:
- Authors: Wiersum, K Freerk , Dold, Anthony P , Husselman, Madeleen , Cocks, Michelle L
- Date: 2010
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141489 , vital:37979 , ISBN 9781402054488 , https://library.wur.nl/ojs/index.php/frontis/issue/view/232
- Description: This paper describes the assumptions and results of a study to assess whether cultivation of medicinal plants can serve as a tool for combined biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation. The study was carried out in the Amatola region of Eastern Cape, South Africa, where sustained beliefs in medicinal plant use, also under non-traditional conditions, has resulted in an increase in commercial demands. It was based on the assumption of poverty alleviation not only referring to an increase in income and labour, but also an increase in social capital and human dignity. The study assessed the local perceptions of the use and cultivation of medicinal plants and the need for conservation of these plants, as well as the features of already ongoing cultivation practices and options for increased cultivation. It consisted of participatory assessments in three villages involving around 250 persons and participatory trials with 14 rural women selling medicinal plants on urban markets. The study indicated that the growing demand for medicinal plants is related to the great cultural significance attached to medicinal plants.
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- Date Issued: 2010
Ceropegia macmasteri (Apocynaceae-Asclepiadoideae-Ceropegieae), a new species from Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Dold, Anthony P
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6515 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005943 , http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sajb.2005.06.005
- Description: Ceropegia macmasteri, a new species from Cathcart in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, is only known from a single population in Dohne sourveld grassland where it occurs with another rare local endemic species of the Ceropegieae, Brachystelma cathcartense R.A.Dyer. The new species, an herbaceous grassland plant with a tuberous rootstock, most closely resembles C. stentiae E.A.Bruce, but is distinguished by its linear-erect corona lobes and inner corona conniving to form a central column.
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- Date Issued: 2006
Cultural significance of biodiversity: the role of medicinal plants in urban African cultural practices in the Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Cocks, Michelle L , Dold, Anthony P
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141338 , vital:37963 , DOI: 10.2993/0278-0771(2006)26[60:CSOBTR]2.0.CO;2
- Description: Since the International Convention on Biodiversity in 1992 conservation biologists, ecologists and conservationists have devoted considerable attention to the conservation of biodiversity. With this has come the realization that solutions to biological problems often lie in the mechanisms of social, cultural, and economic systems. This shift has emphasized the relationship between biodiversity and human diversity, or what the Declaration of Belem (1988) calls an “inextricable link” between biological and cultural diversity. The term biocultural diversity was introduced by Posey to describe the concept denoting this link. To date this concept has been used only in reference to “indigenous people” who, as part of their traditional lifestyles, use biodiversity to sustain their cultural identity. Our research, however, demonstrates that Xhosa people (amaXhosa) living in an urban context in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa continue to use wild plants for cultural purposes and often access these through commercial trade. We suggest that recognition of the cultural and spiritual values associated with wild plants would greatly enhance biodiversity conservation efforts. Recognition of the significant role that wild plants play in fulfilling cultural needs for urban Xhosa people would go a long way towards achieving this.
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- Date Issued: 2006
Izaci namaqhalo esiXhosa: Xhosa idioms and proverbs referring to plants
- Authors: Cocks, Michelle L , Dold, Anthony P
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141326 , vital:37962 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC112940
- Description: Converging with the ecological extinction crisis, the planet has been experiencing a severe erosion of the diversity of human cultures and languages, reducing the pool of knowledge, behaviors and values from which individual communities and humanity at large can draw to respond to social and environmental stresses.
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- Date Issued: 2006
Kappia lobulata (Apocynaceae, Periplocoideae), a new genus from South Africa
- Authors: Venter, H J T , Dold, Anthony P , Verhoeven, R L , Ionta, G
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6556 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006015
- Description: Kappia, a new genus from the Fish River Valley in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa is presented. At first described as Raphionacme lobulata Venter and R.L.Verh. [Venter, H.J.T., Verhoeven, R.L. 1988. Raphionacme lobulata (Periplocaceae), a new species from the eastern Cape Province, South Africa. South African Journal of Botany 54, 603–606.] based on a single specimen collected in 1936, recently discovered plants of this species proved it to be a new genus. In habit Kappia resembles Baseonema Schltr. and Rendle, Batesanthus N.E.Br., Mondia Skeels and Stomatostemma N.E.Br. However, as far as floral structure is concerned, Kappia reveals more affinity with Raphionacme Harv. DNA sequence data show Kappia to be distinct from Batesanthus, Mondia and Raphionacme Harv. and weakly supported as a sister to Stomatostemma.
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- Date Issued: 2006
Mlanjeni's war charms: Ikhubalo likaMlanjeni
- Authors: Cocks, Michelle L , Dold, Anthony P
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141349 , vital:37964 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC112911
- Description: Most South Africans are familiar with lucky charms such as the four leaved clover of European origin, the Hamsa Hand (Arabic) or Hamesh Hand (Hebrew), the Hindu lucky elephant representing Ganesha, son of Siva, or the African ikhubalo. Amakhubalo refer to charms, often of plant origin, that have magical powers to ward off danger or to bring good luck. Charm plants are used almost everywhere in the Eastern Cape to ensure health, luck and success in sporting events, business, courtship, legal proceedings, safety against accidents and crime and protection against jealousy and sorcery.
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- Date Issued: 2006
Seeing the wood for the trees: the role of woody resources for the construction of gender specific household cultural artefacts in non-traditional communities in the Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Cocks, Michelle L , Bangay, Lindsey , Wiersum, K Freerk , Dold, Anthony P
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6823 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003830
- Description: There is a growing wealth of data capturing the direct-use values of the environment and recognition of forests and wild resources as representing ‘‘the poor man’s overcoat’’. This focus has however resulted in an emphasis on the utilitarian values of wild resources for rural livelihoods and has for the most part overlooked their cultural values. In tangent to these developments within the field of anthropology there has been increased attention directed towards the relationship between biodiversity and human diversity over the past decade. This has resulted in the recognition of what the Declaration of Belem calls an ‘inextricable link’ between biological and cultural diversity. The term bio-cultural diversity has been introduced as a concept denoting this link. Consequently there is a need for more elaborate assessments of the various ways in which different groups of people find value in biodiversity. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the cultural significance of wild harvested plant resources for the maintenance of two gender specific cultural artefacts for amaXhosa people in South Africa, to assess the persistence of these practices in rapidly modernizing communities. We demonstrate the endurance of these ancient cultural artefacts in present-day peri-urban communities and suggest that they point to the need for improved understanding of the significance of bio-cultural diversity. The findings of the study should not be interpreted as illustrating stagnation in the traditional past, but rather as pointing at the need for improved understanding of the significance of bio-cultural diversity in a dynamic sense.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
Seeing the wood for the trees: the role of woody resources for the construction of gender specific household cultural artefacts in non-traditional communities in the Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Cocks, Michelle L , Bangay, Lindsey , Wiersum, K Freerk , Dold, Anthony P
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/453337 , vital:75246 , https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-006-9053-4
- Description: There is a growing wealth of data capturing the direct-use values of the environment and recognition of forests and wild resources as representing “the poor manȁ9s overcoat”. This focus has however resulted in an emphasis on the utilitarian values of wild resources for rural livelihoods and has for the most part overlooked their cultural values. In tangent to these developments within the field of anthropology there has been increased attention directed towards the relationship between biodiversity and human diversity over the past decade. This has resulted in the recognition of what the Declaration of Belem calls an ȁ8inextricable linkȁ9 between biological and cultural diversity. The term bio-cultural diversity has been introduced as a concept denoting this link. Consequently there is a need for more elaborate assessments of the various ways in which different groups of people find value in biodiversity. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the cultural significance of wild harvested plant resources for the maintenance of two gender specific cultural artefacts for amaXhosa people in South Africa, to assess the persistence of these practices in rapidly modernizing communities. We demonstrate the endurance of these ancient cultural artefacts in present-day peri-urban communities and suggest that they point to the need for improved understanding of the significance of bio-cultural diversity. The findings of the study should not be interpreted as illustrating stagnation in the traditional past, but rather as pointing at the need for improved understanding of the significance of bio-cultural diversity in a dynamic sense.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006