Brief Panel Descriptions

Ethnobiology and the Science of Humankind: a retrospective

As the Congress will be hosted by a department of anthropology, and has an anthropological theme, it is appropriate to look at the contribution of ethnobiology to anthropological thought. This will be reflected in both a plenary session and this panel. Invited speakers will examine the relationship between ethnobiology and key areas of anthropology, such as cognitive and environmental anthropology, where ethnobiological knowledge has provided a impetus for new developments and understanding.

Traditional ecological knowledge and coping strategies in island southeast Asia

The nineteen-nineties have seen a growing interest in the role of local ecological knowledge in the context of sustainable development, and particularly in providing a set of responses to which populations may resort in times of political, economic and environmental instability. The period 1996-2003 in island southeast Asia represents a critical test case for understanding how this might work. The key foci of this panel will be the creation, erosion and transmission of ecological knowledge, and hybridisation between traditional and scientifically-based knowledge, amongst populations facing environmental stress (e.g. 1997 El Niño), political conflict and economic hazards. It will also evaluate positive examples of how traditional knowledge has enabled local populations to cope with these kinds of insecurity.

Local Assessments of Environmental Change

The theme of the panel will be ‘how do local people assess environmental change’. This may be rapid, even catastrophic change — such as that occurring with mining, floods, deforestation - or gradual change — such as shifts in farming practices, animal movements and so on. Local populations may talk about these processes in terms of changes in plant species (availability, flowering etc.), or animal behaviour (migrations, breeding etc.), or climatic variations (changes in seasons etc.), or availability of natural resources (water supply etc.), among others.

This panel will feature research undertaken currently by the Anthropology in Development Research Group at Durham University where local/indigenous knowledge of the environment and natural resources features prominently.

The ethnobiology of mobility, displacement and migration in Central Africa

We propose to organize a companion panel to that of Miguel Alexiades and Roy Ellen on "The ethnobiology of mobility, displacement and migration in
indigenous lowland South America". The central themes addressed in our panel will reflect those raised in the Alexiades/Ellen proposal. Within the context of these themes, we will
explore Central African-specific issues associated with mobility, displacement and migration.

Safety matters: Side effects of plants used in indigenous medicine and their impact on public health

In this symposium safety issues relating to the use of medicinal and food plants will be addressed. There is a growing concern both for the direct toxic effects of some elements of our diet and medicine and of the interaction of some elements of these diets with medication taken by patients. While many herbal medical products are certainly safe, others like members of the genus Aristolochia have recently been shown to be of great toxicological concern. One of the main misunderstandings about medicinal and food plant is 'a plant is safe because it has been used for a long time'. We need a balanced assessment of the benefits and risks of using specific herbal medical products.
The safety of herbal drugs has been relatively well studied for European herbal medical products, but even there many questions remain unanswered (and often even unasked). In this symposium, examples from Europe will serve as a guide for developing a novel research agenda, which truly matters to indigenous people. Some of these attempts have been under way for a long time (e.g. the TRAMIL project), but has neither received the funding nor the scientific attention they receive. Such a symposium will also contribute to the development of an ethnopharmceutical approach to indigenous medicine, which will allow the integration of the various research strategies used in the study of medicinal plants.

Ethnopharmacology in Europe and the Near East

The study of active compounds present in natural products traditionally used by local populations of Europe and the Near East is gaining new strength through innovative approaches that look at the combined use of natural products as food and medicine, mostly those derived from plants. Simultaneously fieldwork is in progress in several countries in order to recover as much information as possible before the acculturation process makesaccess to this knowledge impossible, leading perhaps to its extinction. Here, mountainous areas still hold great promise, especially in southern Europe whereseveral groups are currently working. Most medicinal plants traditionally used in Europe and the Near East are Endemic, thus their sustainable use and conservation is a major concern for regional authorities. The evaluation of possible conflicts between the development of traditional uses and the preservation of wild populations is crucial here.
The Near East is still a very rich area of traditional local medical practices. This knowledge is now recorded in many areas of these countries, but consistent approaches to ethnopharmacologyamong the various ethnic groups are lacking. The medicinal practices of the Bedouins have beeninvestigated repeatedly, but Kurdish, Azeri, Gypsy, etc. traditionshave not been well investigated from an ethnopharmacological viewpoint. The impact of Western Phytotherapy in Urban areas of the Near East is increasingly strong and is therefore influencing the rural traditional communities, especially in Lebanon, Turkey, Syria, Israel and Jordan.

Ethnopharmacy and migration

Ethnopharmacy is the interdisciplinary science that deals with the study of pharmaceuticals, considered in relation to cultural determinants, which characterise the uses of these means in a given human group. It involves studies of the identification, classification and cognitive categorisation of the materials used to prepare the remedies (ethnobotany, ethnozoology, ethnopharmacognosy), of the preparation of the pharmaceutical forms (ethnopharmaceutics), of the claimed ascribed effects of such preparation (ethnopharmacology) and, last but not least, on the socio-medical aspects implied in these uses (ethnomedicine, pharmacy practice).

Since displacements and migrations always occurred in the past in many areas of the world and are very much at the centre of anthropological and ethnobiological focus today, to analyse dynamics and exchanges of Traditional Knowledge related to the use of biological remedies and also industrial pharmaceutical means among diverse human groups represents a wonderful horizon for better understanding cultural adaptation mechanisms in the medico-pharmaceutical field.

When physical or mental borders divide populations, such as in the case of small ethnic groups amongst larger dominant cultural frameworks, or in areas along ethnic borders, cultural identities diverge, and also the use of pharmaceuticals may become a tool to strengthen or negotiate identities, while at the same time osmosis of experiences in using medicinal remedies can take place, sometimes dictated by the dominance of the majority code, but sometimes even not.

Potential Contributions of Ethnopharmacology research for development of traditional communities

The outcomes from medicinal plant research can result in diverse impacts at different levels. The discovery of a prototype drug may determine the quality of life in chronic diseases, or even the very survival of afflicted individuals. For society in general, the identification of local and natural sources of chemical entities that, more often than not, must otherwise be imported, may have significant impact in local economies, and is therefore central to an autonomous management of health policies. From the industry perspective, the pharmaceutical sector mobilizes important capital volumes, the search for prototype drugs alone involving hundreds of millions US dollars. Likewise, the development of safe and effective herbal drugs is of relevance for both economic and health policy perspectives. In a yet broader view, the prospect of drug discovery from plants has been used as a conservationist argument, therefore relevant in human ecology terms.
The following discussion will focus on the idea, promoted in different forums since the early 80s (to a great extent incorporated at the Convention of Biodiversity), that the marketing of medicinal plants based drugs could be a significant economic activity for biodiversity rich countries and its communities, ultimately contributing to the conservation of biological and cultural diversity. Because ethnopharmacology concepts and data can be useful to communities a variety of ways, including sustainable development, finantial matters, appropriate health care, culturally sensitive health care programs and practices, the understanding of how would be western drugs actually dealt with in different cultural contexts, this panel discusses how can Ethnopharmacology contribute to development(s) in traditional communities.

Palms and ethnoecology: cultural and economic resources for the tropics

Introduction
Palms are the most useful group of plants for the rural and indigenous people throughout the tropics. They provide edible fruits, oils, palm-heart, fibers, thatch, housing materials and shelter, domestic artifacts, tools for traditional hunting and fishing, medicines, and other minor products. Palms also have a key importance for the cultural identity of rural and indigenous people and cross-cultural comparisons can be made among the different groups.

Goals of the panel
This panel seeks to include papers addressing ecological, social, economic or symbolic aspects of palm use, classification, management or commercialization. Contributions representing different regional areas and disciplinary approaches will be encouraged through an open invitation.

Traditional Environmental Knowledge and Change

"What is 'traditional' about traditional knowledge is not its antiquity, but the way it is acquired and used. In other words, the social process of learning and sharing knowledge, which is unique to each indigenous culture, lies at the very heart of its "traditionality". Much of this knowledge is actually quite new, but it has social meaning, and legal character, entirely unlike other knowledge." The Four Directions Council (1996) of Canada in Posey (1999:4)

For the past several decades, the study of TEK (also called IK, TBK, LK etc.) has been evolving rapidly and has become one of the mainstays of ethnobiological research. In recent years the focus has been on the dynamic nature of TEK. Indeed, as suggested by indigenous voices, the focus has shifted from 'what is known' to the 'how of knowing'. In this sense, shifts in TEK are subtle, constant and impacted by many aspects of cultural change. Thus a panel on the acquisition and transmission of TEK is highly appropriate for a conference on displacement and change. How does TEK change as people move to new areas? How does it stay the same? How can it be described or measured? This panel will explore these themes, both from a scientific and an indigenous perspective. An effort will be made to present different schools of TEK research and different theoretical orientations.

Homegardens

In a world characterised by change and displacement, people's homes become increasingly important environments in which they can surround themselves with people, objects and atmospheres largely of their choosing. In this context, homegardens, an inalienable part of the dwelling space, are of great importance. Research on homegardens has highlighted their importance in: household economy; conservation of domesticated and non-domesticated biodiversity; regional and micro ecology; defining a sense of place; mediating human relationships with nature; and as markers of social relationships and life histories. Despite this diversity of topics and disciplinary orientation, a cohesive body of literature is developing that enables cross cultural comparisons. It is hoped that this panel can contribute to the development of a cohesive methodology and further the integration of homegarden research from around the world.

Wild food plants and health in Mediterranean Area and Europe

Eating is one of the basic human activities. Since a short time ago, Mediterranean and European traditional agricultural societies made use of wild vegetal resources to supplement staple food specially in famine periods. Health is intrinsically bound to food, and sometimes it is impossible to elucidate if some products are food or medicine.
Since ancient times the Mediterranean area has been one of the richest cultural regions of the world. Economic development and globalization have homogenized food and are responsible for the loss of knowledge about wild food resources. In parallel local and regional identities are being developed and some of these products and flavours are considered as part of the cultural heritage. Quality and food safety concerns are also responsible for the maintenance of some of this tradition.
This panel is open to all contributions related to traditional uses of food and medicinal plants in Mediterranean and European cultures, their relationships, the cultural exchange between them and the evolution and erosion of this rich heritage. It is also open to other activities that involve biological, technological, cognitive and symbolical aspects related to these basic human activities.

Ethnoecology of Tropical Lowland South America

Tropical lowland South America is a region of high biological and cultural diversity which are intimately linked through traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and through the intentional or unintentional alteration of local landscapes. Both of these kinds of diversity are also increasingly threatened by a variety of social and economic pressures. These threats, combined with the fact that much scientific work remains to be done in understanding the complex interactions between living organisms in this region makes the study of traditional knowledge all the more important and timely. This session is open to a variety of issues, including, but not limited to: folk perception and classification of biotic communities, the ways in which TEK and scientific knowledge can be complimentary, the ways in which TEK is changing as social and political realities change, the role of indigenous and local knowledge in conservation and environmental restoration projects and issues of resource rights and intellectual property rights.

Living on the edge: issues facing people and plants of the dry tropics

This panel is sponsored by the Eden Project, which as part of its mission to `show the important relationship between people and plants' is developing a Dry Topics Biome, a new one-hectare conservatory. The panel will address case studies which might play a significant educative role in the biome and which at the same time represent practical conservation, development and cultural issues for particular peoples living in these areas. For convenience, `the dry tropics' are defined as regions which are at least seasonally hot and dry, and which therefore include southwest North America, North Africa and the Arabian peninsula, the Sahel and Guinea savanna, Central Southern Africa, and the Indian subcontinent.

Cultured Trees: Transformations in Agroforestry Systems

Agroforestry is the cultivation and nurturing of trees on farms and in landscapes. It is central to some ancient forms of land use ('indigenous agroforestry') and a key element of scientific approaches to integrated natural resource management ('scientific agroforestry'). Both feature trees as essential components and combine a high degree of vegetal cover with high utility for humans, but tend to differ in their underlying principles. Both are experiencing transformations, sometimes through reciprocal transfer of knowledge and technology. Apprehending their characteristics, the dynamics of their transformation, and its socio-economic and environmental effects are crucial for assessing their potential for sustainable development and biodiversity conservation, and various disciplines have explored these aspects. Anthropological studies have also examined the consequences of introducing agroforestry practices within government and NGO projects, and conversely provided information about locally established practices for the enhancement of such projects. The session highlights the importance of a holistic approach incorporating cultural and historic aspects, covering such topics as adaptation of ancient agroforestry systems to meet the market economy; evolution of systems within the context of scientific agroforestry; enduring systems as models for scientists and policymakers; emerging issues (e.g. carbon trading, NTFPs); and the very definition of agroforestry systems.

Migration, Markets, and Changing Systems of Plant Use

Studies of the globalization of markets for plant products have largely focused on the increasing monopoly of markets by a few, and on the environmental destruction associated with large scale production processes. Researchers, however, continue to describe a variety of relationships between producers and marketers, export agriculture and food security, commoditization and dependency on markets, as well as modernization and cultural erosion. This panel will explore some of the 'alternate modernities' currently being played out in systems of plant use under the influences of market dynamics. It will pay particular attention to agricultural and forestry systems, medicinal plant products, and marketing channels that have resulted from the migration of peoples and the creation of new markets.

Knowledge and Ecology in Medical Ethnobotany

The relationship between local knowledge and the local environment is a key issue in medical ethnobotany. As environmental change increases we also find widespread change in medical ethnobotanical knowledge. How these domains influence each other will be explored in this session. Paper topics include, but are not limited to, medicinal plant selection criteria; medicinal plant habitat preferences; medical ethnobotanical knowledge loss,change and persistence; specialized and generalized medical ethnobotanical knowledge; and ethnoecological distribution of medicinal plants.

Health Care in the Ancient Mediterranean Cultures through Time

The panel will focus on the Mediterranean area from the Neolithic to more recent traditional practice from Morocco to Mesopotamia. Different types of primary sources will be studied, amber, archeological remains of plants or texts in manuscripts, for example, studied with different methods according to the nature of the primary source, but preferably in a trans-disciplinary way. Papers will stress both the unity and the diversity of the Mediterranean world, the continuity of a tradition and its multiple chronological and geographical variants.

Gender issues in ethnobotanical and ethnobiological research and related development practice

The panel follows on the publication of the first book dealing with these issues, entitled “Women and Plants: Gender dimensions of biodiversity conservation and management”, edited by the panel co-ordinator.

The panel would focus attention on the importance and significance of heretofore relatively hidden gender dimensions of people-plant relations, and the implications that these have for ethnobotanical and ethnobiological research and related development practice. Papers that focus on gender relations or on the importance of women in people-plant relationships are welcome. Of particular interest are the following analytical issues:

• Gender bias in ethnobotanical and ethnobiological research and means to avoid bias (including relating to conceptual frameworks, field data collection methodologies and intra-cultural sampling);
• The importance of domesticity and the domestic realm in people-plant relationships (including eg lay ethnomedicine, homegardening, culinary, and post-harvest ethnobotanical/ethnobiological realms);
• Gendered dimensions of indigenous knowledge systems;
• Plants, women’s status and welfare (including food security, income, rights to plants and compensation);
• Gendered cosmologies and their influences on people-plant relations
• Gender, politics and policies relating to plant biodiversity conservation and management.

Ethnobiological knowledge in a changing society: a review of contemporary work from Malaysia

This panel will provide a forum for the discussion of contemporary research issues in the study of ethnobiological knowledge in a Malaysian context. It will explore the range of contemporary work in this area being conducted at the present time by biologists and anthropologists, and will make links between studies being undertaken at various centres in West and East Malaysia, and on different topics. In particular, it will serve to coordinate existing research and explore the need to develop shared interdisciplinary research agendas, methodologies and training.

Among the specific topics to be included will be current work on ethnoecological knowledge of fishing populations, knowledge and use of medicinal plants, and applications in relation to biodiversity and agrobiodiversity conservation.

Addressing research issues in ethnobiology: A deliberative dialogue on the ISE Draft Guidelines for Research

The session will provide a supportive forum to identify and discuss current ethical and legal considerations in ethnobiology. The goals are to bring ISE members up to date on key issues, reinvigorate discussions on practical and policy aspects of ethnobiological research, and inform a revision of the ISE draft Guidelines for Research, Collections, Databases and Publications. Invited experts will make presentations on key topics of relevance (such as patents and other IPR, traditional knowledge registries and databases, research agreements, community protocols) and then serve as resource people for an open discussion on the ISE Draft Guidelines. Further insights and experiences shared by ethnobiologists working in collaboration with communities, government, the non-profit sector and/or the private sector are particularly welcome during the open discussion. The proposed outcomes for the session are: (i) to get general and specific feedback on the direction for revisions to the Guidelines; and (ii) to establish a small working group committed to revising the text over the following months so that new draft can be widely circulated to all ISE members before the next Congress. It is expected that a new version of the draft Guidelines can be brought forward for any further revisions and ratification by the membership during ICE 10 in 2006.

The current version of the ISE draft Guidelines for Research, Collections, Databases and Publications is available at http://guallart.anthro.uga.edu/ISE/socgui.html

Traditional local knowledge and practices for environmental management : digging up old practices or forging new knowledge systems ?

For the past twenty years, traditional locally based knowledge systems and practices have been presented and promoted both as an internationally acknowledged value and as a central concept/tool for environmental management in many different kinds of development projects. As a consequence, traditional knowledge is being 'revived' in developing countries of the south as well as in industrial countries of the north.This revival poses many question for scientific studies : does it occur mainly through digging up vanishing knowledge about nature, working with older or specialized informants, or through an hybridization between 'traditional' and 'modern' knowledge, between locally born and more global knowledge ? How to interpret this knowledge? What processes of formalisation are underway? What are the main differences between South and North countries ? In the south, the active promotion of traditional knowledge systems occurs mainly locally, through specific projects, or through local NGOs, and often confronts abruptly with more global values and mechanisms linked to modern development. Local communities tend to reinterpret their own knowledge in relation to this new environment. In the north, the revival of traditional local knowledge and practices depends more on the initiative of individuals, often formerly linked to the urban world, looking for alternative life style and production systems in the countryside.
This panel will bring presentations from the North and the South in order to confront experiences in the current movement of reinterpretation of traditional local-based knowledge and forging up of new traditional locally based knowledge. It will mix information on current experience, scientific interpretations of current trends, and discussions of the theoretical framework for such interpretations.

A Panel in Honour of Gordon Hillman

Professor Hillman is going to be honored as the SEB's Distinguished Economic Botanist for 2004 and a session in his honour is more than appropriate.
The major theme of the papers will be the influence of Gordon Hillman, as a teacher and as a researcher, on economic botanists and especially archaeobotanists throughout the world.

The Ethnobotany of Crop Diversity and Evolution

Maintaining diversity in the crops upon which humanity depends requires that we pay special attention to the role that local and indigenous cultures play in shaping and maintaining agricultural biodiversity. These local cultures have domesticated many species, have spread and accepted new crops and have adapted and shaped them to meet new needs, environments and uses. The rapid pace of sociocultural change including migration and the globalisation of markets and cultural values threatens the cultural diversity that has maintained biodiversity. At the same time, as people move and cultures change, new opportunities arise for keeping and expanding the crop diversity that is essential for local livelihoods, food security, nutrition and health. The panel addresses both sides of these global phenomena.
This panel examines in detail those lesser-known crops whose existence and future depends upon the cultural practices and futures of local and indigenous communities. We can refer to these as "cultural crops".
Cultural Crops are those crops whose use, diversity and diffusion is intimately linked to local food cultures and cultural values: all the millets, the sorghums, the chenopods, teff, local indigenous fruit trees, ensete, Andean roots and tubers, we can even include distinctive land races and local uses of major crops like cassava leaves, cowpea leaves, sweetpotato leaves, rice land races, etc. The papers will pay special attention to how cultural migrations and change have helped move crop diversity around the world and the positive and negative consequences of this for crop genetic diversity and the local communities that maintain it. In cases where unique crop diversity has remained local and isolated, the papers will examine how this diversity can continue to flourish in the face of social and cultural change.

Ethnobotany in Britain

Within parts of Europe there is growing interest in collating information about the traditional uses of plants. In Britain, there is a wealth of historical information about the uses of plants, especially medicinal plants in the period from 1400-to about 1600. But there is less information available in the period from about 1900 and the influence of different cultures on the diversity of plants we use. In this symposium we will have the opportunities to discuss projects that aim to use different methods to collect and disseminate information about the traditional uses of plants by different communities in a multi-cultural society. We can also discuss the links between traditional and modern uses of plants and the opportunities available to harness these uses to provide jobs and incomes to people in what remains of the rural areas in Britain.

The panel will provide an opportunity to discuss how we can maximise the involvement of the public, ethnobotanists and others working on different aspects of plant science and social history in documenting and studying the uses of British plants. Such information can assist support the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, especially Target 13, which focuses on providing sustainable livelihoods to those that are dependent on plant resources. In order to support this target we need to understand more about the relationships between the traditional and modern uses of plants.

Interactive Methods of Studying the Dynamics of Traditional Environmental Knowledge

Ethnobiologists have developed a range of interactive methods to collect field data on traditional ecological knowledge. These include unstructured and semi-structured interviews, systematic surveys, participant observation of cultural activities and social interactions, reiterative evaluation of researcher’s methods and results by local people, and elicitation using audio, video and photographic recordings. The effectiveness of this immersive approach, demonstrated in numerous case studies, is leading to an acceptance of these methods in civic, private and public sectors. There are barriers to wider acceptance and use of the interactive approach, including the: (1) relatively long periods required for fieldwork and analysis of data; (2) dedication to an intensive qualitative approach to understanding local perceptions (which may include – but is rarely driven by – formal methods); and (3) difficulty of comparing data from different field sites.

We provide a critical review of some of the standard methods of data collection used by ethnobiologists. In addition, we explore new tools for collecting interactive data and methods of dynamic data management that can be used in substantive projects on the creation and transmission of local ecological knowledge. The panel is one of the activities in a three-year University of Kent Anthropology Department project on “Interactive Data Collection on Reproduction and Transmission of Environmental Knowledge”. Funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council, the three-year project seeks to make ethnobiological methods developed in recent years accessible to researchers who have limited experience with interactive modes of social research, but who are involved in the application of local knowledge to practical conservation and development initiatives in which these skills are needed.

Botany in Action: Bringing ethnobotany to a broader public

An increasing number of non profit organisations and social enterprises are raising public awareness of contemporary issues in ethnobiology, while providing opportunities for capacity building, community development and research. This Society for Economic Botany session explores how ethnobiologists and other professionals interested in maintaining the world’s biological and cultural diversity are involving members of the general public in their efforts.

Asset Building and Community Development in Rural Landscapes - Transformative power of local governance and indigenous knowledge

Globalization and consequent greater influence of market forces are increasingly being implicated as factors disrupting traditional practices of natural resource management. If these areas are to be conserved, and the well-being of rural societies addressed, incentives such as ensuring (local) governance over natural resources, strengthening local capacity and building on local knowledge in the monitoring and management of these resources are vital. Indigenous Knowledge (IK) had long been the basis for decision making pertaining to food security and natural resource management. However, in recent years, its value had been discounted in centralized development planning efforts. A number of case studies from the developing world (especially from India, Mexico and Nepal) will illustrate how innovative local approaches can reverse environmental degradation.