INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE IN NATURAL ...

Forests, Trees and Livelihoods, 2009, Vol. 19, pp. 129–151 © 2009 A B Academic Publishers—Printed in Great Britain

INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE IN NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT BY THE HILL PEOPLE: A CASE OF THE MRO TRIBE IN BANGLADESHa Mohammad Shaheed Hossain Chowdhury1, Md. Abdul Halim2, Nur Muhammed1, Masao Koike1* and Shampa Biswas3 1Forest

Policy Laboratory, Department of Forest Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Shinshu University, 8304-521 Minamiminowa-Mura, 399-4598 Nagano-Ken, Japan 2Department

of Forestry and Environmental Science, School of Agriculture and Mineral Sciences, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet-3114, Bangladesh 3School

of Environmental Sciences and Management, Independent University of Bangladesh (IUB), Baridhara, Dhaka, Bangladesh ABSTRACT The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHTs) region of Bangladesh, covering a considerable portion of ‘hill forest type’ of the country, is rich in biological diversity; in terms of flora, fauna and ethnicity. A number of aboriginal and tribal communities enrich the cultural heritage of the region. Thanchi upazilla (sub-district) of Bandarban district in the CHTs is the remotest forested area where some tribal groups still lead their subsistence life depending fully on natural resources. This exploratory study was conducted to document indigenous knowledge (IK) employed by the Mro tribe in their everyday activities, highlighting traditional utilization of forests and other natural resources. A total of 36 farms were assessed using different participatory appraisals through semi-structured questionnaire. The respondents were peasants who live on the hilltops in a pristine environment, inside the high ranges of hills and dense forest almost totally beyond the eye-sight of the outer civilized society. They developed IK of their own in practising shifting cultivation (Jhum) and other land use systems along with the utilization of natural resources. In most cases, such IK has become key factors in the sound management of their forest resources with sustainable utilization of biodiversity. But most of the wealth of their IK is being threatened by the settlement of the non-tribal people in the CHTs region. The life style and ethno-forestry perception regulated by IK governing the daily activities of the ethnic communities need to be explored in order to conserve them and to assess the possibilities for conserving the forest resources by utilizing such traditional indigenous concepts. Key words: Ethno-forestry, forest resources, Jhum, sustainability

*Author

for all correspondence. E-mail: [email protected] paper is based on one presented at the International Conference on “Mountain Forests in a Changing World” held on April 2–4 2008 at the University of BOKU, Vienna, Austria; that paper’s abstract has been published in “Book of Abstracts” by the conference committee (Chowdhury et al., 2008). aThis

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INTRODUCTION

The tribal population of the world is estimated at more than 200 million (Shepherd, 1997; Negi, 1996; Sing, 1997) constituting 4 percent of the world’s population (Negi, 1996; Singh, 1997). From time immemorial tribal people have lived beside the forest that, with its multitudinal uses, is intimately connected with their life (Samal, 1997; Dwivedi, 1993). Such services from the forest have played a vital role in the economy of the tribes in Bangladesh. Their religious, cultural and economic activities depend on their forests. The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHTs) comprising the three hill districts: Rangamati, Khagrachari and Bandarban, have a population of 1.1 million (Chowdhury et al., 2007). The region constitutes 10% of the total land area of Bangladesh (Haque, 2000a) and 76% of the total hilly region of the country (Khisa, 1998). The CHTs are inhabited by a variety of tribes (Banik, 1998), at least 12 have been recorded (Karim, 1994; BBS, 2002). For centuries, these tribal communities have been living on slash-and-burn agriculture (locally called Jhum), fishing, hunting and harvesting of forest products (Mustafa et al., 2002). The Mro or Murung (Figure 1) are one of the ancient ethnic minorities of the CHTs region (Roy 1996), and they exhibit a different socio-political organization compared to other tribal groups (Ahmed, 2002). They total 22,178 in the whole of the CHTs (BBS, 2002). They live in hamlets (Figure 2), small settlements comprising of five to twenty households usually sited on the high peaks of hills, that are the primary socio-economic units of Mro life (Brauns and Loffler, 1990). The houses are built on nine to twelve feet high wooden or bamboo platforms. The house is built wholly of natural materials like bamboo, wood, cane, wild grass etc. that are very easily available from the forest (Baten, 2002). In exploiting forest products, the Mro apply their own knowledge traditionally transmitted from their precursors (Miah and Chowdhury, 2003). Ideal knowledge is generally seen as that derived from abstract principles by systematic deduction (Pramukh and Palkumar, 2006) but indigenous knowledge (IK) refers to that knowledge which is generated and transmitted by communities over time, in an effort to cope with their own agro-ecological and socio-economic environments (Alam and Khisa, 2000; Mohiuddin et al., 2000; Alam, 2002). It is transmitted through stories, folk songs, folk literature and practice (the process of inculturization (Masreque and Khan, 2000)). It develops through experience sharing and normally passes on through generations by oral expressions and persists in an unwritten form (Amin, 2000). According to Atran (1999), IK structures are like scientific theories in that they generalize from concrete experience, but unlike theories they are not systematic formulations. Rather, they involve the adjustment of forms of human livelihood to the environment in which they are embedded. Oviedo and Maffi (2000) stated that the knowledge, innovations, and practices of indigenous peoples and traditional communities are part and parcel of their cultures. It is important not just in terms of the description, proper management and harvesting of a product; but also in terms of the maintenance of ecological processes and biodiversity linked to traditional

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Figure 1. A typical Mro man in front of dwelling house (Photo: The Prothom Alo).

economic activities such as cultivation or animal husbandry (Larsen, 2000). The ethnic communities not only know about various uses of the plant diversity but they also aware of biological aspects of plants, e.g., growth, flowering times, seed formation, propagation method, useful parts and varietals/genotypic differences

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Figure 2. A typical Mro hamlet inside deep hill forest in CHTs (Photo: M.S.H. Chowdhury).

in indigenous uses (Amin, 2000). Most indigenous communities care about their surrounding environment and apply a variety of systems and practices to deal with land resources, wildlife, plants and water (Larsen, 2000). When people are compelled to live in tough situations like rugged forest areas, they are left with no option but to depend on natural resources for their livelihoods. In these situations the traditional communities evolve strategies to make effective and harmonious use of their resources (Singh, 2004). Almost all the ethnic communities in the CHTs have developed indigenous knowledge systems of their own, practising special patterns of the utilization of forest products (Mohiuddin et al., 2002). The Mro community living in such an environment was thought to regulate their everyday activities on a wise and sustainable manner. However, the wealth of indigenous knowledge of the tribal people in CHTs is being threatened by the settlements of the non-tribal people in the region (Chowdhury and Miah, 2003). Though the settlement of the mainstream Bangalee community in CHTs was initiated by the government in the ’80s (Lorup, 2006), presently the people themselves are migrating and settling there. According to a recent report of ADB (2008), 44% Bangalee were settled by the government while 56% were self-settled in the CHTs. The Muslim population increased there from 2% in 1947 to 65% in 2001 (Anon., 2008) and the present ratio of the hill people and the Bangalee is 52:48 (E-mela, 2008). Although several studies have been carried out on various aspects of other tribes of the CHTs, due to the isolation and inaccessibility of the Mro community, no previous study to explore their indigenous knowledge systems has been carried out. This study was undertaken to ascertain and document the natural resource management system of the Mro tribe and their impact on the sustainability of the natural resources in the Bandarban region of the CHTs, Bangladesh.


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MATERIALS AND METHODS

Study Site The study was conducted at Bolipara union in Thanchi upazilla (sub-district) of Bandarban district, Bangladesh (Figure 3) over a period of five months from October 2005 to February 2006. Thanchi upazilla occupies an area of 1020.82 sq km including 680.55 sq km forest area. It lies between 21°15' and 21°57' north latitude and between 92°20' and 92°41' east longitude (BBS, 1992). Thanchi, about 55 km southeast of Bandarban is the remotest and perhaps, one of the most inaccessible upazillas of Bangladesh (Haque, 2000b). 90% of the area is hilly; rivers and marshes make up 4% and only 6% is suitable for intensive agriculture (Khisa, 1998). The upazilla consists of 4 unions, 12 mauzas and 82 villages. In the upazilla, there are 2885 households of which 2661 are tribal. 98% of the main houses are made of straw/bamboo, the remaining 2% being of a combination of different materials including cement. The upazilla has a total population of 18,000 of which Mro number 3,738 (some 20%). Methods Multi-stage, partly random sampling was used in the study. Out of seven upazillas of Bandarban district, the Mro are concentrated in the hilly areas of Thanchi, Alikadam, Lama, Ruma and Naikhyangchari upazillas (Drong, 2001). A list of these five upazillas was arranged alphabetically and Thanchi was selected randomly from the list. Mostly the Mro inhabit at Balipara union of this upazilla. So this union was selected purposively. A list of the Mro hamlets was collected from the office of Caritas Bangladesh, an international NGO working locally for the development of the Mro tribe. Three hamlets out of 17 were finally chosen at random from the list. From each of the three hamlets, 12 households were selected randomly. Thus a total of 36 households were selected from the study area. A preliminary discussion was carried out at the local office of ‘Caritas Bangladesh’ with its officials, members of the local Union Council, the headmen of the respective hamlets (locally called Karbari) and the members of farmer groups (beneficiaries of Caritas) before the household sampling began. The objective of the discussion was to provide information on the work intended and to select research assistants. Four assistants were recruited of whom one was from Caritas Bangladesh and the remaining were the headmen (Karbaris) of the three respective hamlets. Interview techniques were employed to elicit information and IK on the management of shifting cultivation; daily life activities; collection, processing and management of forest produces and other resources. An open-ended semistructured questionnaire was used for the survey. Since this research was mainly qualitative, emphasis was given to information concerning the utilization of

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Figure 3. Map of Bandarban district showing study area.

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natural resources in the community’s own way. The main questions covered: what resources do they collect from forest, how do they process the raw products, how do they manage their main crop production system (shifting cultivation) and so on. Side by side, physical observations of practices embodying some IK were also made by the first author when living in the community. Household heads were the main respondents in the interviews, helped by other members of the family when necessary. Ambiguities arising from the use of local terms were clarified by the research assistants. The information gathered was arranged systematically and documented as ‘qualitative descriptions’. RESULTS

Low educational status of the Mro tribe in the study area In sophisticated communities there is an association between education and the extent of knowledge. The educational status of the studied community was explored to evaluate the extent of their knowledge acquired through education. The survey indicated that the literacy rate in the study area was zero because the communities live on the inaccessible hilltops in a pristine environment. Almost unclothed, the Mro are a secluded community, frantically trying to protect their uniqueness, culture and lifestyle (Haque, 2000b) and meeting their subsistence needs through the age-old practice of shifting cultivation (locally known as Jhum). Sheltering amidst high hills and deep forests, their life style is an incomparable and extraordinary one (Baten, 2002), where the light of education has yet to reach because of the lack of access, facilities and government initiatives. The children are reluctant to go to the only government primary school since the medium of teaching is Bangla, the language of the mainland people that is not understood by the Mro who have their own mother language (mostly only the children of the Bangalee settlers study there). There was a recent initiative to teach the Mro children in their own language, but chiefly in hamlets nearer to urban areas. ADB (2008) categorized the Mro as one of the most disadvantaged groups in education and blamed the inaccessibility to schools as a major constraint to the expansion of education; access to education is further constrained by the subsistence economy, poor communications, lack of a transport system, nonavailability of schools, necessary involvement in household activities, nonavailability of local teachers, lack of inspiration, etc. Indigenous knowledge (IK) practices The survey revealed that the Mro employed a number of indigenous knowledge (IK) practices inherited from their forefathers in their every day activities in every aspect of their life and promoted them, either with intent or inadvertently, within their society. For example:

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Consumption of edible plants from forests Despite their agriculture, the tradition of eating wild plants has not disappeared from the indigenous communities (Pardo-de-Santayana, 2007). All of these plants whose various parts were eaten by the Mro people, were reported to be collected exclusively from the surrounding forests. In some cases only one of the parts was used; in others, more than one part was edible and in some cases the whole plant was used in their daily diet. The mode of use was viewed as one of the important aspects of their IK. The Mro were found to use the following plants for various purposes. The root of Yam (Dioscorea sp.), locally known as Mo-o-pome, Taro (Colocasia esculenta), known as Ro-o and Shoti (Curcuma zeoderia), known as Suamarik were used as vegetables. Young shoots (locally termed as Raiom) of different bamboo species, especially Kaothoao (Melocanna baccifera) were cooked as vegetables. These shoots were, to some extent, bitter in taste. They were consumed mainly in the rainy season (June–July). The part eaten was the tender part of the rhizome apex and very immature culm – consisting of compressed internodes protected by a number of leathery sheaths. After removing the sheaths the inner tender portion was thoroughly washed in water and then cut into pieces which were cooked as a vegetable. These parts were also observed to be sliced and dried to preserve for the use in times of food scarcity. The Mro tribe was also found to eat the young shoots of rattan (Calamus spp), locally known as Shoon-om. The juvenile vine was peeled and the inner soft and tender segment thus obtained was cooked to consume as a tasty vegetable. Also the delicate young leaves of Shingchoa (Albizia procera), Sajna (Moringa oleifera), Bon Aam (Mangifera sylvatica) and Tentul (Tamarindus indica) were found to be used regularly by the Mro as vegetables and pickles (Chutney). An herbaceous plant, Thankuni (Centela asiatica) was found popular in the community as a snack. There are several varieties of bananas (Dengoa) and wild banana (Konglai) in the Jhum lands and forest areas of the hill tracts. After peeling off the outer skin of the stem from the plants of ripe banana, the white spongy core (Dengbong) was used as vegetables by the Mro. The hair-like strings from the soft core were removed to make them easier to eat. The inflorescence of the wild banana (Musa paradisica) and Kanthal (Artocarpus heterophyllus); the flowers of Chalta (Dillenia indica), Hargoza (Dillenia pentagyna) and Turmeric (Curcuma longa); the stamens of Simul (Bombax ceiba) were reported to be cooked and eaten as vegetables. The green fruits of the wild banana ((Musa paradisica) and Dumur (Ficus sp.) were used as vegetables. The farmers opined that they frequently used these two fruits for medicinal purposes as well, particularly for the treatment of dysentery and diarrhea. Plants used for healthcare: an ethno-medicinal approach It was evident from the survey that the Mro were greatly dependent on herbal medicine. Because of their aloofness towards modern medical practices due to


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their primeval and pristine living style and the absence of facilities and services because of inaccessibility, they depend on indigenous medical practitioners (locally known as Baidhya), who generally prepare medicine from the plants available in the adjacent forests. They have a great understanding of plants possessing medicinal properties too. Not only the Baidhyas, but also every elder in the hamlets were found to be knowledgeable on the medicinal value of some plants, usually those species used to treat common diseases like coughs, colds, fevers, headaches, stomach pains, toothache, joint ache, diarrhea, dysentery, minor wounds and cuts etc. A total of 39 plant species belonging to 29 botanical families (Table 1); including herbs, shrubs, climbers and trees (Figure 4) were reported to be used frequently by the Mro tribe for these purposes. Among the families reported, Fabaceae represented the highest number of species (5 species); six families, Anacardiaceae, Combretaceae, Compositae, Cucurbitaceae, Lamiaceae and Solanaceae were represented by 2 species each and a single species each from the Apocynaceae, Asclepidaceae and twenty other families. The worldwide use of the two families – Apocynaceae and Asclepidaceae – for medicinal purposes was reported by Schippmann et al. (2002), and many others (e.g., Sajem and Gosai, 2006; Halim et al., 2007; Mukul et al., 2007). The respondents reported their preference for wild sources (82.05%) compared to planted sources (17.95%) of medicinal plants due to the belief that plant parts collected from the former are more effective than those from planted ones. The above ground parts (85%) viz., leaves, twigs, bark, fruits and seeds of most of the plants recorded were mostly used whereas the below ground parts, i.e., roots of only two plants (5%) were used (Figure 5). Use of whole plant as medicine constitutes 10% of the total of plants used for health care by the community. Housing and construction: Plants as the key elements The survey revealed that houses of the Mro tribe, locally called Kim (Fig. 6), were generally situated on the upper, exposed slopes of the hill. Their houses were much larger than those of the Chakma and Marma, the other two major tribal groups in the CHTs. All the houses in the study area were found to be made of wood, bamboo, rattan and sun grass (Imperata cylindrica) collected from forests. A wooden staircase (a tree trunk with notched steps) was used in front of the door to climb up into the house. The houses (Kim) were raised 3 to 6 feet above the ground level. This was done by the Mro in order to protect themselves from snakes and other ferocious wild animals like leopard and wild boars; the common green viper and leeches, especially, were kept out by these means. The houses were also built slightly slanting in to the hills to protect them from high winds and storms. The open space between the floor of the house and the ground was used to store fuel wood (chof) and to shelter the poultry and pigs. The poles of trees used as posts in the house were treated by smoking in a glowing fire to increase their durability and resistance against biodegradation.

Local name

Fabaceae Sil koroi Gila lata Tentul Dad pata Aorhor Annacardiaceae Am Bhadi Lamiaceae Tulsi Tokma Solanaceae Bon begun Dhatura Cucurbitaceae Telakucha Korola Combretaceae Arjun Bohera Compositae Genda Issopgul Acanthaceae Bashok Acoraceae Botch Apocynaceae Sarpaganda Arecaceae Bet Asclepiadaceae Akand Bromeliaceae Anarash Caricaceae Papay Crassulaceae Pathor kuchi Cuscutaceae Sornolata Euphorbiaceae Amloki Lauraceae Menda

Family

Habit

Ailments

Albizia procera Tree Ring worm. Derris trifoliata Shrub Dysentery. Tamarindus indica Tree Loss of appetite. Cassia alata Shrub Itching, skin disease. Cajanus cajan Shrub Wound, tooth ache. Mangifera indica Tree Wounds. Lannea coromandelica Tree Blood dysentery. Ocimum sanctum Shrub Cough, cold. Hyptis suaveolens Shrub Gastric pain, fever, burning. Solanum xanthophyllum Shrub Leg burning. Datura metel Shrub Dysentery. Coccinea cordifolia Climber Headache, insomnia. Momordica charantea Shrub Fever, diabetes. Terminalia arjuna Tree Burning, dysentery. Terminalia belerica Tree Dysentery, asthma, cough, abdominal pain. Tagetes erecta Herb Wounds. Plantago ovata Shrub Gastric pain, fever, burning. Adhatoda vasica Shrub Cough. Acorus calamus Herb Cough, female disease. Rawulfia serpentina Climber Fever, stomach ache. Calamus tenuis Climber Loss of appetite. Calotropis procera Shrub Sprain, joint ache. Annas comosus Herb Jaundice. Carica papaya Shrub Constipation. Kalanchoe pinnata Herb Cough, flatulence. Cuscuta reflexa Climber Fever. Enblica officinalis Tree Blood dysentery, vomiting. Litsea polyantha Tree Diarrhea, dysentery.

Scientific name

Medicinal plants used by the Mro tribe in CHTs, Bangladesh.

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Liliaceae Piaj Malvasae Simul Meliaceae Neem Moringaceae Sajna Piperaceae Panpata Polypodiaceae Dhenki shak Rutaceae Bel Sterculiaceae Udal Umbelliferae Thankuni Verbenaceae Bhait Zingiberaceae Ada

Allium cepa Herb Common cold. Bombax ceiba Tree Irregular menstruation, dysentery. Azadirachta indica Tree Fever, skin disease, diarrhea, insect biting. Moringa oleifera Tree Joint pain, female diseases. Piper betel Climber Wounds, loss of appetite. Dryopteris filix-mas Climber Insect biting. Aegle marmelos Tree Gastric, flatulence. Sterculia villosa Tree Burning, gastric pain. Centella asiatica Herb Dysentery. Clerodendrum viscosum Shrub Ear ache. Zingiber officinale Herb Flatulence, gastric pain.

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15% 34%

Tree Herb Shrub Climber

33%

18% Figure 4. Frequency distribution of the habit of medicinal plants used by the Mro tribe.

When harvesting trees and bamboos for house construction, the farmers strike them with the back of dao (a thick and flat iron-made sharp knife), an essential tool that is part and parcel of their every day life. A metallic, ringing sound confirms the maturity of the plants. It was reported that the Mro harvested the tree species during the winter season (December-January) when there is less chance of degradation due to the dry weather.

Figure 5. Medicinal plants’ parts used by the Mro tribe.


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Figure 6. The Kim, a typical Mro house (Photo: M.S.H. Chowdhury).

Shifting cultivation (Jhum): The main crop production system Almost all members of the Mro community are peasants whose ancestors have used shifting cultivation from time immemorial. In practising Jhum and other land uses, they apply indigenous knowledge that ranges from the selection of land to harvesting the crops. Selection of land for Jhum The Mro go to the hills in January to select a convenient piece of land for Jhum. The main task is to judge the soil fertility through the vigour of the secondary growth. They ensure that the field to be selected by one farmer is not in the immediate neighbourhood of that of another farmer in order to avoid the possibility of conflicts of any kind. They also take into consideration the maintenance of a wood and bamboo reserve for the use of members of nearby hamlet. Land preparation Burning the bushes is an essential part of the preparation of the land for planting. The farmers reported that April is the hottest month of the year and the houses of the nearby hamlets are even drier than the field itself; hence there is danger of sparks from the fires in the Jhum lands setting fire to the thatch on the houses. The farmers choose to burn their Jhum fields in the morning or evening when there is little wind in order to reduce the danger of

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fire spreading to their houses. If the field to be burnt was very close to the hamlet, the farmers wait until it is dark so that flying sparks can be more easily seen. Farmers equipped with water pots and ladles as well as banana leaves may be stationed on the roof of every house to protect them. After burning, the partially charred, larger logs in the Jhum land are placed across the slope in the field in order to reduce run off and soil erosion. Seed collection The seeds of crops for successive Jhum are collected and set aside during the preceding harvest. Healthy ripen ears of paddy are harvested separately, sun-dried in the open place (Sar) beside the dwelling house on the bamboo mats, and finally stored in a bamboo, lidded granary (Sapam). Trees left stand in Jhum land In earlier times the Mro loved a neatly cleaned field and they used to fell all the larger trees during land preparation in Jhum. Now-a-days, they cut most of the trees and all bushes leaving some fruit trees and leguminous species like Shingchoa (Albizia procera), Pleciching (Cassia alata) (Fig. 7) on the assumption that the production of Jhum crops increased under these trees. They also reported the use of these trees in Jhum land as timber and medicine, respectively by the whole community residing in and around the locality. If removed, such trees are cut leaving a high stump to encourage sprouting.

Figure 7. A Jhum land with fruit trees retained (Photo: S.P. Kar).


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The farmers Irrespective of gender, the villagers spend their whole day from dawn to dusk in the Jhum land. They take their meal (mainly rice) together, wrapping it in fresh banana leaves to keep it warm. The use of banana leaves is extensive in the Mro community. They make the covers of water pot from fresh, folded leaves, store leafy vegetables wrapped in the leaves, and even serve foods to the members of family on them. Banana leaves have traditionally been used for such purposes worldwide – especially early in Indonesia where soya beans were wrapped in banana leaves and left out in the warm sun to ferment (Bates, 1987–1995). Manufacture of plant based household utensils Woven baskets are an essential part and parcel of the Mro daily activities (Fig. 8). Every male member of the family was reported to weave baskets – a predominantly male task. Baskets vary in type, size, shape and pattern according to their probable use. For instances, there are baskets for seed storage, others for retaining harvested crops, baskets for women, others for men; there are portable baskets and stationary ones; baskets for clothing or for chickens, and even for jewelry items and cosmetics. The baskets range from very small to very large in size, delicate and lidded ones in which women generally keep their jewelry to the simply woven baskets that generally serve to transport cotton and fuel wood. Baskets of the very many kinds were mainly made of bamboo (particularly Bambusa vulgaris and Melocanna baccifera) and rattans (e.g., Calamus tenuis). Carrying straps are generally made from the inner bark of Udal (Sterculia villosa) obtained by beating the trunk of the tree to remove the bark. Generally all the ethnic communities residing in and around the forests in the CHTs carry the baskets using a strap across the forehead. They need a smooth, comfortable strap that does not scratch or bruise their skin - as ropes or cords tend to do. The inner bark of Udal gives them the desired comfort and is abundant in the hill forest areas. The farmers’ success in identifying this material through trial and error reflects their intimate knowledge of the probable uses of the natural resources in the vicinity of their residence. Among the everyday articles the Mro uses, Tuyia, the storage pot for water, was found to be an interesting utensil. It was reported to be made from a gourd, which grows wild in the forests. The soft inside of these thick-bellied gourds are left to rot and then are dried until only the hard shell remains; these are then used as water containers. Water was fetched from the surrounding springs (Ush) and hill streams in the Tuyia and drunk directly from them.

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Figure 8. A Mro woman carrying basket as head load on the way from Jhum (Photo: S.P. Kar).

Management of domestic animals The domestic animals kept by the Mro are mainly chickens, cows and pigs. Among these, pigs are most important – averaging 6 per family, followed by chickens – 5, and cow 1 per family, respectively. Pig keeping is not only a practice of the Mro, but is very common among all the tribal communities in the CHTs. This is commonly slaughtered as a sacrifice in various religious and spiritual ceremonies in the tribal society of the region. Male piglets are castrated by the farmers. According to them, an uncastrated boar would not fatten up and the meat would not taste good. Castration is done at the age of one to two months. The farmers reported that this early castration causes no problems, since the boars are sexually mature soon after birth and not only suckle from the prostrate mother sow, but also copulate with her. Processing plant raw materials for clothing The female members of Mro families weave their everyday attire themselves. They prepare the yarn from cotton producing plants in the Jhum. Leaves of Nil


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(Indigofera sp.) are soaked in water over night in an earthen pot mixed with bamboo ashes. On the following day the yarn and liquid are boiled together. After boiling the yarns are then hung up in the open space (Sar) of the dwelling house (Kim) to facilitate drying. The repetition of this procedure two to three times turns the yarns completely black. DISCUSSION

The perception and nature of indigenous knowledge of ethnic communities and local people vary from area to area. Kilahama (1994) reported that the farmers of Shinyanga Region, Tanzania know which local species are appropriate for their local uses and also know how to propagate them, e.g., Tamarindus indica is used for shade, medicine and vitamin C-rich fruits. The mats used to thatch the traditional Nama tribes’ huts in Namibia are woven in such a way that the individual rushes (Cyperus manginatus) do not touch each other since during the rainy season the rushes swell, filling the openings that generally provide ventilation and allow light to enter the huts during dry weather condition (Wienecke, 2001). In the post-flooding period, the char-land people of Bangladesh, sometimes, prepare floating seedbeds by horizontally placing banana trunks on the water, putting water hyacinth plants over the platform thus made, followed by spreading earth as soon as the hyacinth starts rotting (Hasan et al., 2000). These are all examples of IK. The use of forest plants as food by the indigenous peoples throughout the world has been recorded by many authors. The Bhotiya of India (Maikhuri et al., 2000), the Kandha tribe of Koraput, India (Samal, 1997), the Nepalies community of Sikkim (Chauhan, 2000), the “Lepchas of Dzongu” of Sikkim (Jana and Chauhan, 2000), the Jarais, the shompens and others living in the Andamans and Nicobar Islands (Chandra, 2002) all depend to a large extent on wild resources of plant and animal origin for their food security. Eighty percent of the forest dwellers in Orissa, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh of India depend on forests for 25–50% of their annual food requirement (Chandra, 2002). Tribals in Chotanagpur plateau depend on forest food for 4 to 5 months (Surin and Bahadur, 1980). The villagers near a locally managed forest in Nepal collect 62 wild food plants, most of which are consumed as snacks, and are supplementary and nutritionally important – especially prior to the harvest of their staple foods (Shrestha et al., 2006). Banik (1997) states that the young shoots of several species of bamboos are important vegetable ingredients also in the daily meals in China, Japan, Taiwan and Thailand. He stated that the average values for various bamboo species as total digestive carbohydrate 4.5%, protein 2.6%, fat 0.3% and ash 0.9%. Bamboo is also consumed by the local communities in the rural areas of Pahang, Malaysia (Idris and Mohamad, 2002). Consumption of rattan shoots by the ethnic communities of south-east Asia, Lao PDR and northeastern Thailand is reported by Renuka and Thomas (2004) who recognize it as a nutrient-rich vegetable containing proteins, ascorbic acid, and

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minerals like phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, zinc, copper, iron and manganese. The use of natural herbal drugs to alleviate sufferings is an age-old indigenous medicine system all over the world (Mehrotra, 1989). From time immemorial, hill people of Bangladesh have traditionally and culturally used plants mainly to cure diseases and for aesthetic reasons (Rashid and Rashid, 2002). Some earlier studies regarding herbal medicines were undertaken in the CHTs; these showed the dependence of various tribes on medicinal plants. Alam (1992) reported the use of 76 medicinal plant species for different ailments by the Marma tribe while Rahman (1997) recorded 52 species of plants used by the tribal people of Sylhet, Chittagong and the CHTs. Haque (2000a) claimed that the CHTs people are more malaria resistant than ‘non-hill’ people and have developed indigenous cures. Subramani (2000) reported 26 species and Rai et al. (2000) recorded 32 species of medicinal plants used by the Poliyar tribe of Tamil Nadu and the Gond tribe of Madhya Pradesh, respectively in India. Maikhuri et al. (2000) reported that 37 plant species are in common medicinal use among the Tolchhas, Marchhas and Jadhs of Central Himalayas, India. People of west-central Bhutan depend upon a number of plants occurring in the local forests for the relief of pain and for treatments (Namgyel and Ghimiray, 1998). MacDonald and Olorunfemi (2000) identified some plants used by the Koma people of Adamawa state, Nigeria for medicinal purposes and explained how the Koma people remain healthy, living isolated as they do without access to public health clinics. Kilahama (1994) revealed that the medicinal trees such as Balanites aegytiaca, Tamarindus indica, Acacia nilotica and Radia tayloriri are highly valued by the farmers of Shinyanga Region, Tanzania. The fruit husk of Babassu palm (Attalea speciosa) is used for medicinal purposes by the Guaja of eastern Amazon as a cure for athletes’ foot, holding the infected foot over the smoldering husk, thus smoking the affected area (Forline, 2000). In our study area, the Mro were reported to prefer wild to cultivated plants as the source of medicinal treatments. Halim et al. (2007) presented a scientific argument citing from Palevitch (1991) and Uniyal et al. (2000) attributing the preference to the presence of secondary metabolites that plants supply in their natural environments under particular conditions of stress and competition that, perhaps, are absent under cultivated conditions and result in lower concentrations of active ingredients in faster growing cultivated stocks. In wild populations, plants may be older, slow growing and with higher levels of active ingredients. Although shifting cultivation (Jhum) has become both an environmentally and economically incompatible land use system with the shortening of fallow period (caused by the government control over forests, legal restrictions on keeping land fallow for a long period, steadily increasing population pressure, and commercialization of agriculture) (Brady, 1996; Rasul and Thapa, 2003); in point of fact, it remains as the dominant type of land use in the CHTs region (Rasul and Thapa, 2007). The IK of the Mro harnessed within the practice of Jhum and their level of forest products consumption may provide some clues to maintaining the sustainability of the fragile ecosystem. Keeping a wood and


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bamboo reserve for community use prior to land selection for Jhum, retaining leguminous trees in Jhum land, placing partially charred logs across the hill slope for reducing soil erosion due to run-off ensures the sustainable management of hill resources. Harvesting mature plants for construction followed by treatment using indigenous methods reduces the pressure on forest exploitation indirectly. Satter (1998) and Mohiuddin et al. (2002) supported these practices and judged them to be advantageous for the fragile hill ecosystem. They saw some advantage harvesting trees in the dry months of January-February instead of in the wet seasons: during dry months, due to low moisture content in the soil, the growth of trees is comparatively slower than in the monsoon, so there is less starch content in the wood and this make the wood less susceptible to insect and fungal attack. The low temperature and humidity in winter also lessen the chance of attack by other wood deteriorating agents. Likewise, mostly using the above-ground herbaceous plants and shrubs for food and medicinal purposes ensures sustainability in the utilization of these forest resources. CONCLUSION

The dependence of the Mro tribe on forests was so intense that they constituted one of the integral components of the forest ecosystem. They use many of the components of the forest in every aspect of life for survival and sustenance. These uses reflected their possession of extensive ethno-biological indigenous knowledge (IK) of their own. Over the past few decades, the importance of farmers’ IK in managing their natural resources has gained increasing recognition from the scientific community (Teklehaimanot et al., 2001). Ethno-botany and IK have important roles to play in the management of forest resources and watersheds as well as in the conservation of biodiversity and traditional cultural diversity. Miller and Nair (2006) recognized that IK acts as the basis for the today’s practice of agroforestry by the farmers in Amazonia, and has potential to contribute to the development of other improved systems in future. The IK-based practices of the Mro tribe that ensure the sustention of biological diversity should become key elements in the sound management of forest resources. But the day by day increase in settlement of the non-hill people in the CHTs may pose a threat to the traditional practices of the indigenous people, and even to their existence. The reduction of the population of native tribes in Amazonia due to the upheavals occurring in colonial times shows that this can happen (Miller and Nair, 2006). Nevertheless, ethno-botanists can play very useful roles in documenting all these hereditary IKs and, combining them with their scientific knowledge, explore better options for dual purposes – the management of forest resources in the hill ecosystems and the conservation of indigenous wisdom as a part of living cultural-ecological systems. The policy makers may get some clues from the findings of present study in designing ethnicity-specific development projects for the CHTs compatible to the traditional beliefs of the inhabitants living there.

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