Cultural, practical, and economic value of wild plants: A quantitative study in the Bolivian Amazon |
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| Authors: | Victoria Reyes-García Tomás Huanca Vincent Vadez William Leonard David Wilkie |
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| Institution: | (1) ICREA-ICTA, Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain;(2) Sustainable International Development Program, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, 02454-9110 Waltham, MA;(3) Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University, 60208 Evanston, IL;(4) Wildlife Conservation Society, 18 Clark Lane, 02451-1823 Waltham, MA |
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| Abstract: | Researchers have developed several indices to estimate the significance of plant species for humans. We build on previous
methods in ethnobotany and anthropology to develop a new way to value plant species along three dimensions: cultural, practical,
and economic. We used interview and observational data on the use of wild plants by the Tsimane’, a foraging-horticultural
society in the Bolivian Amazon. We calculated the cultural, practical, economic, and total values of 114 plant species from
46 families. We found a low correlation between the practical and the cultural values of species: some species rarely used
were frequently mentioned in interviews, whereas some species frequently used were rarely mentioned in interviews. Indices
of cultural, practical, and economic value measure different dimensions of the importance of plant species to society. The
combination of the three indices offers a more comprehensive valuation of the significance of plants for humans than the use
of only one index. |
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| Keywords: | Ethnobotanical knowledge uses of plant Tsimane’ indigenous peoples Bolivia indices of cultural significance |
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