People and Plants Series (5 Parts)

Synopsis

A series of 5 videos designed to demonstrate practical methodologies in applied ethnobiology.

Language

English

Country

Great Britain

Year of release

2001

Year of production

1997-2001

Subjects

Biology; Development studies; Environmental science

Keywords

biodiversity; conservation - environment; economic issues; ethnography; forest ecosystems; medicinal plants; sustainability; woodcarving

Distribution Formats

Type

VHS

Price

£13.00 (+p&p)each

Availability

Sale

Duration/Size

27, 25, 10, 26, 25 minutes

Year

2002

Sections

Title

People, gorillas and forests: ethnobotanical methods and multiple-use management in Uganda

Synopsis

Unlike the tropical forests of the Amazon or the Zaire river basin, which have very low human population densities (around 1 person/km2), Afromontane forests in the Great Lakes region of equatorial Africa are surrounded by dense populations of rural farmers (150 - 400 people/km2). As a result, forest reserves and conservation areas proclaimed over 50 years ago have become "islands" in a sea of rural farmland, all that remains of much larger forests which existed in the past. As these forests are located along the politically unstable border areas of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, their conservation needs to take local peoples’ needs and views into account. Bwindi-Impenetrable National Park in south-western Uganda, where this video was taken, illustrates the process and methods leading to multiple-use zoning. Certain plant uses and beekeeping by local people have been taken into account within the park, which is renowned as the home of half the world’s mountain gorillas and as an area of high biological diversity. This video will be of interest to people working in tropical forests where there is a high demand for forest products or conflict between local people and protected areas.

Duration

27 mins

Distributors ref

124890W

Title

Saving the wooden rhino: ethnobotanical methods and Kenya’s woodcarving industry

Synopsis

Commercial wood carving is widespread in many parts of the world. In many cases, this has led to localized depletion of favored wood species such as Polyscias fulva in Cameroon, Dalbergia melanoxylon (ebony) in Malawi, Santalum (sandalwood) in India or Intsia bijuga and Cordia subcordata in Vanuatu and other Pacific islands. This video illustrates the history of the woodcarving trade in Kenya and the current challenges which woodcarvers face if this highly successful economic enterprise is to be sustained. With 60,000 woodcarvers involved and an annual export value of about US$20 million per year, the massive trade in high quality woodcarvings has led to depletion of favored wood stocks. The video illustrates methods used by Kenyan researchers in collaboration with woodcarvers to understand the problem and work towards solutions to the decreasing supply of favored hardwoods. A key theme running through the video is the remarkable story of this trade told by Mzee James Mukula in his own words (Kikamba) with sub-titles in English. Mr. Mukula points the way to a more sustainable future for the Kenyan woodcarving industry.

Duration

25 mins

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124886W

Title

Carvers, conservation and consumers

Synopsis

Solutions to conservation problems not only rest in the hands of people living near or directly using resources. Where commercial trade is concerned, conservation and sustainable resource use are firmly in the hands of exporters, importers and tourists buying local products. These may be people living many thousands of kilometers away, unaware of the harm that their well-intentioned buying is doing to the environment. This video gives an introduction to the Kenyan woodcarving industry, and the conservation and development issues surrounding it. It suggest three actions that tourists, exporters and importers can take to help both woodcarvers and conservation.

Duration

11 mins

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124892W

Title

Medicinal plants in the hidden land of Dolpo: working with Himalayan healers at Shey Phoksundo National Park

Synopsis

Tibetan health-care traditions and their links to landscape and culture are central to the medicinal plants conservation programme supported in Shey Phoksundo National Park in the alpine meadows of the Eastern Himalaya, Nepal. With the cultural perception that people’s health is linked to that of the environment, medicinal plants conservation and health care are closely interrelated in the Dolpo region. In addition, local traditional healers, or amchis, are not only responsible for provision of health care but also for environmental management, such as the regulation of grazing in alpine pastures. The new challenge being faced is a large-scale commercial trade of medicinal plants from this area of Nepal to India and elsewhere, with at least 40 tonnes of medicinal plants exported from the Shey Phoksundo National Park area in 1996/97. An example given in this video is the reduction of local self-sufficiency in popular and effective herbal medicines such as Nardostachys grandiflora and Picrorhiza scrophulariifolia. The video portrays the work of the "People and Plants" project which since 1997 has been studying systems of management used for medicinal plants by local amchis and investigating how they can be strengthened. It has been shown on television in Nepal and has also been used by conservation and development agencies.

Duration

26 mins

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124884W

Title

People and plants in practice

Synopsis

This video shows some of the practical outcomes of the global "People and Plants Initiative" for field conservation, starting with botanical inventory, as one of the most basic, yet most necessary steps for conservation and resource management. It then illustrates the types of approaches taken in combining training and research on solutions to field conservation problems. It covers "People and Plants" projects in Africa, Asia and the South Pacific where applied ethnobotanical work takes places in key sites representing 8 of the Global 200 priority ecoregions, five of which are critically endangered. Because the link between people and plants is so fundamental to the conservation of both biological and cultural diversity, it concentrates on the core of our capacity building: training in applied ethnobotany, providing people with cross-disciplinary skills highly relevant to conservation action. The video ends with an answer to the question: what happens when the "People and Plants Initiative" ends?

Duration

25 mins

Distributors ref

124888W

Sponsor

Name

WWF - Pakistan

Distributor

Name

Natural History Book Service

Phone

01803 865913

Fax

01803 865280

Address

203 Wills Road
Totnes
Devon
TQ9 5XN