Thạc Sĩ The study of ethnomedicine of chu ru and raglai ethnic groups in phuoc binh national park, ninh thua

INTRODUCTION

Since always, people have used their environment, especially plants, as sources of food, medicine, construction, fuel-wood, fodder or household articles.
The earliest documented uses of plants for medicinal purposes were found in Babylon circa 1770 B.C. and in ancient Egypt circa 1550 B.C. Plants found within the Giza pyramids proved that ancient Egyptians believed that medicinal plants had a role in the spiritual afterlife of their pharaohs. In times of war, the Roman soldiers sought local herbalists to take care of their troops’ health [60]. Day after day, the indigenous people of different localities in the world have accumulated highly valuable knowledge and experience of using surrounding plants for medicinal purpose which led to the abundance of traditional medicine skills all around the world. However, this term is usually either misunderstood or misused describing a “cheap” medicine practiced by people who have no access to professional medical services or a folk medicine practiced simply because of the lack of sophisticated means for self-medication. This definition suggests that the traditional medicine is worse quality than Western medicine whereas it is highly valuable knowledge resulting from a long process of summarization of the local people self-experience [60].
The widespread use of the common folk medicine is an important reality in most countries around the world. In some Asian and African countries, about 80% of the population relies predominantly on plants and plant preparation for primary health care [67], [94]. In addition, of the top 150-patented drugs currently marketed in the United States of America, 57% contain at least on major active compound purified or derived from plants [89].
In Vietnam, according to the non-exhaustive survey of the Institute of Medicine (Ministry of Health), at the end of 2005, there are 3948 species of plants and mushrooms used as medicinal drugs. About origin and distribution, over 85% species are in the forest habitats and mostly used by folk experience (Project Support specialized non-timber forest products in Vietnam - stage II, 2007) [29]. Only about 20-30% of total species have been assessed for their therapeutic activity and mechanism of action indicating that many species may have their medicinal value not been discovered yet.
Unfortunately, traditional medicinal plants and indigenous knowledge nowadays face the risk of oblivion because most of them are only transmitted orally from generation to generation. In addition to the changes in the economy, culture and society such as the neglect of the younger generation to inherit the precious knowledge of her family, the overexploitation of the nature seriously threatens medicinal plant resources [60], [79].
Although they reside in this area since a long time and have a close relationship with forests, Chu Ru and Raglai ethnic groups interactions with their environment were poorly studied. Some researches have been conducted on biodiversity or nontimber products generally, but none study the plants used in traditional medicine by those minorities. Therefore, this project relies firstly on the necessity of conserving the folk knowledge in using plants for medicinal purposes of Chu Ru and Raglai people in Ph!"c Bình National Park, Ninh Thu#n Province. At this aim, the present study consisted into carefully documenting and building up a database of medicinal plants used by the local people. Those data would be thereafter compared to other places in Vietnam or elsewhere from both therapeutic use and phytochemical point of views, in order to rationalise and validate their traditional knowledge.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . ii
ABSTRACT (ENGLISH) . iii
ABSTRACT (VIETNAMESE) . v
TABLE OF CONTENTS . vii
LIST OF TABLES . xii
LISTS OF FIGURES xiv
INTRODUCTION . 1
CHAPTER 1. LITERATURE REVIEW . 3
1.1 Ethnomedicine - A subdiscipline of Ethnobotany . 3
1.1.1 Definitions 3
1.1.2 Quantification in Ethnobotany or Quantitative Ethnobotany . 4
1.1.3 Traditional medicine and Western medicine: conflict and cooperation . 5
1.1.4 Some trends in ethnomedical studies . 6
1.2 Vietnamese traditional medicine . 8
1.2.1 History of traditional medicine in Vietnam 8
1.2.2 Medicinal plants in Vietnam 10
1.3 Chu Ru and Raglai ethnic minorities 14
1.3.1 Malayo-Polyenesian ethnic group 14
1.3.2 Chu Ru people 16
1.3.3 Raglai people 19
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CHAPTER 2. METHODOLOGY 22
2.1 Aim of the study 22
2.2 Scope of the study . 22
2.3 Contents of the study 22
2.4 Study period 23
2.5 Study area 23
2.5.1 Physical features 23
2.5.1.1 Geography . 23
2.5.1.2 Geomorphology . 24
2.5.1.3 Climate and hydrology . 24
2.5.1.4 Soil condition . 25
2.5.1.5 Soil utilization and vegetation cover of forest . 26
2.5.1.6 Flora 27
2.5.1.7 Fauna . 27
2.5.2 Economical and social characters . 28
2.5.2.1 Economical and social situation
in the core zone of the National Park . 28
2.5.2.2 Economical and social situation in the buffer zone . 28
2.6 Study population 30
2.6.1 Chu Ru and Raglai community in Ph#$c Bình National Park,
Bác Ái District, Ninh Thu,n Province 30
2.6.2 Study hamlets . 32
2.7 Materials 32
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2.8 Study methodology . 32
2.8.1 Communicating with local people 33
2.8.2 Collecting information about ethnical medicinal plants . 33
2.8.2.1 Semi-structured interviews 33
2.8.2.2 Field trips . 34
2.8.2.3 Questionnaire interviews . 35
2.8.3 Collecting and processing samples 36
2.8.3.1 Sample collecting . 36
2.8.3.2 Sample processing . 37
2.8.3.3 Botanical identification 37
2.8.4 Database building 38
2.8.5 Data analysis and comparison 39
2.8.6 Calculating Informant Consensus Factor (ICF) of medicinal plants 39
CHAPTER 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 41
3.1 Biology of medicinal plants in the study area . 41
3.1.1 Distribution of taxa of medicinal plants . 41
3.1.2 Growing form of medicinal plants . 45
3.1.3 Habitat of medicinal plants 46
3.2 Medicinal plants used by Chu Ru and Raglai ethnic groups 48
3.2.1 Demography of local informants 48
3.2.2 Medicinal plants reported by the local informants . 51
3.2.3 Indigenous nomenclature . 58
3.2.4 Local affections and therapeutic pathway 62
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3.2.4.1 Local affections 62
3.2.4.2 Therapeutic pathway 68
3.2.5 Medicinal plants . 72
3.2.6 Plant parts used . 80
3.2.7 Preparation, route and dosage of administration 83
3.2.8 Transmission of the traditional knowledge in study area . 89
3.2.9 Comparison of medicinal plants used reports 93
3.2.9.1 Informants consensus - ICF value . 93
3.2.9.2 Principal species used to treat digestive ailments:
A case of parallel use between Chu Ru and Raglai groups . 97
3.2.10 Comparison of medicinal uses reported in specific related literature 99
3.2.11 Trade of medicinal plants in the local area . 104
3.2.12 Conservation of medicinal plants: An important issue 105
CHAPTER 4. CONCLUSION AND OUTLOOKS 107
REFERENCES
APPENDIX 1: LIST OF MEDICINAL PLANTS USED BY CHU RU (C) AND
RAGLAI (R) PEOPLE
APPENDIX 2: DATA ANALYSIS
APPENDIX 3: RESULTS OF COMPARISON OF MEDICINAL USES
APPENDIX 4: SOME PICTURES OF MEDICINAL PLANTS