Hmong conservation; lessons in ethnobotany from the elders of Long Lan, Luang Prabang, Lao People's Democratic Republic

Hmong conservation; lessons in ethnobotany from the elders of Long Lan, Luang Prabang, Lao People's Democratic Republic

Author(s): 
Whitney, Cory - Rhine Waal University of Applied Sciences
Vang Sin Min (Meej Vaj) - Hmong, Young Indigenous Ethnic Minority Leadership Program/ Mekong Community Networking and Ecological Trading, Si Ma Cai, Vietnam
Lê Hồng Giang - Social Policy Ecology Research Institute, Hanoi, Vietnam
Vu Van Can - Social Policy Ecology Research Institute, Hanoi, Vietnam
Keith Barber - Waikato University, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Hamilton, New Zealand
Tran Thi Lanh - Social Policy Ecology Research Institute, Hanoi, Vietnam

In 2012 and 2013 participatory ethnobotany explorations were undertaken with herbalists from the Hmong ethnic group of Long Lan village, in Luang Prabang, Lao People's Democratic Republic. These investigations into the knowledge and experience of indigenous elders of Long Lan and surrounding villages sought to identify the relationship between the spiritual-cultural practices and livelihood uses of indigenous plants and their conservation. Information about 74 indigenous plant species of 49 families was recorded including 25 herbs (17 perennial, 8 annual), 20 trees, 17 shrubs, 10 climbers, and 2 ferns. Analysis of quantitative ethnobotany scores indicated positive trends between uses and conservation practices for indigenous plants. The study suggests that the traditional Hmong cultural uses for plants may be a mechanism for the conservation of biodiversity in the rapidly deteriorating forests of Luang Prabang in the Lao People's Democratic Republic.