Livelihood and Revenue; role of rattans among Mongoloid tribes and settlers of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India

Livelihood and Revenue; role of rattans among Mongoloid tribes and settlers of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India

Session: 
Comparative Landscape Ethnoecology: Changes in Space and Time
Date and Time: 
Friday, 17 May, 2013 - 14:30 to 14:50
Author(s): 
UMAPATHY, Senthilkumar- Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Royal Enclave, Srirampura, Jakkur PO, Bangalore-560 064, India
R.K, CHOUDHARY- Botanical Survey of India, CGO Complex, Salt Lake City, Kolkata-700 064, India
M, Sanjappa- Department of Botany, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bangalore-560 065, India
D, Narasimhan- Centre for Floristic Research, Department of Plant Biology and Plant Biotechnology, Madras Christian College, East Tambaram, Chennai-600 059, India
R, Umashaanker- Department of Crop Physiology, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bangalore-560 065, India
G, Ravikanth- Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Royal Enclave, Srirampura, Jakkur PO, Bangalore-560 064, India

 

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands, located in the Andaman Sea between peninsular India and Indo-Malaya are part of two of the 34 mega diversity hotspots of the world. These islands are characterized by their unique vegetation types such as littoral, mangroves, wet and semi-evergreen and rain forests and also for being the home for six aboriginal tribes of Negrito and Mongoloid descent. The islands are also home to a number of migrants and ‘settlers’ from the Indian mainland and Myanmar (Burma). In this paper, we address the ethnic utilization of rattans, the unique climbing palms, 12 of the total 19 species are endemic to these islands. In this study, besides the ethnic uses, we answered for the reasons of high variations in the revenue flow among traders such as collectors, processors and exporters due to the distant oceanic trade and an ingenuity of the intermediaries involved in the trade.