Conservation Threats to Ethnomedicinal plants in Kore District, South Eastern, Ethiopia

Abstract

The study aimed to investigate the threats to the biodiversity of ethnomedicinal plants and to find consensus information on conservation and management practices of ethnomedicinal plants to contribute sustainable utilization of ethnomedicinal plants in Kore district, Southeastern Ethiopia. The result of the survey revealed that sixty-one medicinal plants were reported by the informants from the study area. These plants are distributed in 59 genera and 37 families. Family Lamiaceae and Asteraceae were represented by 5 (8.2%) species for each family and this is the highest number of species and followed by 4 (6.5%) species of Solanaceae and Fabaceae for each family. Preference ranking analysis shows that Eucalyptus globulus scored 47, indicating that it is the most used plant for firewood in the community, followed by Olea europaea (45) and the least used plant for firewood is Juniperus procera scored 36. Paired comparison analysis showed that Olea Europeae ranked first followed by Podocarpus falcatus for the use of charcoal production in the study area. The major purposes of plant species in the study area were construction, Charcoal, Firewood, Furniture, and Fences as well as for medicinal uses. Based on direct matrix ranking analysis Juniperus procera, Eucalyptus globulus, Podocarpus falactus, Olea europaea, Hagenia abyssinica, Croton macrostachyus, and Cordia africana were the most preferred medicinal plants by local people in the study area. The analysis's findings indicated that anthropogenic influences are endangering medicinal plants. In this study area, only about 13% of medicinal plants are collected from home gardens. This shows that the effort made by the community to conserve medicinal plants is not satisfactory. Therefore, encouraging NGOs and Government offices to participate in the conservation of medicinal plants to encourage the local people to plant indigenous trees for domestic use is necessary.