Ethnobotanical Study of Traditional Building Materials from the Island of Bali, Indonesia

Abstract

Ethnobotanical Study of Traditional Building Materials from the Island of Bali, Indonesia. Local knowledge of plant-based building materials has long been part of Balinese tradition. In order to better understand this particular tradition, we carried out a comprehensive ethnobotanical study of 13 aga villages. The data were obtained through semi-structured interviews and questionnaires. Seventy-eight species of plants were identified, comprising 63 genera and 34 families, of which 46% are native to the Flora Malesiana floristic region, 20% to the Indian floristic region, and 17% to the Indochinese floristic region. Ninety-one percent were trees. The most frequently used part was the stem (88%). The main use categories reported for building materials were houses (58%), religious uses (Balinese Hindu temple; 35%), stables (5%), and barns (2%). Thirty-eight percent appeared in more than one use category. Arenga pinnata (Wurmb) Merr. and Magnolia champaca (L.) Baill. ex Pierre were the two species that possessed the highest values in the preference ranking for use value (UV) followed by Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam. Species richness differed substantially between villages according to their different levels of traditional knowledge preservation. Despite the impact of the fast-growing tourist industry and the decline of local knowledge, the Balinese who live in the study areas still depend on locally available indigenous plant species for their building materials. The cultivation of these indigenous plants is in a period of crisis, especially with regard to conservation.