Growing up in the Betsileo landscape: Children's wild edible plants knowledge in Madagascar.

Vincent Porcher,Herizo Randriambanona,Victoria Reyes-García,Verohanitra M Rafidison,Stéphanie M Carrière,Sandrine Gallois,Ulysses Paulino Albuquerque

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0264147

Abstract

Understanding local knowledge about wild edible plants (WEP) is essential for assessing plant services, reducing the risks of knowledge extinction, recognizing the rights of local communities, and improving biodiversity conservation efforts. However, the knowledge of specific groups such as women or children tends to be under-represented in local ecological knowledge (LEK) research. In this study, we explore how knowledge of WEP is distributed across gender and life stages (adults/children) among Betsileo people in the southern highlands of Madagascar. Using data from free listings with 42 adults and 40 children, gender-balanced, we show that knowledge on WEP differs widely across gender and life stage. In addition, we find that children have extended knowledge of WEP while reporting different species than adults. Women’s knowledge specializes in herbaceous species (versus other plant life forms), while men’s knowledge specializes in endemic species (versus native or introduced). Finally, we find that introduced species are more frequently cited by children, while adults cite more endemic species. We discuss the LEK differentiation mechanisms and the implications of acquiring life stage’s knowledge in the highland landscapes of Madagascar. Given our findings, we highlight the importance of considering groups with under-represented knowledge repositories, such as children and women, into future research.

Highlights

IntroductionAmong the numerous services provided by plants, food provision is probably the most important for humans [1, 2]
We focus on Madagascar because while local ecological knowledge (LEK) on wild edible plants (WEP) have been well studied in several megadiverse regions such as Amazonia [30] and New Guinea [31], Madagascar has received less attention, despite being a hotspot of biological and cultural diversity
Our results show that wild edible plant knowledge is differentially distributed among the Betsileo population in the study site

Summary

Introduction

Among the numerous services provided by plants, food provision is probably the most important for humans [1, 2]. For many Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLC), local ecological knowledge (LEK) about wild edible plants (WEP) allows maintaining local livelihood and cultural identity [3]. LEK about WEP is critical for safeguarding biocultural diversity and local resilience in times of food scarcity [4, 5]. LEK, is drastically threatened by multiple factors and rapid socio-ecological changes–e.g., habitat lost, or species and language extinction [6–8].

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Results

Discussion

Conclusion