Prioritization of Loita Maasai medicinal plants for conservation

Jedidah Nankaya,Nathan Gichuki,Henrik Balslev,Catherine Lukhoba

doi:10.1007/s10531-021-02116-8

Jedidah Nankaya, Nathan Gichuki + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-021-02116-8

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Abstract

Medicinal plants provide biodiversity-based ecosystem services including health to many communities around the world and therefore, medicinal plant conservation is vital for sustainability. Here, we identify medicinal plants to be prioritized for conservation among the Loita Maasai who are pastoralists in the extensive East African savannah. A botanical survey and interviews were conducted with 91 villagers; 49 women and 42 men drawn randomly from 45 households. A conservation priority list was developed based on (1) the plant part harvested, (2) the species use value, and (3) its availability. These criteria were evaluated independently for each species on a scale from 1 to 4 and their sum was taken as the species’ score. The score for the species varied from 5 to 9. The higher the total score value of a species, the higher its priority for conservation. Among the medicinal plants used by the community, 20 species were shortlisted as regularly used and found around the village. Out of these, 12 species that had scores above seven were considered top priority for conservation. A total of 1179 use reports were obtained from the villagers and they were placed in 12 use categories as defined in the International Classification of Primary Care system. Plants used to treat digestive system disorder had most use reports (21%), followed by the muscular skeletal disorders (20%). This study identified 12 medicinal plant species that should be given conservation priority to make them available for the wellbeing of the people and sustainability of ecosystem products and services. An assessment of medicinal plants species using standard ecological methods is recommended.

Highlights

Ongoing environmental degradation, climate change, urbanization, habitat destruction, etc. (Anyinam 1995; Voeks and Leony 2004), threaten the future availability of medicinal plants most of which are collected from the wild
The Loita Maasai are the custodians of their natural resources, including the Naimina Enkiyio forest which is their main source of medicinal plants (Nankaya et al 2019), water, firewood, and it is home to a variety of wildlife species, such as elephants, buffalos, wildebeests and zebras
A total of 1179 use reports were obtained from the local villagers and were placed in 12 use categories as defined in the International Classification of Primary Care (ICPC) system

Summary

Introduction

Climate change, urbanization, habitat destruction, etc. (Anyinam 1995; Voeks and Leony 2004), threaten the future availability of medicinal plants most of which are collected from the wild. The demand for medicinal plant species has increased as people prefer to use natural medicinal plants for their health needs, resulting in heavy exploitation of species with medicinal value. Because of the high demand, some of these species are subjected to destructive harvesting practices resulting in unsustainable exploitation (Dhar et al 2000; Singh and Dey 2005). In developing countries such as Kenya, approximately 80% of the rural population relies on medicinal plants for medication (WHO 2002). The continuous use of medicinal plants around the world, has contributed to an accumulation of a wealth of local knowledge (Srithi et al 2009) which has been used to inform conservation measures for protection and management of natural biodiversitybased resources (Berkes et al 2000; Mackinson and Nottestad 1998; Huntington 2000)

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