The Future Is in the Younger Generations : Baka Children in Southeast Cameroon Have Extensive Knowledge on Medicinal Plants
Gallois, Sandrine (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
van Andel, Tinde (Wageningen University)
Ambassa, Appolinaire (Baka Community (Cameroon))
van Bemmel, Stijn (Leiden University)

Date:	2024
Abstract:	In the context of global change, understanding the knowledge and values given to plants is crucial for choosing relevant approaches towards a more sustainable future. Children are central holders of ethnobotanical knowledge, yet they are still under-considered in ethnobotany. Our study explored the medicinal knowledge of children of the Baka, forager-horticulturalists from Cameroon. We assessed the diversity of medicinal plants they know, the different ailments treated, and whether they could name complete herbal recipes. Using a mixed-methods approach, we combined ex situ interviews (freelisting and knowledge surveys) with in situ methods (walk-in-the-woods trips with voucher collection) with 106 children from 5 to 16 years old. They listed 128 local names of medicinal plants, which we linked to 126 different plant species. While the ex situ and in situ methods had some overlap in the diversity of medicinal plants reported, they also revealed substantial knowledge unique to each method. Our insights provide further evidence of children's considerable ethnobotanical knowledge and the extent to which different field methods can retrieve such knowledge. We discuss the methodological tools to be developed with and for children to put childhood at the center stage of ethnobotanical approaches for the future.
Grants:	Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación CEX2019-000940-M Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca BP2020-00216 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2021/SGR-00182
Note:	Altres ajuts: acords transformatius de la UAB
Note:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-M
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Congo Basin ; Ethnobotany ; Ethnomedicine ; Indigenous Peoples ; Pygmies
Published in:	Economic botany, Vol. 78, issue 1 (March 2024) , p. 15-31, ISSN 1874-9364
Related work:	Gallois, Sandrine; van Andel, Tinde; Ambassa, Appolinaire; van Bemmel, Stijn, 2025, "Replication data for: The future is in the younger generations: Baka children in Southeast Cameroon have extensive knowledge on medicinal plants", CORA.Repositori de Dades de Recerca https://doi.org/10.34810/data2040

DOI: 10.1007/s12231-023-09589-4

17 p, 1.1 MB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles