The Importance of Keeping Alive Sustainable Foraging Practices: Wild Vegetables and Herbs Gathered by Afghan Refugees Living in Mansehra District, Pakistan

Ajmal K. Manduzai, Arshad M. Abbasi, Shujaul M. Khan, Abdullah Abdullah, Julia Prakofjewa, Mohammad H. Amini, Muhammad S. Amjad, Kevin Cianfaglione, Michele F. Fontefrancesco, Renata Soukand and Andrea Pieroni
Additional contact information
Ajmal K. Manduzai: Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus, University Road, Abbottabad 22060, Pakistan
Arshad M. Abbasi: Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus, University Road, Abbottabad 22060, Pakistan
Shujaul M. Khan: Department of Plant Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad 45320, Pakistan
Abdullah Abdullah: Department of Plant Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad 45320, Pakistan
Julia Prakofjewa: Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Via Torino 155, 30172 Mestre, Italy
Mohammad H. Amini: Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Kabul University, Jamal Mina, Kabul 1006, Afghanistan
Muhammad S. Amjad: Department of Botany, Women University of Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Bagh 12500, Pakistan
Kevin Cianfaglione: UMR UL/AgroParisTech/INRAE 1434 Silva, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Université de Lorraine, BP 70239, CEDEX 54506 Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France
Michele F. Fontefrancesco: University of Gastronomic Sciences, Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II 9, 12042 Pollenzo, Italy
Renata Soukand: Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Via Torino 155, 30172 Mestre, Italy
Andrea Pieroni: University of Gastronomic Sciences, Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II 9, 12042 Pollenzo, Italy

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 3, 1-17

Abstract: The issue of foraging for wild food plants among migrants and relocated communities is an important one in environmental studies, especially in order to understand how human societies rearrange their practices linked to nature and how they adapt to new socioecological systems. This paper addresses the complexity of Traditional/Local Environmental Knowledge (LEK) changes associated to wild vegetables and herbs across four different groups of Afghan refugees living in Mansehra District, NW Pakistan, since 1985. Via interviews with eighty study participants, forty-eight wild vegetables and herbs were recorded, representing both the past and present wild plant gastronomic heritage. The majority of the quoted wild plant ingredients were only remembered and no longer actively used, thus suggesting an important erosion of LEK. Moreover, the number of wild vegetables and herbs currently used by Afghan Pashtuns engaged in farming activities is much higher than those reported by the other groups. The findings indicate that practiced LEK, i.e., knowledge that is continuously kept alive via constant contact with the natural environment, is essential for the resilience of the biocultural heritage, which is, however, also influenced by the rearrangement of social life adopted by refugees after relocation.

Keywords: wild food plants; herbal teas; ethnobotany; LEK; Afghans; refugees; Pakistan; cultural adaptation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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