Traditional knowledge about medicinal plant in the remote areas of Wari Tehsil, Dir Upper, Pakistan

Traditional medicine is cheaper and easily available to local people, to care for most frequent diseases in the Northern parts of Pakistan. Our study aimed at inventorying medicine from local plants, documenting their uses, and assessing their market value in 2015-2018 during spring, summer, and winter seasons. A total of 15 trips were made, 5 in each season. Semi-structured interviews with 165 inhabitant’s age range between 20-80 years were conducted, analyzed the data is analyzed using Relative frequency of citation(RFC), Use Value(UV), Fidelity Level(FL), Informants consensus factor(ICF), and Jaccard index(JI) to find the most frequent and well-known used species in the area. A total of 86 species belonging to 39 vascular plant families, 33 genera were documented as medicinally important. Family Asteraceae was observed as the dominant family among all the families with 10 species, the leaf was the most used parts and decoction 36% was the most preferred preparation type. Herb was the predominant life form (67%). The maximum UV (0.92) was demonstrated by J. adhatoda L. species, while A. sativum L. shows maximum RFC (0.58), the highest ICF value represented by diarrhea and dermatitis 0.92, and high FL value is recorded 100%. According to our collections, wild species were 45%, invasive species were 38% and cultivated 17% recorded, dicots species were recorded more 81%. Seven 7 medicinal species is being economically important and export to the local and international market of the world, whereas P. integrima L. species were the most exported species according to the local dealers. The investigated area is rural and the local people depend on the area's plants for their health needs, and other uses like a vegetable, fuelwood, fodder, etc. The current result of RFC, UV, ICF, FL, and JI shows that medicinal flora needs to be pharmacologically and phytochemically investigated to prove their efficacy. The documentation of medicinal knowledge is important to preserve this precious old knowledge before it is lost forever, due to technological and environmental changes in the world.

Community awareness and participation in biodiversity conservation at Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, Vietnam

Truong DD. 2021. Community awareness and participation in biodiversity conservation at Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, Vietnam. Biodiversitas 23: 583-594. Local community's perception and attitude towards biodiversity conservation are essential to the sustainable management of national parks in Vietnam. The conservation of biodiversity in national parks is facing pressures from economic development activities, which has led to the degradation of the ecological values ??of the national parks. People's awareness and their participation in conservation management are crucial to the sustainable management of national parks. This study examined the awareness and participation of local people in biodiversity conservation at Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park (PN-KBNP), Vietnam. PN-KB is one of the national parks with the highest biodiversity values ??in Vietnam and is recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage site. To assess participation in conservation management, the study implemented a Contingent Valuation Method for estimating the willingness to pay of households in the buffer zone for biodiversity conservation in PN-KBNP. A survey was implemented to 358 households randomly selected in five communes adjacent to the park. Focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with selected key informants were also practiced for the management of insight information. The result showed that local villagers generally hold a fairly high perception of biodiversity values and positive attitudes towards biodiversity conservation at PN-KBNP. This positive perception comes from the close interaction between household livelihoods and the national park on a daily basis. However, awareness of national park management rules are not high. In addition, local people are willing to sacrifice part of their income to conserve biodiversity for current and future generations. On an average, each household was willing to pay 297,000 VND/year for biodiversity conservation. Payment levels, age, length of residency and education were observed to significantly impact on villagers' participation in biodiversity conservation initiatives. The balance between development and conservation was found to be the key in Park management, where communities need to be given more power to plan, monitor and implement conservation activities while establishing clear forest land user right for households and communities.

Bamboo Connection Technology for Lightweight Structures

Bamboo construction is often related to traditional and vernacular architecture, which is found mostly in rural areas, where, for the construction, local people apply diverse techniques learned in an empirical way and passed on from generation to generation. However, in the last years, many modern constructions with bamboo have been developed around the world. At the same time, many connections have been designed for permanent and ephemerals lightweight structures. However, most of them do not have standardization and mechanical testing, because it is expensive or there are no means to do it. Therefore, it is required to create a technology classification for the most used existing connections, starting with the traditional way to join canes until the contemporary connections developed with high technology. In this context, connections are a challenge to be developed, as currently there is no normative in bamboo to follow and create standardization.

Berteologi Kontekstual dari Mitos Plai Long Diang Yung

The focus of this study is on theological reflection on the myth of Plai Long Diang Yung which is contained in the culture of the Dayak Wehea people. This myth has a special and central place in the life of the local people and is the origin of the Lom Plai celebration which is the culmination of all traditional celebrations and rituals. This myth has an important meaning in people's lives and talks about many things related to human existence, nature and God. With this fact, the myth can become a locus theologic that can enrich the reflection of the Church's faith and root the faith in culture and culture in the light of faith. The method used in this paper is based on the results of critical reading of the mythical text of Plai Long Diang Yung and the Christian Tradition text. This study found that the myth of Plai Long Diang Yung contained a very rich theological meaning which spoke of Christ, salvation and God who is not limited to human sexuality.

Local Participation in Community Based Development Projects in Ghana

The study critically analyses how the local people in Ga West municipality perceive local participation and socio-cultural factors that influence local participation. The study used the mixed method design. The lottery method of the simple random sampling technique coupled with Neuman and Neuman’s (2006) recommendation on random convenience sampling were used to sample and collect data from 187 respondents. The study revealed that local participation provides the local people employment avenues. It was revealed that developmental projects brought to their communities do not allow the local people to be involved at the planning and implementation phases. The study further revealed that women were of the opinion that projects brought to them were not feminine enough and did not build their capacity. Education, social cohesion, peace and stability were among some of the sociocultural factors that influence participation. The study again recommended that every community member should participate, regardless of their gender, ethnic group or socio-cultural differences.

Can Community Education Promote Community Participation in the Local Economic Development (LED) Activities in this Era of 2019-nCoV

The 2019-nCoV has come as an unexpected wicked challenge especially to the vulnerable ones as it has significantly affected the local economic development (LED) activities of many local people in communities of South Africa. In this chapter, the role of community education as a problem-solving measure in promoting community participation in LED will be explored as limited participation in those activities prevail especially in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic. The study provides the challenges posed by the limited participation in the communities and the economy and explains how the local participation is important through community education (CE) programmes in LED activities. Since community education indeed plays a huge role in enhancing community participation in LED activities, the government officials, policymakers and others need to work closely with local people so that they can understand the essence of socio-economic issues that communities daily encounter in the wake of the pandemic.

Evaluation of land cover changes and secondary ecological succession of typical agroforestry landscapes in Phu Yen Province

The study of land cover changes as well as landscape succession has theoretical and practical significance. Determining the characteristics, causes, and trends of the changes and succession of a landscape allows for assessing the natural and human characteristics of the territory. On this basis, appropriate solutions and policies in resource management, socioeconomic development, and environmental protection are available for each locality. Applying and integrating remote sensing data with field investigations and surveys improves the accuracy and reliability of research results. From the establishment of a land cover change map based on land cover map data collected in 2010, 2015, and 2020, variations in the land cover types of Phu Yen Province were observed. In the period 2010–2015, the area of natural forests and grasslands, shrubs, and bare lands decreased rapidly, whereas the covered areas of intentionally planted forests, industrial trees, and crops increased significantly. The secondary ecological succession of the agroforestry landscape of Phu Yen Province in the last 50–60 years occurred under the strong influence of human activities. Under the impact of chemical warfare and policies and farming practices of the local people, several evergreen broad-leaved tropical forest landscape units have undergone four to six stages of succession, with the interweaving of the economic development policy of Phu Yen Province and farming practices of the local people, making the structure and length of each period and succession very different.

Crowdsourcing Translation for Community-Based Tourism Empowerment in Thailand

English has not only become a lingua franca for global communication, but it also carries a symbolic power that influences local people and stakeholders in community-based tourism (CBT) in Thailand. Thai villagers encounter communicative challenges due to their limited English proficiency. Thai-English speaking tour guides are valued, as they provide translation services on behalf of CBT members whose interactions with foreign tourists are minimal and marginalized. Losses in translation regarding local wisdom and heritage are inevitably unavoidable. This chapter addresses a conceptual model of crowdsourcing translation for CBT. The study hopes that the sociolinguistic and cultural gaps can be bridged for the enhancement of other CBT communities. Crowdsourcing in the form of collaborative translation and volunteering translators' efforts can potentially provide an alternative lens for possible translation scenarios. Tourism operators and stakeholders can apply these practices to assist the local people to promote lesser-known tourist attractions in remote areas in Thailand.

Utility Value Criteria in Selection of Species for Sustainable Reclamation of Silica Mining Area

Silica sand mining in Shankargarh, Prayagraj, India area has led to extensive ecological destruction, environmental degradation and erosion of traditional values in the society. Therefore, an integrated organic and socioeconomic approach is urgently required to bioreclaim degraded mine sites.The most common problems linked with degraded land rehabilitation failures are frequently associated with improper selection of plantation species. Subsistence utility preferences of local people are major acclaimed and convincing reasons in the selection of valuable tree species for Bioreclamation. Socioeconomic Survey were carried out in the nearby villages of Silica mining area to study the existing resources of the area, social structure of the community, dependence on forest and species preferred by the local people. Consequently, a Utility Value Index (UVI) framework was conceptualized, designed and subsequently developed to identify species preferred by the local people and highly valued for supporting their livelihood.