Emily Kiplagat
Other projects
30 Jun 2016
Ethno-Botanical Study of Indigenous Knowledge on Use and Management of Medicinal Floral Species by Local People in Baringo County, Kenya
16 Apr 2018
Ethnobotany & Conservation: Incorporating Traditional Herbalists and Local Schools in the Management & Conservation of Medicinal Plants, Baringo County-Kenya
Applied ethno-botany undertaken previously and supported by the Rufford Foundation established that:
I. Traditional medicinal plants are declining due to over-harvesting, habitat destruction etc.
II. Herbal medicines are severely affected by competing resource uses such as logging, commercial harvesting, fuel etc.
III. Modernization is eroding local peoples’ culture and culture/traditions associated with medicinal plants are fading. This project therefore proposes the following conservation strategies.
Poorly harvested grown Olea Africana.
1) Promoting ex-situ conservation to ensure that the medicinal plant cover is increased and conserved within farmlands.
2) Training of farmers and herbalist to create awareness on care and sustainable harvesting for posterity.
3) promoting in-situ conservation through introducing beehives on the medicinal plants to ensure that representative wild populations of locally vulnerable species are maintained in critical conservation areas and reduce over- reliance on natural habitats etc.
4) Linking herbalists with research institutions will build a relationship in order to come up with value addition product of medicinal plants in future and to minimize post harvest waste through poor handing in the process of packaging.
5) establishing medicinal herb/plant garden at Museum to; a) integrate indigenous knowledge into conservation, b) grow medicinal plants for use and spread knowledge of their importance, c) offer local knowledge of medicinal plant use, d) reflect the long‐standing tradition of conserving/using plant for healthcare and e) ignite understanding why forests and habitats are important and need conserving. The strategies are particularly relevant in Baringo where medicinal plants/associated habitats have been seriously depleted due to over-exploitation and habitat destruction.
Header: The richness of biodiversity in Tugen Hills, Baringo County.