Documenting the most widely utilized plants and the potential threats facing ethnobotanical practices in the Western Hajar Mountains, sultanate of Oman

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2021.104484Get rights and content

Highlights

  • The traditional use of plants in Oman's northern mountains is declining.

  • The dominant use of wild plants is for the preparation of traditional medicine.

  • The abundance and availability of useful plant species has declined in recent decades.

  • Ethnobotanical knowledge is held by village elders and appears to be diminishing.

  • Threats to useful plants in the northern mountains are outlined.

Abstract

The Sultanate of Oman has a rich human history, stretching back millennia, however little is known about the history of human – plant interactions, particularly within the ancient villages and communities in Oman's northern mountains. An ethnobotanical study to document the most utilized wild plant species in Oman's Western Hajar Mountains (Jabal Shams and Jabal Asarah) and assess the threats facing these species was carried out in 2016. Forty-two wild plant species were recorded. Life forms include, shrubs (25%), trees (22%), large shrubs (15%), grasses (8%), climbing plants (5%) and herbs (5%). Plant uses were divided as follows: medicinal (30%), fuel (14%), fodder (12%), food (9%), honey production (7%), construction (6%), and 4% each for utilitarian, tools, weapons and livestock care. Less than 1% of species were noted for their uses as dyes, perfumes and cosmetics. Twenty-seven plant families were represented; Rhamnaceae had the highest number of uses, followed in order by Fabaceae, Oleaceae, Asteraceae, and Lamiaceae. Wild plants play an important role in local communities in the Western Hajar Mountains. However, traditionally important plants, their uses and the associated traditional knowledge are under increasing threat from rapid socioeconomic development and local climate change patterns – reduced rainfall and increasing summer temperatures.

Introduction

Many societies have developed their own ethnobotanical knowledge through interactions with their surrounding environment (Furusawa 2009). The indigenous people in any society often possess a distinct knowledge of the utilization and management of plants to fulfill their needs (Acharya and Acharya 2010). Throughout the world, and particularly in developing countries wild plants are an important factor in the life of local communities (FAO 1999). Wild plants have been an integral part of life in Oman, particularly in the mountain areas where they have played a central role in human subsistence since the earliest times (Miller and Morris 1988).

Several important botanical studies have been conducted in Oman (Mandaville 1977, 1985; Miller and Morris 1988; Ghazanfar 1997, 2003, 2015; Patzelt 2004; Gebaur et al. 2007). Miller and Morris (1988) conducted a thorough investigation into traditional plant uses in the Dhofar region of southern Oman. Their work remains the most detailed ethnobotanical work. However, detailed information relating to ethnobotanical knowledge and the threats facing wild plants and their traditional uses within local communities, particularly in the Western Hajar Mountains in northern Oman remain poorly understood. Despite the potential for unearthing a rich tradition and the high risk of the loss of knowledge, the documentation of traditional plant uses throughout the rest of Oman is incomplete or entirely absent from the literature.

In Oman there are 1407 wild plant species (Patzelt 2015); 244 of these are considered rangeland or fodder plants for livestock (Nadaf et al. 2004). To the best of our knowledge the use of wild plants in Oman is driven by a broad local knowledge developed and assimilated over generations. Part of this knowledge is based on sustainable utilization of wild plants as foods, fuel, medicines, dyes, tanning agents, cosmetics, nectar for honey, as well as for building and construction materials. Although the use of wild plants among local people in the Western Hajar Mountains has gradually been eroded by on-going transformation under Oman's rapid modernization, many of the local people still rely on wild plants to meet their ecological, social, cultural and economic needs (Gebaur et al. 2007).

Throughout rural Oman specifically the mountain areas, the increase in the number of goats and feral donkeys, the rapid expansion of infrastructural services, such as road construction, housing, and drought pose a serious threat to habitat and plant diversity, particularly in the Western Hajar Mountains (Ghazanfar, 1997; Al-Wardy 2009). In addition to direct anthropogenic pressure, changes in local climate patterns have the potential to significantly alter the ecology and thus negatively impact regional biodiversity. Analysis of climate trends over the last three decades (1979–2012) indicate that the northern mountains in Oman have undergone an increase in mean temperature of 0.27 °C/decade and an increase in minimum temperature of 0.79 °C/decade; a decrease in annual precipitation of 9.4 mm/decade has been recorded (Al-Kalbani et al., 2015).

Here we focus on two elements: (1) documentation of the most commonly used wild plants – historic and contemporary in two locations in the Western Hajar Mountains and (2) the investigation of local perceptions pertaining to the declining use and availability of wild plants.

Section snippets

Study area

The study sites are in Northern Oman, between 023° 11’ N and 057° 08′ E (Jabal Shams) and 23° 18′ N and 57° 06′ E (Jabal Asarah) in the Western Hajar Mountains. They cover an area approximately 180 km2 - at elevations between 600 m and 2900 m (Fig. 1). Jabal Shams and Jabal Asarah are structurally part of the northern Hajar Mountains, stretching from Ras Al Had in the east along the Gulf of Oman northward to the tip of Musandam. They are composed largely of exposed bare carbonate rocks;

Interviewee selection

In total 20 interview sessions were conducted, which included 78 participants, ranging in age and gender (Table 1) The interviews included some specialist groups (traditional healers, livestock breeders and craftsmen) The duration of each interview was from one to two hours.

Species composition

Forty-two wild plant taxa were identified as being the most widely utilized plants in Jabal Shams and Jabal Asarah. Twenty-seven plant families are represented, the most species rich families are, Fabaceae and Apocynaceae

Conclusions

The rugged Western Hajar Mountains in Oman are a unique and fragile ecosystem with high biodiversity richness, including a rich floral diversity with high levels of endemism. The pastoralists who have inhabit this area have adapted to life in an arid mountain environment by raising livestock as the main source of income (sheep and goat) and depend on the sustainable utilization of wild plant species both for the well-being of their livestock and for their own survival. Our research suggests

Recommendations

Since 1970Oman has established several conservation areas since, however, these focus predominantly animal conservation. It is crucially important to expand the remit of these areas to include plant and habitat conservation; in addition sites within areas of high levels plant diversity and cultural richness should be designated as important conservation areas; Establish a network of governmental and private agencies working together to increase public awareness and to provide decision-makers

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. This research was supported by Oman Botanic Garden, Diwan of Royal Court, PO Box 808, PC 122, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Saif Al Hatmi: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Writing – original draft. Darach A. Lupton: Formal analysis, Methodology, Supervision, Validation, Writing – review & editing.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to all the people in Jabal Shams and Jabal Asarah who were involved in this research project and who shared their valuable indigenous knowledge and time, and to those who provided links to local people. We would like also to express my great thanks to the Diwan of the Royal Court represented by Oman Botanic Garden for financing this work and for help in transportation and for providing us with the required field work equipment. We specially thank Dr. Annette Patzelt for her

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