Disadvantaged Economic Conditions and Stricter Border Rules Shape Afghan Refugees’ Ethnobotany: Insights from Kohat District, NW Pakistan

Abstract

The study of migrants’ ethnobotany can help to address the diverse socio-ecological factors affecting temporal and spatial changes in local ecological knowledge (LEK). Through semi-structured and in-depth conversations with ninety interviewees among local Pathans and Afghan refugees in Kohat District, NW Pakistan, one hundred and forty-five wild plant and mushroom folk taxa were recorded. The plants quoted by Afghan refugees living inside and outside the camps tend to converge, while the Afghan data showed significant differences with those collected by local Pakistani Pathans. Interviewees mentioned two main driving factors potentially eroding folk plant knowledge: (a) recent stricter border policies have made it more difficult for refugees to visit their home regions in Afghanistan and therefore to also procure plants in their native country; (b) their disadvantaged economic conditions have forced them to engage more and more in urban activities in the host country, leaving little time for farming and foraging practices. Stakeholders should foster the exposure that refugee communities have to their plant resources, try to increase their socio-economic status, and facilitate both their settling outside the camps and their transnational movement for enhancing their use of wild plants, ultimately leading to improvements in their food security and health status.

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“…In the current global situation, the fact that some villages have reported little to no use of certain plants is a concerning indication of knowledge erosion over time [ 37 , 38 ]. This underscores the urgent need for continued ethnobotanical research to document and preserve traditional knowledge, as well as to identify and address the factors contributing to the loss of this invaluable cultural heritage.…”

People's migrations and plants for food: a review for fostering sustainability

“…The representation of some migration could have inflated by this latter percentage flows when one study reported more than one migration flow, such as those from the African continent to the American continent [26-27; yet it only partially reflects the massive and violent migration due to slavery). About 15% of migration flows were of refugees, including war refugees [28,31] and refugees after the beginning of an authoritarian government [32]. For another 15% of the studied migrations, the movement occurred more than 150 years ago.…”

“…Christenh. and Byng among Afghan refugees in Pakistan [31]; and, among multiethnic migrants in Guatemala, the fruits of Chamaedorea tepejilote Liebm. in Mart., Pouteria sapota (Jacq.)…”

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