Prioritization of Loita Maasai Medicinal Plants for Conservation
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Date
2021Author
Nankaya, Jedidah
Gichuki, Nathan
Lukhoba, Catherine
Balslev, Henrik
Type
ArticleLanguage
enMetadata
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Medicinal plants provide biodiversity-based ecosystem services including health to many
communities around the world and therefore, medicinal plant conservation is vital for sus-
tainability. Here, we identify medicinal plants to be prioritized for conservation among the
Loita Maasai who are pastoralists in the extensive East African savannah. A botanical sur-
vey and interviews were conducted with 91 villagers; 49 women and 42 men drawn ran-
domly from 45 households. A conservation priority list was developed based on (1) the
plant part harvested, (2) the species use value, and (3) its availability. These criteria were
evaluated independently for each species on a scale from 1 to 4 and their sum was taken as
the species’ score. The score for the species varied from 5 to 9. The higher the total score
value of a species, the higher its priority for conservation. Among the medicinal plants
used by the community, 20 species were shortlisted as regularly used and found around the
village. Out of these, 12 species that had scores above seven were considered top priority
for conservation. A total of 1179 use reports were obtained from the villagers and they
were placed in 12 use categories as defined in the International Classification of Primary
Care system. Plants used to treat digestive system disorder had most use reports (21%), fol-
lowed by the muscular skeletal disorders (20%). This study identified 12 medicinal plant
species that should be given conservation priority to make them available for the wellbe-
ing of the people and sustainability of ecosystem products and services. An assessment of
medicinal plants species using standard ecological methods is recommended
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file:///C:/Users/User_Seminar%20Rm1A/Downloads/Prioritization_of_Loita_Maasai_medicinal_plants_fo.pdfhttp://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/handle/11295/163639
Citation
Nankaya, J. GLBNCH. "Prioritization of Loita Maasai medicinal plants for conservation." Biodiversity and Conservation . 2021;30:761-780.Publisher
University of Nairobi
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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
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