Applied ethnobotany for biodiversity conservation

An overview of ICIMOD's three year programme launched in 1995 on the promotion of sustainable and equitable use of plant resources by the application of ethnobotany in selected Kush-Himalayas member countries is presented (China, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, India). The studies carried out during the course of the project focused on several themes: cultural beliefs and practices that underlie resource management and conservation of biodiversity; forests; agroforestry; swidden and settled agriculture; protected areas, biosphere reserves and buffer zone management; and ethnobotanical inventories.