Sciences au Sud n°29 - mars / avril 2005
April 2005
Plants and local knowledge in Guiana : Green heritage
IRD researchers have been studying plants and their uses in Guiana for 30 years. They are participating in a local-level scheme to bring out the value of these plants and their properties. The different communities can thus contribute to conserving the associated knowledge and re-appropriate their cultural heritage, by manifesting the wealth of the body of knowledge and know-how at their disposal. The researchers therefore focused on studying traditional remedies used by three ethnic groups of Guiana at a time when the economic issues associated with biodiversity were not yet on the agenda: the Creoles and the Amerindian peoples Wayãpi and Palikur. These surveys have led to the discovery of new therapeutic compounds. They are continuing, with the dual aim of isolating the main active components of traditional remedies and of determining whether or not their use should be recommended, in a region where up to 70 % of the population practise self-treatment. The plants from the Guianan forest are also used for food, household and craft materials (for wickerwork and so on). Enhancing the potential benefits of local knowledge, by means of cooperative community projects, for instance, in which the local people are closely involved, thus contributes to the continuing survival of these bodies of knowledge and techniques.
