Etnobotânica amazônica: estratégias de vida, uso e conservação de plantas medicinais

Abstract

This work aimed to contribute to the theoretical debate on riverside communities in the Amazon, highlighting the strategies of life, use and conservation of medicinal plants in the Southwest of Amazonas. The thesis is organized in five chapters, thus, the first chapter was an analysis of published ethnobotanical studies of the North Region and their relationship with environmental sustainability. The method used was qualitative and quantitative and 14 scientific articles were analyzed from 2006 to 2020 that use plants for the treatment and/or cure of diseases as a practice of preserving traditional knowledge. It was found that the plant species most frequently used were representatives of the Lamiaceae and Asteraceae families; the second chapter sought to outline the conceptual trends of this area in Brazil using a bibliographic survey, where 12 works published in the period 1998-2022, available in databases, were selected. According to the research carried out, it was observed that there is a significant number of researchers and works available on this topic, and that these help to strengthen and understand Ethnobotany; the third chapter aimed to contribute to the theoretical debate on riverside communities in the Amazon, highlighting life strategies, use and conservation of medicinal plants. The data collection was carried out through descriptive and exploratory research in the period 2010-2020 on electronic platforms. Seven works on environmental perception involving medicinal plants were found, and they demonstrated that there are few studies that address environmental perception of medicinal plants. The fourth and fifth chapters carried out an ethnobotanical survey in two riverside communities in the Southwest of Amazonas (Paraíso Grande community - chapter 4 and Paraizinho community - chapter 5). The selection criterion for interviewees was based on the “snowball technique”. The interviews sought to outline the socioeconomic and cultural profile of the communities under study. In addition, interviews were conducted to learn about the use of these plant resources. The collection of botanical material was carried out according to standard herbarium procedures. In addition, a comparison was made of the dynamics in a scenario of environmental changes and the interrelationship of scientific and popular knowledge of medicinal plants among riverside communities. It was found that in both communities studied, the majority of the interviewees were female, their families earned less than a minimum wage, worked in the fields/agriculture, and had incomplete elementary education. Seventy-four medicinal species were cited, with boldo, mastruz, mint, lemon, lemongrass and acerola being the most representative. All the interviewees used medicinal plants to prepare medicines to alleviate or cure diseases and stated that they grew some of them in their backyards, having received ethnobotanical knowledge passed on from their relatives. The leaves were the part of the medicinal plants most used and prepared in the form of infusion. Therefore, the research showed that ethnobotanical knowledge is alive in communities, where popular wisdom is expressed in the choice of where to obtain them, in addition to preserving the knowledge of these plants through cultivation in their backyards and forests, needing to be better preserved and conserved.