A Case Study On The Cataloguing Of Traditional Knowledge Related To Biodiversity Of The Yi Nationality And The Change Of Traditional Vegetable Resources

Traditional knowledge has played important roles in biodiversity conservation,sustainable development,construction of ecological civilization institution,inheritance of national traditional culture,protection of ecological environment,and so on.Therefore,traditional knowledge relating to biological diversity has become an international hotspot in recent years.China is one of the megadiverse countries of the world,all the ethnic groups have created lots of traditional knowledge in the practice of protecting and sustainably utilizing local biodiversity through thousands of years.However,the rapid and unbalanced social and economic development,the environment destruction and the biodiversity loss have already made lots of traditional knowledge disappeared or endangered,so it is urgent to take measures to protect traditional knowledge.The Wa nationality of China,a mountain nationality,is distributed in the southwest border of Yunnan province.The unique national culture and natural resources have formed a wealth of traditional knowledge relating to biodiversity.These traditional knowledge is closely related to the local ecological environment and natural resources,and reflects the social,economic,historical and cultural characteristics of the Wa nationality in many respects.Therefore,the protection and sustainable utilization of traditional knowledge will be of great significance to the social and economic development and ecological civilization construction in minority areas.In this study,traditional knowledge relating to biodiversity of Wa nationality was investigated and cataloged by literature investigation,field investigation,questionnaire survey and key informant interview.And a case study on the changing trend of traditional vegetable resources used by Wa nationality was to certify the protection and inheritance status of traditional genetic resources and related traditional knowledge,and analyzed the formation characteristics and the threatening factors of the traditional knowledge of Wa nationality,then put forward the protection strategy.The main results of this study:1.This study investigated and cataloged 664 traditional knowledge,including 311 knowledge for use of agricultural species and genetic resources(47%);235 knowledge for use of medicinal resources(35%);50 technical innovations for use of biological resources and traditional farming and lifestyles practices(8%);61 knowledge of traditional cultures relating to conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity(9%);7 knowledge embodied in geographic biological indicators(1%).2.In this paper,there were 85 species of vegetables,belonging to 37 families and 70 genera,among which there were 104 traditional vegetable cultivars,including 55 kinds of wild vegetables(52.88%)and 49 cultivated vegetables(47.11%).The most edible parts of Wa people used are the tender stems,young leaves/buds,accounting for 58.4%.The number of traditional cultivars of vegetable decreased gradually in 1985-2015,and the planting techniques and collection techniques of vegetable resources gradually disappeared.The influencing factors are:the poor characteristics of local traditional vegetable cultivars,the low level of traditional cultivation technology,the change of lifestyle,the influence of external culture.The protection of traditional culture plays an important role in the conservation and sustainable utilization of traditional vegetable germplasm resources.3.Based on the comprehensive and systematic catalogs of traditional knowledge of the Wa people and the case study of the tendency of traditional vegetable resources,the forming characteristics and changing tendency of the Wa people's traditional knowledge can be analyzed.The traditional knowledge of the Wa people is facing the is facing the threat of loss,including the influence of external culture,the reduction of local biodiversity,the rapid social and economic development,the renewal of traditional mind,the insufficient legal policy.And then this paper put forward the corresponding strategies to promote the protection and sustainable utilization of traditional knowledge from the aspects of improving policies,laws and systems,enhancing the economic value of national traditional knowledge,protecting national culture and strengthening scientific research.