Indigenous knowledge and sustainability concerns in an era of climate change: the Sahariya Adivasi and salai trees (Boswellia serrata) in central India

ABSTRACT

Boswellia serrata, or salai is a prominent NTFP species of the Kuno forests in Central India. The Sahariya tribe primarily uses it for its gum-resin (chir). A major share of household income comes from the sale of chir. Long-term association with the Kuno forests, in particular with the salai trees, has allowed the Sahariya to build a repository of indigenous knowledge, which plays a pivotal role in their livelihoods. Indigenous knowledge systems are gaining increasing attention globally, and the wisdom of indigenous communities is getting acknowledged. Using qualitative tools and long-term ethnographic engagement with the Sahariya, this study aims to document their holistic process of management of salai forests and collection of chir. It documents their management practices and belief systems regarding salai. It also highlights sustainability concerns of the community and their perception of how climate change affects salai. The study emphasizes the relevance of situated knowledge systems for a better understanding of sustainability concerns about the forest resources, and the associated impacts on local communities. Recognizing indigenous knowledge of forests and trees can facilitate and improve sustainable forest management and climate change mitigation policies.

KEYWORDS:

• Forests
• indigenous knowledge
• Boswellia serrata
• sustainability
• climate change
• Kuno National Park

Acknowledgements

The authors deeply acknowledge the contribution of the people of village Agara. We are grateful for the time and valuable insights they shared during the fieldwork.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The term Adivasi (literally ‘original dwellers’) refers to the Scheduled Tribes listed under Article 342 of the Constitution of India (https://dopt.gov.in/sites/default/files/ch-11.pdf).

2. The Sahariya are designated as one of the 75 particularly vulnerable tribal groups of India https://tribal.nic.in/downloads/Statistics/ListofPVTGs191212.pdf

3. The Boswellia genus comes under the family of Burseraceae, which has 700 species in 19 genera. It includes moderate-sized trees and shrubs popularly known for the gum-resin ducts in their bark (Murthy et al. 2016). There are about 20 species under the Boswellia genus, of which the majority are known for their gum-resin produce.

4. The forests of Kuno were declared as a wildlife sanctuary in 1981, and have recently been designated as a national park by the Department of Forest, Madhya Pradesh Government notification no – F-15-52-2002-X-2.

5. Throughout this manuscript, we use the local terms chir and salai to refer to the gum-resin and the Boswellia serrata tree, respectively.

6. This gum-resin is known by different names across India, including Indian-olibanum, Indian frankincense, chir, salai, and guggul. Other languages in which its name is found include Arabic (kuurdur); Bemba (kundur); Bengali (luban, salai); English (Indian frankincense tree, Indian olibanum tree); Gujarati (gugal, saleda, dhup); Hindi (madi, salai, saler, salga, salhe, sali); Sanskrit (sallaki, kunduru); Tamil (parangisambrani, kungli, kundrikam, gugulu, morada); its trade name is salai.(Orwa et al. 2009).

7. The Madhya Pradesh Forest Produce (Regulation of Trade) Act, 1969.

8. Researcher and volunteer with two local NGOs since 2011.

9. The co-author is the founder and head of two NGOs active in the region since 1999.

10. The names of all the respondents have been changed to keep their identities anonymous.

11. See Figure 2.

12. The length of the dagna can go up to 20 arms-length (20 haath). The higher the incision, the longer the dagna used for collection chir. Due to the increasing restrictions on access to forest resources, Sahariya harvesters do not prefer to carry their harvesting implements. Instead, they hide them in the forest to avoid conflicts with the forest guards.

13. See Figure 2.

14. Puja is a ritual performed while worshiping, during which offerings of flowers, incense sticks and sweets are made.

15. The terms bandh lagana is used as a metaphor in the region to refer to the act of treating something or the use of corrective measures on something. For instance, if someone gets bit by a snake, the person is taken to a local priest, who then ties a thread around the snake bite area. This act is called as bandh lagana.

16. Here, a new tree refers to a tree that was left to recover its strength and has not been used for chir harvesting in the last 2–3 years.

17. While this is usually the case, but the locals informed us about Susheel, a 45 years old female harvester who is known for her ability to make incision and collection of chir.

18. A popular festival, which coincides with the harvesting of winter crop in northern India.

19. “We are, because the chir is”.

20. See Figure 4.

21. “New saplings are not germinating”.

22. A recent research shows that some of the areas where salai trees are located might lose suitability for the species in the coming decades (Rajpoot et al. 2020).