Thnobotany Of The Mountain Regions Of Eastern Europe

Ethnobotany of the Mountain Regions of Eastern Europe: Carpathians

Ethnobotany of the Mountain Regions of Far Eastern Europe

Research in recent years has increasingly shifted away from purely academic research, and into applied aspects of the discipline, including climate change research, conservation, and sustainable development. It has by now widely been recognized that “traditional” knowledge is always in flux and adapting to a quickly changing environment. Trends of globalization, especially the globalization of plant markets, have greatly influenced how plant resources are managed nowadays. While ethnobotanical studies are now available from many regions of the world, no comprehensive encyclopedic series focusing on the worlds mountain regions is available in the market. Scholars in plant sciences worldwide will be interested in this dynamic content. The field (and thus the market) of ethnobotany and ethnopharmacology has grown considerably in recent years. Student interest is on the rise, attendance at professional conferences has grown steadily, and the number of professionals calling themselves ethnobotanists has increased significantly. Various societies of such professionals include the Society for Economic Botany, the International Society of Ethnopharmacology, the Society of Ethnobiology, the International Society for Ethnobiology, and many regional and national societies in the field that currently have thousands of members. Growth has been most robust in BRIC countries. The objective of this new MRW on Ethnobotany of Mountain Regions is to take advantage of the increasing international interest and scholarship in the field of mountain research. We anticipate including the best and latest research on a full range of descriptive, methodological, theoretical, and applied research on the most important plants for each region. Each contribution will be scientifically rigorous and contribute to the overall field of study.

Ethnobotany of the Mountain Regions of Eastern Europe

Natural resources and associated biological diversity provide the basis of livelihood for humans, particularly in the rural areas and mountain regions around the world. Over centuries, indigenous peoples, traditional societies, and local communities have developed their own specific knowledge regarding plant use, management, and conservation. The history of plant use by humans as food and to treat diverse ailments dates back to ancient civilizations. Even though the advent of allopathic medicine has somehow minimized the role of medicinal plants in favor of synthetic drugs, a number of modern drug discoveries have been based on medicinal plants used by indigenous peoples. Ethnobiology is the burgeoning interdisciplinary scientific field, which covers all types of interactions between plants and people, and Eastern Europe is recognized as a plant diversity hot spot. This new Major Reference Work on the Ethnobotany of Mountain Regions of Eastern Europe: Carpathians covers in detail the mountains and vallies of this region, which are known to be rich in unique medicinal and food plant species. Local communities residing in the mountain regions of Eastern Europe possess unique knowledge of surrounding resources, which is the result of many years of interaction with and selection of the most desirable and pervasive plant species present. In this context this major reference work provides comprehensive information on cross-culture variation in the traditional uses of plants as food, medicine, and for cultural purposes among these diverse communities residing in Eastern Europe. The key areas of focus include plant diversity in the Carpathians, cross cultural variation in traditional uses of plant species by these communities, high-value medicinal and food plant species, and threats and conservation status of plant species and traditional knowledge.