WFPs and their uses
Humans have an inextricable relationship with nature, and plants play an important role in sustaining human life. Wild food plants have remained an important ingredient of the traditional food basket since pre-Neolithic times. Historically, local and traditional food systems have given sufficient space to WFPs, and their existence in daily food practices among local communities could be a parameter to qualitatively measure the sociocultural histories, long-term human-ecological practices, and the economic instabilities of different communities on a spatiotemporal basis. In this regard, ethnobotany could play an important role in describing communal changes over time and space, helping relevant stakeholders formulate future developmental programs to achieve social and environmental sustainability, especially among those communities who live in mountainous and underprivileged areas.
The current study, which is the first ethnobotanical study in the Wakhan region, has systematically described the traditional uses of WFPs among the Sarikoli and Wakhi. A total of 29 WFP taxa which have been used by the local communities to supplement their local food systems were recorded. Quantitative analysis showed that the local inhabitants quoted comparatively fewer WFP taxa than other local communities from North and West Pakistan whose knowledge of wild resources we previously documented (Aziz et al. 2020a,b; Aziz et al. 2021a,b). This may be due to the fact that these communities have historically been pastoralists where meat and dairy products are crucial parts of their traditional food system, and these food ingredients are considered very useful, providing energy during the cold season. Moreover, they also practice horticulture and grow barley and wild beans, which are highly preferred food items obtained from their local fields. Local inhabitants also import rice from Chitral city, which they frequently use in different seasons throughout the year. We recorded the frequent use of WFPs as cooked vegetables and raw snacks. Very few WFPs were used in teas, lacto-fermentation, or for seasoning. Wild food plants were also frequently used as cooked vegetables and raw snacks among other communities across the North and West of Pakistan (Aziz et al. 2020a, 2020b; Aziz et al. 2021a,b). Research has shown that the consumption of raw snacks primarily emerged during the adoption of mobile pastoralism by the studied communities (Pieroni et al. 2019). In Broghil Valley, seasonal movement to grazing pastures is practiced at different times throughout the year. The WFPs recorded during the survey were mainly gathered from crop fields, pastures, and mountains, indicating the prevalence of mix agropastoral practices, which have shaped the wild food ethnobotanies of the studied groups. The aerial parts of plants were frequently used and wild vegetables were primarily harvested at young stages of growth. Both male and female community members were involved in gathering WFPs. The consumption of WFPs has decreased in recent times due to social change and easier access to the local food market.
The cross-cultural comparison of WFP uses between the two studied groups revealed a complete homogenization of their wild food ethnobotanies. We argue that the Sarikoli diaspora, who came to the area by the middle of the 20th century, has completely acculturated to Wakhi culture, adopting their traditional lifestyles and customs, which in turn has had irreversible impacts on their local food system and related WFP-centered gastronomic knowledge. To support our argument, we also made a comparison of the quoted local plant names with other ethnobotanical studies (referenced in the Materials and Methods section under Data analysis). We did not find any field ethnobotanical studies conducted among the Sarikoli, but we did find a few studies which were carried out among the Wakhi in the Pamir and Hindukush mountains. The objective was to compare adopted local plant nomenclature in the study area with previous studies, if any, conducted among the studied cultural groups. This comparison was used as a proxy to determine the possible cultural assimilation of the two linguistic groups. We found that all the adopted local names for the quoted taxa were part of Wakhi nomenclature as confirmed by the selected ethnobotanical studies in Wakhan and Gilgit-Baltistan. It is evident that in a plural society minority groups always tend to follow the dominant cultural group, and in light of these findings, we assert that the Sarikoli have gone through crucial socio-cultural negotiations, intermarrying with Wakhi and Kho speaking neighbors in Chitral as well as in Gilgit-Baltistan, which in turn has impacted the core body of TEK and hindered its inheritance among the younger generation of Sarikolis. It is interesting to note that Sarikoli people literally identify themselves as “Sarikoli”, even though they have completely acculturated to Wakhi culture and lost their language as well. Qualitative ethnographic observations have confirmed that the local inhabitants are not much involved in gathering WFPs and most of the WFP-centered TEK has become a part of their past.
Political boundaries: threats to cultural resilience
Ethnographic observations have revealed that third generation Sarikoli migrants have adapted to Wakhi culture, and they speak the dominant Wakhi language, or the Khowar language, as their lingua franca and this linguistic adaptation has ultimately come at the expense of the survival of the Sarikoli language, a phenomenon that Skutnabb-Kangas (2000) defined as “linguicide”. Sarikoli participants confirmed that their ancestors, who were traditional healers by profession, fled Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County after the arrival of the Communist political system, leaving their relatives behind, and subsequently settled in Broghil Valley by the middle of the 20th century, preferring to live under the political system in that area. Since the political border prevented frequent reunions with relatives, the physical isolation made it difficult for Sarikolis to maintain kinship relations making them anxious to nurture new relationships. As a result, the Sarikoli entered into marriages with other cultural groups, thus becoming socio-culturally homogenized; however, these people still visit their relatives in Tarkushgan as kinship cannot be stopped by artificial (i.e., political) borders.
It is worth mentioning that local communities are dealing with different political contexts, and thus they are (willingly or unwillingly) gradually adopting new strategies to cope with the current social and economic challenges, usually engaging in exotic and cross-cultural interactions (Foner 1997), which affect cultural distinctiveness and threaten future cultural resilience. As resilience is closely linked to the sustainability of cultures, societies, and their respective environments, political pressures on both sides of the border could have negative impacts on cultural survival in the near future. According to Berkes and Ross (2013), communities do not control all of the conditions that affect them, but they can change some of the conditions that can increase their resilience. Therefore, it is advisable for state authorities to relax cross-border restrictions, as these communities are politically more vulnerable, socially depressed, and unvoiced. Sometimes they make small trades across the border as these people are more engaged across the border than within the border, and thus special permits should be allocated to poor local communities in order to obtain their remittances. Flexibility in cross-border movement is an important element in celebrating the biocultural diversity within the whole Pamir region. The Pamir region is a hub of biocultural diversity, and it is crucial to give it the chance to flourish and survive by helping local communities instead of pushing them into difficulty. In the race to globalize and modernize, we have already seen remarkable social change, and the vulnerability of mountain communities is no longer an exception. In fact, unhealthy socio-political practices are leading the planet towards an “extinction crisis”, where cultural diversity, linguistic diversity, and biodiversity are equally threatened for one reason or another (Maffi 2001). It has been estimated that if the current speed of erosion of languages continues, half of all local languages spoken today will disappear by the end of this century. Similarly, we are rapidly losing biodiversity, and we see incredible homogenization of cultures. As these three domains of life on earth are interconnected, we need to envision future sustainability through a holistic approach. In this regard, we suggest that policy makers focus on cultural diversity and associated TEK in order to foster concrete development tools to help make the planet a better place to sustain life.
Provision of subsidies to local communities: promotion of ecotourism
Socio-political marginalization has made the local inhabitants feel unprivileged, and they view themselves as less important because state authorities are constantly undermining the provision of their basic rights. On the one hand, these people are exposed to hard political settings, but on the other hand their poor livelihoods and economic instabilities make their lives miserable. Due to the harsh climatic conditions, throughout most of the year they are not able to grow crops or move freely and they face serious challenges in grazing their animals in pastures. The people are living under poor economic conditions and earn their livelihoods from local subsistence economies. Due to the harsh weather and lack of opportunities, people, especially younger individuals, tend to move to cities in search of better opportunities, and some families have already left Broghil and migrated to nearby valleys. During an informal conversation, when we asked the participants about their life in Broghil, one of the local inhabitants among the Sarikoli stated: “you should give us a piece of land and we will move there. We know that there is nothing in these mountains, but we can’t move to other areas, we have no alternative solution. We have no jobs, and the government is not helping us”. In this overwhelming situation, the state needs to address local issues, discuss their problems, and grant them special subsidies on local productions to help them improve their subsistence economies. The government should help local communities to produce high quality breeds and manage animal fodder. The government should focus on animal husbandry to improve breeds in order to obtain high quality organic meat; for instance, Yak meat is highly valued and its production could bring economic benefits to the local people. One way to eliminate their economic marginalization is to highlight and promote their food-centered biocultural heritage and the attached TEK, which could open new economic avenues in the study area. As affirmed by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (UNESCO 2015) and the New Urban Agenda (UN 2016), culture emerges as a transversal driver, both as knowledge capital and a source of creativity and innovation, as well as a resource to face challenges and find appropriate solutions. Hosagrahar et al. (2016) argue that culture should be at the core of developmental policies which are essential for equitable and inclusive development. The area could also be a hot spot of food ecotourism, and so it is shocking to learn that some community members have started coming down from their villages and are settling in Mastuj. Therefore, to curb mass migration, there is an urgent need to open new economic avenues for mountain people. In addition, it is relevant to mention that the growth of legal restrictions is also creating several challenges for these agropastoralist societies; for instance, Broghil has been given the status of a national park and the local people are facing problems in grazing their animals. Therefore, political changes, such as collectivization and central planning, are having an impact on long-established patterns of local landscape management. The authorities should respect the rights of the local people and there should be an equitable sharing of benefits from natural resources as the local people are not content with these legal restrictions. The Council of Europe Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society (Council of Europe 2005) marked a revolution in the meaning of cultural heritage, shifting attention from objects and places to people. This new way of looking at heritage has laid the foundation for redesigning relationships between all interested stakeholders. During the field survey some local community members refused to share their knowledge as they considered us staff members of Broghil National Park. As endorsed by the UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development Habitat III (UN 2016), culture allows for revitalizing urban areas, strengthens social participation (point 38), and contributes to developing vibrant, sustainable, and inclusive urban economies. In light of these recommendations, relevant policy makers should ensure the participation of local communities in building developmental and legal infrastructure in the area. It is advisable to develop a system which incorporates and integrates TEK in formulating future developmental strategies in these mountain areas, and this combined approach could support adaptation planning and better respond to community needs as also affirmed by the Faro Convention.