Rio Botanical Garden launches ethnobotanical guide on the sandbanks of the Lakes Region

Launched by the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, the ethnobotanical guide “Restingas da Região dos Lagos” draws attention to the conservation of flora and traditional knowledge associated with sandbanks. Written by researchers Viviane Stern da Fonseca Kruel, Nicky van Luijk, Giovana Schulze de Macedo, and Cyl Farney Catarino de Sá, the guide is an educational tool that addresses the richness of the sandbanks in the Lakes Region, especially in Restinga de Massambaba, through the potential of medicinal and food plants.

Developed from a careful process of data collection, interviews, and photographic records, “Restingas da Região dos Lagos: Guia etnobotânico para olhar, aprender e cultivar saberes” (Sandbanks of the Lakes Region: An ethnobotanical guide to observing, learning, and cultivating knowledge) can also be used by students, community leaders, and conservation unit managers. The material is the result of an ethnobotanical study conducted in the municipalities of Arraial do Cabo, Armação dos Búzios, and Saquarema, in the Lakes Region, with the participation of traditional communities in the region, who shared their knowledge and experiences about the local sandbank vegetation.

The guide is the result of Nicky van Luijk's doctoral thesis, “Cultural transmission and conservation of local knowledge about edible and medicinal plant species in the sandbanks of Costa do Sol State Park, RJ,” written at the National School of Tropical Botany/Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro, under the guidance of JBRJ researcher Viviane Stern da Fonseca Kruel and co-supervised by Gustavo Taboada Soldati, professor at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora.

The publication was supported by the Rio de Janeiro State Research Support Foundation (Faperj) and brings together information on 13 emblematic species of sandbank vegetation, presenting their main botanical characteristics, uses recorded in traditional knowledge, and considerations on citizen science, inviting readers to engage in sandbank conservation.

According to the authors, traditional knowledge about the use of native plants, passed down orally from generation to generation, constitutes a cultural heritage of inestimable value for the conservation of biodiversity and the strengthening of the identity of traditional communities. However, in recent decades, according to them, processes such as urbanization, socioeconomic changes, and transformations in lifestyles have significantly reduced opportunities for transmitting this knowledge, especially among younger people.

The study conducted by researchers Viviane Stern da Fonseca Kruel, Nicky van Luijk, and Gustavo Taboada Soldati highlighted this trend, particularly among younger generations, highlighting the urgent need to document, preserve, and share ethnobotanical knowledge associated with the flora of coastal environments, especially sandbanks.

Access the full guide here.