Abstract
Background
Based on participatory research tools and analysis with a gender focus, we aim to identify the knowledge associated with native plants of the Atlantic Forest in a Quilombola community whose territory is juxtaposed with a protected area, in South Brazil.
Methods
Through the perception of the local residents of the Quilombola community of São Roque, we classified the availability, harvesting intensity, abundance and importance of fourteen plants native to the Atlantic Forest found in their territory. A participatory workshop was built with the community to collect data through three activities: four-cell tool, environment matrix, and importance matrix. In order to identify the diversity of intracultural knowledge, all activities were separated into two groups based on the gender of the participants and researchers.
Results
The species Pau-pra-tudo (Picrasma crenata), Quina (Coutarea hexandra) and Cipó-milome (Aristolochia triangularis) were similarly classified as important by both groups, which indicates the cultural and environmental relevance associated with them disregarding gender. The perception of other species were expressed in different ways between the groups, showing the variance of the ecological knowledge and the relationship between the socio-cultural contexts of gender with the knowledge manifested. The final part of the workshop was a lecture given by two community experts about herbal medicines based on forest species found in the territory.
Conclusions
Based on the plural results recorded in the workshops, we discuss the demand of traditional communities inclusion in land management plans of environmental agencies, highlighting how individual characteristics, such as gender, can fill gaps in data about local biodiversity.