In the Ebuseleni forest of Eswatini, a clash exists between traditional healing practices and modern conservation efforts.
Residents like Sihle Dlamini rely on the forest's biodiversity for traditional medicine, while conservationists argue that these practices threaten endangered species.
The debate highlights the need for integrating indigenous knowledge with sustainable conservation strategies.
The pristine Ebuseleni forest, in southern Eswatini, is a beautiful sight, especially in summer. It usually characterised by its green canopy, the grand valley and the serpentine Mkhondvo river, with its fresh and clear waters.
Although such beauty is blighted by the odds of the dry winter, the naturally rich sanctuary is home to exciting bird life, endemic vegetation and teeming wildlife species.
“The forest is our natural heritage, it’s also our celestial entity from which we derive our spirituality and crafts of our indigenous knowledge,” Sihle Dlamini (50) explained.
Dlamini is one of a few hundred residents who benefit from the forest’s rich biodiversity through the practice of traditional medicine and oral traditions.
He said besides the ancient caves, medicinal plants, hardwood trees like the kiaat and other threatened trees form part of the forest’s woodland.
Antelope, bush buck, duiker, jackals, servals, wild dogs, leopards, hyenas, the purple-crested turaco, various other bird species, pythons, black mambas, vervet monkeys and other snake species are the forest’s heritage.
“We had baboons also but because of their notoriety, they came into serious conflict with residents. Community members were brutal in dealing with them. They would catch them in their maize fields, paint their bodies and release them back to the wild. I’m sure the animals decided to leave the area. Coexistence with baboons was dismal, it did not work here,” explained Dlamini.
Owing to the rich plant habitat, Dlamini said even youth practice apiculture. The quality honey is used for household and small-scale commercial purposes.
According to the country’s State of Environment Report (2012), there has been a decline in wild animal and indigenous plant species.
The report also said illegal and uncontrolled hunting has resulted in the extermination of most of Eswatini’s vertebrates, especially on Swazi Nation Land (not title deed land).
The State of Environment Report (2012) noted that traditional medicine is widely used in the country. “It has been suggested that around 80 per cent of the Swazi population consults the country’s 8,000 traditional healers, and a range of plant and animal species are used in the preparation of traditional medicine. An independent study reported that some households reported to be earning as much as $200 per month from the sale of craft made from indigenous plants,” reads the report.
Associate Professor, biologist and University of Eswatini lecturer, Themba Mahlaba, views the traditional medicinal knowledge and other indigenous systems as impediments to sustainable nature conservation measures.
“The way I see it, indigenous knowledge systems are more of a threat than a solution to sustainable habitat protection. The few species that are said to be protected by culture are mostly because they are considered sacred by royalty. Traditional healers want to harvest endangered plants and animals because they want medicine to treat their clients. Some people, in the name of culture, kill the animals for their skin. But at the end of the day, the traditions and customs are drivers and contributors to the extinction of certain species,” he said.
However, Dlamini is also sceptical of conservationists’ attitudes. He said their strategies lack a pan-African essence. “Conservationists dress us in borrowed robes,” argued Dlamini. “Their attitudes and models are pro-European, failing dismally to integrate our indigenous knowledge systems. The UN Conventions and other domestic pieces of legislation are incompatible with our ways of life as rural Swazi people. Just tell me why are we arrested if I am found with a python skin or its fat?
“As rural people, we conserve and coexist with the environment because we use the python’s remains to help people win court cases. We need the black Mamba snake to make our traditional anti-venom. Their sustainability is our business because we know we need them. But we get arrested and face stiff penalties for wild animals we take care of. That’s not fair,” complained Dlamini.
Traditional health practitioner and associate professor in nursing, Priscilla Dlamini, believes that traditional knowledge systems should be the bedrock for communities to conserve their natural environment. But governments must put guidelines in place to assist rural people to manage their environment.
“In the absence of the law, there should be guidelines regulating traditional health practitioners and indigenous knowledge systems. The guidelines at least would stipulate the measure of plants and animal parts a traditional healer must possess,” she said.
“Like Ebuseleni, communities must be at the centre of grass roots nature conservation in Eswatini and in Africa. There are already African village communities coexisting well with their environment. For example, we wanted a certain plant in Mozambique (bordering Eswatini). We reached a village, Emasinga. The people never allowed us to touch the plant because we didn’t know how to harvest it. They did it on our behalf. They knew better to handle their environment than us. People should not just come in a community and start plucking tree barks for medicinal purposes without consulting the residents. These communities deserve respect when it comes to their environment,” she warned.
According to Priscilla Dlamini, the Nagoya Protocol is basically about trade and industry. “Rural traditional health practitioners are exploited easily for their special knowledge. If one wants a special information about my craft or medicine, we must enter into an agreement on what do I benefit,” she said.
She explained also that the Cartagena Protocol is the one that is supposed to help our indigenous people access easy medicinal plants and animals by formulating guidelines, especially the animals, so that traditional health therapy is able to exist.
“Rural communities must be able to utilise the environment they protect. The fact that traditional healers can be arrested for being in possession of a python skin that died longtime ago, is ridiculous,” she said.
“At the same time, I understand that as traditional health practitioners, we deserve to be arrested. Honestly, why would I be found with the whole baboon carcass? Why am I not sharing with other traditional healers? The guidelines should allow us to share and stipulate specific amount or grams of the wild animals the traditional health practitioner should own for medicinal purposes,” she added.