Keywords: indigenous-traditional-knowledge; ecology; nutraceutical; food; sustainability

1. Indigenous Traditional Knowledge enabling a certain panacea in uncertain times
Sanath Kumar N1, Sanjeet Kumar2, James N. Furze3,4
1 Office of the Divisional Forest Officer, Bonaigarh, India. 2 Ambika Prasad Research Foundation, India. 3 Laboratory of
Biotechnology and Valorization of Natural Resources, Ibn Zohr University, Morocco. 4 Control and Systems Engineering
Department, University of Technology-Iraq, Iraq

2. Fig. 1 Forest, Tamara Range, Bonai, December 2022 Fig. 2 Forest products - flowers of Madhuca longifolia, Bonai, March
2022
Fig. 3 Traditional beverage - stem juice of Phoenix sylvestris, Bonai,
March 2022
Fig. 4 Traditional food of the Munda tribe –
Tamarindus indica, Bonai, April 2022
Fig. 5 Cultural activities – Baha Banga dance for the
blooming of flowers, Munda tribe, Bonai, April 2022
Fig. 6 Skin disease – caused by
leeches, January 2022
Fig. 7 Forest fire Barsuan Range, Bonai, March 2022

3. Problem
s
New lethal
diseases
Microbial
diseases
Failure of
drugs
Food
scarcity
Solution
ITK
Fig. 8 Health systems fail and communities starve: a) the problems; b) the solution is indigenous tribal knowledge (ITK)
a b

4. 1
Collection of
information
2
Cross check
among the
informants
3
Analysis of
use-values
and other
statistical
aspects
Fig. 10 Study area
Fig. 9 Proposed phases of work (Kumar et al. 2021;
Kumar et al. 2022)

5. Mitigate
food
scarcity
Reduce
diseases &
disorders
Fig. 13 Indigenous Traditional Knowledge on consumption of Discorea
bulbifera tubers by Munda tribe: a) collected tubers of Dioscorea bulbifera; b)
tubers are roasted; c) peeling of roasted tubers; d) roasted tubers are consumed
by the community and author, March 2022
Fig. 14 Indigenous Traditional Knowledge on consumption of Antidesma
ghaesembilla leaves by Munda tribe: a) plant in wild; b) leaves of A. ghaesembilla
collected by Munda tribe; c) processing of leaves; d) selling in local market; e)
tasting the dish made from the powdered leaves, March 2022
a
b
d
c
a b a b
Fig. 11 Forest produce: a) Bhuian Tribal child selling wild food February, 2022; b) med-
icinal orchid Vanda tessallata, March 2022
Fig. 12 Nutraceutical food: Madhuka longifolia measured for its value; b) Munda socio-
economic dependency on the forest, March 2022
e
a
b c
d

6. Forest
Communities
Biowealth &
sustainability
Indigenous
Traditional
Knowledge
Food
Medicine
Climate
Culture
Ecology
Source of
Balanced life
on Earth
Fig. 16 Future aspects: characterising key indigenous traditional knowledge represents a panacea for all and coexistence with nature
Fig. 15 Pearls of the forest, Koira Range: a) Group of research members and forest district staff, March 2022; b) edible insect, planthopper nymph (Flatida sp.) present in the forest, March 2022; c)
endangered ancient Cycas sphaerica of the Ramayana period 4-7 century, March 2022; d) Munda tribal member equipped for hunting, April 2022
a b c d

7. References
• Kumar SN, Marni S, Kumar S (2021) Some common medicinal plants in Barsuan range, Bonai Forest Division, Sundargarh,
Odisha, Asian Plant Research Journal 13(3):11-22. https://doi.org/10.9734/AJOB/2021/v13i330186y
• Kumar SN, Mishra S, Kumar S (2022) Documentation of indigenous traditional knowledge (ITK) on commonly available
plants in Koira range, Bonai Forest Division, Sundargarh, Odisha, India. Asian Plant Research Journal 8(4):83-95.
https://doi.org/10.9734/aprj/2021/v8i430188
Authors are thankful to the local communities.
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Acknowledgements