Ethnobotany of Karakorum, Pakistan

Karakorum is located between latitudes 35° and 36° N and longitudes 71°–79° E with an area of about 10,000 km2 in the extreme north of Pakistan. Geologically, it’s one of the youngest mountain systems on earth and displays a very difficult and varied topography with incredible altitudinal amplitudes (1500–8611 masl). About 200,000 people inhabit the Karakorum valleys, comprised of various major ethnic groups, i.e., Baltis, Brushiskis, Shinas, and Wakhis. The local inhabitants are strongly bonded with the indigenous flora and practice traditional medicinal therapies for health disorders using a wide range of phytomedicines. Ethnobotanical research is novel and fragmentary to the Karakorum, possibly due to remoteness, inaccessibility, and lack of local ethnobotanists, and old documentation is absent. At present, very few ethnobotanical studies have been conducted in the Karakorum valleys. The information about medicinal plants is especially held by older people. The young generations show no interest in these traditional practices, and do not bother to gain and remember this knowledge. Thus, the traditional knowledge of wild plants and their uses is slowly disappearing. Even other cultural uses have started to disappear in the communities. Consequently, traditional plant uses and use diversity are declining with the passage of time. Urgent steps must be taken to document and conserve these interesting ancient practices.