Abstract:
Mangrove plays important role to coastal communities across Papua. Mangrove provides food, material construction, firewood, medicine, shelter and others. This research is designed to determine the traditional practices of utilizing mangrove vegetation used for medicinal material remediation for five ethnic groups in Papua. Field observation, and intensive literature reviews were used to collect the data and information required. The results showed that seven spesies of mangrove belonging to five families, were used for medicinal purposes by five ethnic groups in Papua. Utilizations of mangrove as traditional medicines could be used for treatments for twelve diseases or health syndromes, ranging from mosquito repellency, scabies medicine, cleanse for pregnancy, children speaking ability, insecticides, malaria medicine, tooth medicine, diarrhoea, energy booster and stimulant for birth delivery. More importanly, the method of extraction, preparation and dosages of comsumption among five ethnics groups are almost similar.
