Dr Bernadette Montanari
About
Affiliate member and SAC Alumna Dr Bernadette Montanari is an ethnobotanist in the Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia (CRIA) (Centre for Research in Anthropology), ISCTE- University Institute of Lisbon.
Her work is interdisciplinary, at the intersection between ethnobiology, ethnobotany, anthropology, development studies, policies and political ecology. Her initial work studied alternative paths to commercializing medicinal and aromatic plants with benefits returning to the local Berber communities in the High Atlas of Morocco. She then investigated the implementation of a participatory essential oil distillation project with the same communities in the High Atlas for which she offered a critical analysis. Along the same line, she investigated the role of rural women and the integration of Traditional Knowledge into income generating activities under the policies of the Green Morocco Plan, hosted by the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in the Netherlands with an outgoing phase at the Department of Geography and GIS at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign, USA. She is currently working on the EU project “Moving Beyond Access to Benefit Sharing”, where she is investigating the Access to Benefit Sharing mechanisms in India and Morocco, and their attribution to rural communities and women. Her research project is hosted at the Centre for Research in Anthropology (CRIA) at the University Institute of Lisbon in collaboration with the Department of Botany at the University of Lucknow, India.
Projects:
Access and Benefit Sharing – an Indian case study (2020-2022) Funded by EU.
The Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) aims to encourage fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources. The EU-funded MBABS project will explore the ABS agreement and its impact on Indian farmers, growers and rural women as regards medicinal and aromatic plants exploited by corporations. The project will first focus on the factors that determine the attribution of benefits. Second, it will analyse the short and long-term impact of ABS on local communities, socio-economic conditions, social status, the retention of traditional knowledge and resource sustainability. Third, it will explore the role of women in ABS, considering it is a male-dominated domain. Eventually, the results of the project will be used for the attention of other countries, such as Morocco.
Green Moroccan Plan and women empowerment (2015-2018) funded by the EU.
Publications:
Keep M; Montanari, B; Green A. J. 2021. Contesting “Inclusive” Development: Reactions to Slum Resettlement as Social Inclusion in Tamesna, Morocco. Cities: The International Journal of Urban Policy and Planning. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2021.103328
Montanari, B. and Teixidor-Toneu I. 2021. Mountain isolation and the retention of traditional knowledge in Morocco. Journal of North African Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/13629387.2021.1901690
Maurya, A., Yadav, H., Montanari, B. and Shukla, A., 2021. Indigenous uses of medicinal plants in Tarikhet block of Kumaun Himalaya, India. Indigenous uses of medicinal plants in Tarikhet block of Kumaun Himalaya, India, (8), pp.100-117.
Montanari, B. and S. I. Bergh. 2019. Une analyse genrée des activités génératrices de revenus (AGR) dans le cadre du Maroc Plan Vert : A Qui profite t-il? Revue Maghreb – Machrek 2019/4 | Cairn.info
Montanari, B. and S. I. Bergh. 2019. A critical gendered analysis of the income generating activities under the Green Morocco Plan: Who profits? Human Ecology https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-019-00086-8
Montanari, B. and S. I. Bergh 2019. “Why women’s traditional knowledge matters in the production processes of natural product development under the Green Morocco”. Women’s Studies International Forum https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2019.102275
Montanari, B. 2019. Moroccan thyme (Thymus Satureioides, Coss.): Modern and Traditional Applications. International Journal of Professional Holistic Aromatherapy.
Shukla A.C., Montanari, B.,Thangjam, M.N., & B. Laldingngheti. 2018. Decoction: A vital ethno-botanical treatment for the tribal communities of the Seven Sister States of North East India. Academia Journal of Medicinal Plants 6(12): 404-411. DOI: 10.15413/ajmp.2018.0178
Montanari, B. 2019. Gendered Sphere of Traditional Knowledge in Morocco. Chapter 16 In: Falola, T. and Abidogun, J. (Eds). Palgrave Handbook of African Education and Indigenous Knowledge (PHAEIK)
Shukla, A.C., Thangham, N.M., Bawitlung, L., Mandal, D. & B. Montanari. 2019. Ethno-Bioprospection in Northeast India. Chapter 9 In: Kumar Patra, J., Das, G., Kumar, S.,Thatoi, H., (eds), Ethnopharmacology and Biodiversity of Medicinal Plants. Apple Academy Press, Francis and Taylor, ISBN 13- 9781-77188-773-1.
Presentations:
Colloque Internationale émigration en Afrique, organised by « L’Observatoire Régional des Migrations Espaces et Sociétés » Tiznit, 22-23 Juin 2018.
Colloque international « Connaissances traditionnelles de l’arganier et l’adaptation aux changements climatiques dans la Réserve Biosphère Arganeraie » Agadir 21-22-23 September 2018
Other affiliations:
Faculty Adjunct, Department of Horticuture, Aromatic and Medicinal Plants (HAMP), Mizoram University, Aizawl, India.
Research Associate:“ Laboratoire Population, Environnement, Développement (LPED), Institute of Research and Development (IRD), Université Aix-Marseille, France.
Faculty Affiliate: Jean Monnet Research Excellence. European Union Centre. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA
Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy (IUCN-CEESP)
Specialist Group on Sustainable Use and Livelihoods (SULi)
Natural Governance Framework (NRGF)