A Bornean database of plant uses and their cultural contexts: Introducing BioCultBase \ Borneo

Biocultural diversity is important for environmental justice, human wellbeing, and sustainable development. Yet it is threatened by landscape degradation and overexploitation. When species go extinct, there is a co-occurring loss of associated cultural elements, and marginalized cultures are the ones that suffer the most from these losses. Here, we present BioCultBase/Borneo, a database of local uses of plants and their cultural contexts from the biologically and culturally hyper-diverse island of Borneo. The database has been developed from secondary data extracted from scientific literature, but is intended to be a live repository that welcomes contributions from academics, researchers and the general public. BioCultBase/Borneo database currently covers 1319 confirmed plant species and plant parts used for 23 use categories. These uses are reported from 39 ethnic communities of Borneo, together representing at least 2242 unique ecocultural links. The ethnicities represented in the database cover 13 % of the 306 officially recognized ethnicities of Borneo. Developing the database further will enhance access to ecocultural data that can be used for developing policy and practises relevant for a broader range of peoples.