Saving Medicinal Plants From Extinction
Deforestation, Agriculture and Overuse Threaten Beneficial Plants
There are an estimated 70,000 plant species that are used for health care purposes. Of those a conservative estimate of 15,000 medicinal plants are threatened with extinction.
The Threats to Medicinal Plants
Deforestation and slash and burn agriculture have had a significant effect on plant biodiversity. The more land that is used for monoculture planting the less space there is for native plants. Many of the most commonly used medicinal plants are found in subtropical or tropical areas of developing nations. Protection of endangered medicinal plants requires ensuring the ongoing livelihoods of the people of the area.
Excessive harvesting of medicinal plants for health care is the other major threat. Once a plant becomes popularized as a treatment for a health concern, harvesting from the wild can rapidly deplete supplies, especially of slow maturing plants. American ginseng is a classic example, with very little being harvested from the wild as stocks have been so severely depleted.
What is Being Done to Protect Medicinal Plants?
The first step in protecting medicinal plants is to survey each ecosystem to determine what plants are there. Ideally this is done before any alterations are made to the landscape. Botanists are combing the planet for new species just as other biologists search for undiscovered species of wildlife.
Ethnobotanists specifically work with indigenous peoples to learn about their use of native plants.
The IUCN Medicinal Plant Specialist Group has developed a standard for sustainable use of medicinal plants. Because so many medicinal plants are harvested from the wild rather than being cultivated, ensuring that they are not over-harvested means that the plants remain available to health care providers and local people dependent on the harvest having a continuing source of income.
Botanic Gardens Conservation International has published a report on the value of botanical gardens in preserving threatened or endangered medicinal plant species. In addition to maintaining specimens and seed banks of various medicinal plants, botanical gardens provide education to the public on the long-term health care benefits of these plants.
BGCI itself maintains a database of botanic gardens and the species they maintain. The database is accessible by the public and is an important part of their ‘Safety Nets for Medicinal Plants' project. Their aim is to provide a global inventory of all medicinal plants held in botanical gardens as well as completing a gap analysis to ensure that appropriate efforts are being made to conserve those species.
The combined efforts of ethnobotanists working with indigenous peoples to learn about the uses of various plants in health care, ongoing surveys to find other potential medicinal plants, and listing of plants as endangered or threatened so that efforts can be made to protect them will be needed to ensure botanical biodiversity stabilized and valuable health care tools are not lost.
