Deforestation unquestionably has short-term economic benefits for some, yet losing medicinal plants makes treating diseases like malaria or STDs more challenging in communities that rely solely on traditional medicine. Many top-selling prescription in the U.S. contain plant compounds as ingredients.
Forest regrowth forests have been found to possess greater medicinal plant diversity than logged forests, possibly because regrowth forests retain soil nutrients and moisture more effectively than their counterparts.
Medicinal Plants
Forests provide habitats for an incredible diversity of life and they are quickly disappearing at alarming rates. Forests store carbon, provide water, food and fuel – as well as shelter and protection – while deforestation occurs when humans clear-cut or burn forests for development, agricultural land use or fuel source purposes; deforestation also increases global temperatures by making way for development projects, agricultural practices or firewood harvesting. Destruction of rainforests increases global temperatures while leading to the extinction of animals that live there or around it.
Deforestation is driven primarily by global demand for agricultural commodities. Agribusinesses use this demand as motivation to clear rainforest in order to plant high-value crops such as palm oil and soy, or ranch cattle on cleared plots of land.
These crops are used in everyday products ranging from soap to margarine and cosmetics, ice cream, chocolate bars and paint; animal feed (80% of world soy goes toward feeding cows, pigs and chickens); as well as commodity-driven deforestation of tropical rainforests to produce these crops – something expected to continue as long as there is demand.
Rich countries in Europe, North America and East Asia may be increasing their tree cover through afforestation efforts; however, they still account for two-thirds of global deforestation due to purchasing goods produced in tropical nations through long supply chains that reach beyond national boundaries.
Climate change and biodiversity loss aren’t the only threats to rainforests; other threats include land clearing for agriculture and mining; government policies meant to encourage economic development can cause deforestation too, such as tax breaks for agricultural production; building roads or railways through forests; as well as international factors like foreign debt, growing markets for timber products, or cheap labour in developing nations which influence decisions to deforest.
Deforestation rates accelerated rapidly over the last century as people sought new sources of farmland and fuel to meet growing populations’ food demands. While this rate has since stabilized, rainforests across the world continue to lose trees at an alarming pace.
Medicinal Uses
Deforestation may bring short-term financial gains for those harvesting or selling trees and wood, but it also negatively impacts those relying on forests as communities sustainers. Over 250 million people reside in rural areas in low to middle income countries where forests supply essential goods like plants for health, such as medicines for malaria treatment, antibiotics or cancer therapies.
A new study examines the future of medicinal plants, finding their use is threatened by global changes. Published in Global Ecology and Conservation journal, this research identified medicinal plant species most likely to be affected by climate change and other factors that are altering their habitats; average results suggested species from islands such as Papua, Java and Sulawesi were expected to experience reduction in distribution area; similarly species with medicinal uses only known through endangered languages were also at risk.
Medicinal plants are vulnerable to overexploitation and collection practices that result in their decline or extinction, though this impact varies among species depending on biological features such as habitat specificity, population size, reproductive system efficiency and generation time for seed production. However, overexploitation and collection does not impact all medicinal species equally and each may experience unique consequences depending on various biological characteristics such as habitat specificity, population size, reproductive system efficiency or generation times taken for seed production.
Deforestation and unregulated extraction are not the only threats facing medicinal plant biodiversity; land-use changes, residential/commercial development, agriculture, climate change are also significant threats. Land-use changes alone were responsible for 54% of species assessed as Critically Endangered/Near Threatened being lost as well as 28% decline among Vulnerable species.
Though rich nations deforest less of their forests than poor countries, they still contribute to global forest loss. To reduce their impact, rich countries need to invest in reforestation efforts as well as promote sustainable land management practices in countries where they export food – including investing in technologies that increase productivity while decreasing environmental degradation.
Medicinal Value
The world’s 60,000 plants and fungi believed to have medicinal value are integral parts of global ecosystem, providing essential services that support biodiversity as well as human health. Furthermore, keystone species like Dingetegna tree from mountainous regions of Africa and Madagascar that is harvested for its bark to treat prostate problems provide essential support for other plants, insects, mammals, birds etc. But despite being so sought-after they risk becoming extinct at alarming rates.
Overexploitation is the main driver behind rare plants’ disappearance, including unregulated collection, habitat destruction and unsustainable harvesting. Furthermore, many medicinal properties of rare plants come from secondary metabolites that only function properly under natural environments; artificial reproduction cannot replicate their medicinal benefits.
One solution may be cultivating medicinal plant species, yet this comes with its own set of challenges. Cultivation can expose cultivation sites to environmental and health risks, including genetic diversity loss or contamination with pests or diseases; additionally, cultivation places additional stress on natural habitats already under strain from destruction.
Many natural plants, like echinacea and cranberry, thrive best when collected directly from their wild environments, where they have evolved and adapted over time to thrive there. While cultivating medicinal plants may benefit certain medicines with high demand, cultivating medicinal plants may not provide an answer for rising demand and diminishing natural resources.
Protecting and conserving medicinal plants in their natural environments by creating systems for inventorying, monitoring and sustainable use is an ideal approach to ensure their preservation and ensure their continued medicinal efficacy in traditional forms of medicine like Ayurveda. This necessitates creating natural reserves, wild nurseries and botanical gardens as well as employing in situ and ex situ conservation strategies; taking this holistic approach especially applies to native and endemic medicinal species which must remain within their native environments in order to retain medical efficacy as well as ensure survival of traditional forms such as Ayurveda.
Medicinal Threats
Human bodies depend on plants and animals for essential resources, making their loss even more damaging to human health. Many of the most widely-used pharmaceuticals in the US contain natural ingredients as antibiotics, antifungals and pain relievers; even ancient Greeks used willow bark (source of acetylsalicylic acid) to alleviate fevers and headaches – this natural component remains popular today as aspirin.
Wild medicinal plants can often be overharvested and lost due to habitat destruction, making them highly vulnerable. According to a global medicinal plant conservation assessment conducted in 2010, 31% of the medicinal species assessed were either endangered, threatened or vulnerable and 48% had declining populations – this trend being particularly acute in developing nations where demand is highest and accessing natural environments challenging for sourcing these medicinal plants is most crucial.
Medicinal plant species are also highly vulnerable to climate change and other environmental threats, including land use changes, fragmentation and agricultural impacts that lead to habitat degradation or even total loss of their native environment – which in turn contribute to their potential extinction from global markets.
Establishing sustainable sourcing strategies and supporting local herbalists and farmers in developing countries to sustainably harvest medicinal plants are of utmost importance, while it’s equally essential to educate on biodiversity preservation, promote education on how it benefits ecosystems and support research and development into alternatives that could potentially replace those obtained through medicinal plant sources.
By taking steps to prevent deforestation, protect medicinal plant species and their habitats, provide community access, and compensate communities for using traditional knowledge, we can ensure that indigenous medicinal plants remain available both for current medical treatments as well as scientific research in the future. Amanda Clark is currently studying Sustainability Studies at Muhlenberg College; as a Wilson Center Africa Program Staff Intern she hopes to continue bringing this passion for international development, international trade, environmental sustainability, human security, and the intersection between environmentalism and global trade to bear.
