Abstract
The recent publication of a World Scientistsʼ Warning to Humanity highlighted the
fact that climate change, absent strenuous mitigation or adaptation efforts, will
have profound negative effects for humanity and other species, affecting numerous
aspects of life. In this paper, we call attention to one of these aspects, the effects
of climate change on medicinal plants. These plants provide many benefits for human
health, particularly in communities where Western medicine is unavailable. As for
other species, their populations may be threatened by changing temperature and precipitation
regimes, disruption of commensal relationships, and increases in pests and pathogens,
combined with anthropogenic habitat fragmentation that impedes migration. Additionally,
medicinal species are often harvested unsustainably, and this combination of pressures
may push many populations to extinction. A second issue is that some species may respond
to increased environmental stresses not only with declines in biomass production but
with changes in chemical content, potentially affecting quality or even safety of
medicinal products. We therefore recommend actions including conservation and local
cultivation of valued plants, sustainability training for harvesters and certification
of commercial material, preservation of traditional knowledge, and programs to monitor
raw material quality in addition to, of course, efforts to mitigate climate change.
Key words
climate change - ethnobotany - medicinal plants - sustainability - traditional knowledge
- traditional medicine
