It is greatly revered and has been referred to as a ‘cultural keystone species’, which is one of exceptional cultural significance, inextricably linked with cultural practices, identity and environment.

Commercialization of plants and increasing global demand, particularly of wild-harvested medicinal species, can lead to overexploitation, putting plant populations at risk. It is estimated that between 60 to 90 per cent of all medicinal and aromatic plants currently in trade are harvested from the wild. Traditional sustainable harvesting practices

Recognizing more-than-human beings as our kin promotes a sense of familiarity and attachment, and a desire to care and nurture them. This view of kinship is not restricted to Indigenous peoples: scientists have hypothesized that all eukaryotic organisms (animals, fungi, plants and protists) share a common ancestor from about 2 billion years ago. Pl

Biocultural diversity is the term used to conceptualize these interconnected manifestations of life together within a complex socio-ecological adaptive system. Ethnobotanical knowledge is an important component of biocultural diversity.

In Africa and Asia in particular, governments and conservation NGOs have been appropriating land held by tribal and local communities in the name of conservation. Yet evidence shows that Indigenous peoples, who represent only 5 per cent of the world’s human population, are stewards of 80 per cent of Earth’s biodiversity and achieve equal or better

Threatened languages are also associated with medicinal knowledge: in a regional study focusing on the Amazon, New Guinea and North America, it was found that 75 per cent of medicinal plant uses are known in only one language. As Indigenous traditional knowledge is generally transmitted orally, when a language disappears, so does its embodied cultu

The seasons are identified through signals from biodiversity, such as specific ‘calendar plants’ that indicate when it is the correct time to undertake fire management practices that reduce fuel load and lessen the risk of destructive wildfires. Calendar plants also inform First Nations peoples when it is the appropriate time to harvest certain foo

Economic and utilitarian models of the natural world that undermine Indigenous and holistic concepts and worldviews risk creating an asymmetrical relationship with nature, one that is exploitative rather than nurturing, and unilateral instead of reciprocal.

‘plant blindness’ – the term given to the inherent cognitive bias that leads to people ignoring plants, not valuing them nor their importance to the biosphere and ranking them as inferior to animals. Plants are often viewed as inanimate objects rather than living beings. This objectification lends itself to domination and exploitation.