Applequist, WL;
Brinckmann, JA;
Cunningham, AB;
Hart, RE;
Heinrich, M;
Katerere, DR;
van Andel, T;
(2020)
Scientists’ Warning on Climate Change and Medicinal Plants.
Planta Medica: natural products and medicinal plant research
, 86
(1)
pp. 10-18.
10.1055/a-1041-3406.
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Abstract
The recent publication of a World Scientists’ 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.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Scientists’ Warning on Climate Change and Medicinal Plants |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1055/a-1041-3406 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1055/a-1041-3406 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, ethnobotany, medicinal plants, sustainability, traditional knowledge, traditional medicine |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > UCL School of Pharmacy UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > UCL School of Pharmacy > Pharma and Bio Chemistry |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10085404 |
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