How can we protect endangered species of medicinal plants from unregulated trade?
Wildcrafting, or sustainable and ethical harvest of wild populations of medicinal plants, ensures that over-collection does not occur. With demand for herbal medicines continuing to increase, another way to protect wild populations of medicinal plants is to increase the supply of cultivated specimens. Herbal plant cultivation is underway in Europe, but it is still in the experimental phase in the United States, and has barely been attempted in Africa and Latin America. Increasing the amount of cultivated herbs available will decrease the pressure on wild plant populations. Unfortunately, cultivation has historically been attempted only when wild populations were already threatened by over-exploitation. With so little monitoring of the impact of wild-collection on the world’s medicinal plant species, collectors and cultivators may not act until it is too late. Much more research is needed to identify the status of the world’s medicinal plant populations, to protect species at risk, and
