Objective 3:
Using plant diversity sustainably

Sustainable use of biodiversity is one of the three major objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), but has received less attention in Europe than in many other region where people are more dependent on wild species for their livelihoods.

Children with medicinal plants in Nepal © A. Hamilton

Nevertheless, in Europe wild plants with commercial value are collected, for example fungi for food, bulbs for the horticultural trade and plants for medicinal use. Over 2,000 medicinal and aromatic plant taxa are traded commercially, of which two-thirds are native to Europe. It is estimated that 90% are still collected from the wild.

Unless plants are very rare in the wild, cultivation is more expensive than wild harvesting. In the EU medicinal and aromatic plants are cultivated on an estimated total area of 70,000 ha, comprising 130-140 species. According to TRAFFIC International, western Europe is undergoing a herbal renaissance with use of medicinal plants doubling in a decade.

Wild collection remains particularly prominent in Albania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Hungary and Spain. Collectors are mainly rural people, often women and children, for whom this activity provides a supplementary income. More information is required to ensure that this use of medicinal and other useful wild plants is sustainable. Since there are clear signs of over-exploitation in some parts of Europe it is important to find improved ways of managing these resources. Communities that are using wild plants often have a rich and unique knowledge of these resources which itself is important to preserve.

Another vulnerable resource is peat. Prized by the horticulture industry as a growing medium, peatland habitats have been decimated over the past 30 years. Europe-wide efforts are needed to reduce our dependency on peat, to save the finest peatlands and to invest in alternatives to peat in the horticultural trade.

Further information

Global Strategy for Plant Conservation - targets adopted by CBD COP 6:

• No species of wild flora endangered by international trade;
  
• 30 per cent of plant-based products derived from sources that are sustainably managed.
  
• The decline of plant resources, and associated local and indigenous knowledge, innovations and practices that support sustainable livelihoods, local food security and health care, halted.

Suggested long term European action in the EPCS under this objective:

E37 Develop national programmes to monitor and where necessary regulate the collection and trade in wild-collected plants and fungi with the objective of achieving sustainability.