Plants support livelihoods and provide incomes for millions of people around the world. For example, 22% of the world's population are employed in agriculture alone, timber is one of the world's main commodities , and the trade in medicinal plants grows every year. Even in developed countries the direct financial benefits are huge. In the USA, the Center for Plant Conservation studied the economic potential of the 3,214 rare US plants, and found that more than 80% were directly used or had economically useful close relatives, and were worth nearly $10 billion per year.
Unfortunately, overall progress towards improving this aspect of well-being is very slow: in some parts of the world the number of poor is still rising, and the gap between rich and poor is widening. Environmental degradation may worsen this situation, as it threatens existing livelihoods that depend upon natural resources. It is therefore imperative that we better realise the potential of plants to support livelihoods, and safeguard this resource for present and future generations.
The expertise and resources of botanical gardens are well placed to use plants to improve incomes and support the financial security of poor people. This can sometimes involve the use of their own plants to directly support local income generation: for example, Peninsular Khao Chong botanic garden in Thailand allows local people to harvest its bamboo to make chopsticks, which is a more convenient and sustainable source for harvesters than wild-harvesting.
Botanical gardens are most often able to contribute to income generation by educating and empowering local people in how to use plants to make useful products that can be sold. These plants products are often related to healthcare. For example, Przelewice Arboretum in Poland runs a training programme "Frauenhände bringen Geld" to teach unemployed women how to produce natural soaps and cultivate plants for heathcare, and supports this practical knowledge with talks on management by the tax and labour offices.
Other projects encourage the use of plants for making handicrafts. For example, the work of local crafts-people was promoted during events for the project "Education for Conservation of the Caatinga" run by the Botanic Garden of the Belo Horizonte Zoobotanic Foundation in Brazil.
The resources of Botanical Gardens can also be relevant to improving this aspect of well-being in very distant communities, usually through working with local organisations in less developed countries. For example, the botanical gardens of the Trento Natural History Museum, Italy, are part of a project near the Uzwanga Scarp Forest Reserve in Tanzania, in partnership with Tanzanian NGOs, forestry and park authorities and local authorities. This project "Watu na Msitu" consists of environmental education activites, micro-projects for income-generation alternatives to forest exploitation, the establishment of community tree nurseries, and ecotourism.
Botanical gardens currently run relatively few projects that contribute to this aspect of well-being compared to the work they do for improving healthcare and nutrition. However, they have the potential to make greater contributions on this topic. In addition, they receive so many visitors that they could support many more livelihoods through sale of products that directly benefit poor people.
For example, the shop within Przelewice Arboretum sells the products of 15 women from its "Frauenhände bringen Geld" programme. Similarly, Oaxaca Ethnobotanical garden in Mexico sells the work of local artisans who use certified sustainable timber to carve "alebrijes" - fantastic animals and other figures made out of Bursera wood and painted in very bright colours, which are very popular with tourists.
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Note: This article was sent to us by: Amanda Cherol at 10182010
1. Using botanical gardens and biodiversity for human wellbeing
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