Brazil is the most biodiverse country in the Americas, but its natural ecosystems face huge pressure from land use changes. For example, soybean farming already covers about 10% of the Cerrado region, and cattle ranching is responsible for around 80% of the deforestation in the Amazon. The clearing of native vegetation for agriculture is one of the biggest threats to species that people rely on for non-timber forest products (NTFPs). These products are essential for many communities, providing food, medicine, and materials for cultural and spiritual practices.
The close link between biodiversity (the variety of species) and cultural practices is called biocultural diversity. A common way to protect biodiversity is through conservation areas, such as protected areas or other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs). These can include national parks, indigenous lands, or areas managed by local communities. However, OECMs were only officially recognized in 2018 by the Convention on Biological Diversity, and so far, very few studies have looked at how well they work. This means we still don’t know how much they actually help conserve biocultural diversity.
This project set out to understand two things: (1) how land use change in Brazil affects medicinal plant species, and (2) how OECMs contribute to protecting them. Specifically, this project aimed at identifying plant species used by local communities, studying how land use change affects their conservation status, and assessing the role of different types of OECMs in protecting biocultural diversity.
Our results show that land use change increases the risk of extinction for many medicinal plant species in Brazil. We also found that different OECM types can play an important role in conserving biocultural diversity. This is especially urgent because recent global reports, such as the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) assessment, highlight how severely human activity is damaging biodiversity worldwide.
