What Bista has witnessed in his village reflects a global crisis. More than 80%<\/a> of the world\u2019s population relies on traditional medicine for their primary health care. Yet across every inhabited continent, plants that form the backbone of traditional healing are in decline, pushed out by rising temperatures, shifting rainfall, deforestation and overharvesting.<\/p>\n \u201cFor many common illnesses, these traditional remedies are really our first aid,\u201d Mingay Dakias, a member of the Manobo-Dulangan Indigenous community in the southern Philippines, told Mongabay<\/a>. \u201cWe usually rely on these treatments first.\u201d<\/p>\n A recent global review published in Frontiers in Pharmacology<\/a> found that of 367 medicinal plant species studied over the past two decades, climate change has reduced suitable habitats for 106 species. Another 94 species are shifting to new locations. And 33 species face extinction and habitat loss.<\/p>\n The statistics tell a story, and that story has many local faces. In Panama, Indigenous midwives say birthing herbs are becoming harder to find<\/a>. Across the Himalayas, traditional healers report climbing to increasingly higher altitudes to find medicinal herbs<\/a> that once grew in the valleys below. In Ghana, practitioners of traditional medicine watch as drought destroys the plants<\/a> they have used for generations as first aid.<\/p>\n This story is based on both recent research and compiling local stories and accounts Mongabay has covered since 2020.<\/p>\n \u201cClimate change is altering the chemistry of nature,\u201d Olha Mykhailenko, an associate professor who studies medicinal plants at the National University of Pharmacy in Ukraine, told Mongabay.<\/p>\n Mykhailenko calls this change \u201cweather fever\u201d. Extreme heat, unpredictable rain and prolonged drought change not just where plants grow, but what they produce.<\/p>\n The medicinal properties of plants come from the chemical compounds the plant produces. Plants experiencing unusual heat, drought or carbon dioxide levels may respond by altering their phytochemical profile (the mixture and balance of internal chemicals), which can cause a change in the plant\u2019s medicinal properties.<\/p>\n \u201cIn southern France and Italy, lavender and rosemary are suffering from excessively hot and dry summers,\u201d Mykhailenko said. \u201cAs a result, the chemical composition of the oil\u2019s components changes. The oil exhibits a decrease in linalool and an increase in camphor. This alters their aroma and even medicinal properties.\u201d <\/p>\n The Frontiers<\/a> review documented similar shifts across several species. High temperatures reduced the levels of medicinal compounds in pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium). Drought increased certain chemicals in olive trees (Olea europaea) while decreasing others.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat patients expect from an herbal remedy may not always correspond to reality,\u201d Mykhailenko said. \u201cAnd all because of environmental factors.\u201d<\/p>\n Plants are also shifting in time and space, moving to higher elevations or blooming later or earlier in the year.<\/p>\n In Bista\u2019s corner of the Himalayas, rising temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns have advanced the flowering and fruiting<\/a> of key medicinal species by 15-30 days.<\/p>\n Such changes in timing can mean that traditional harvesting practices, often rooted in cultural and spiritual traditions, no longer align with when plants are ready to harvest.<\/p>\n Plants also move geographically over generations, a phenomenon known as range shift. As temperatures warm, some species are moving to higher elevations where temperatures are cooler. But for species that already grow at higher elevations, this can leave them with nowhere to go.<\/p>\n \u201cMany mountain herbs grow in the Alps. For example, Arnica montana and Gentiana lutea climb higher up the slopes, sometimes hundreds of metres, in search of a cooler microclimate, losing suitable habitats along the way,\u201d Mykhailenko said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe question is no longer whether these changes will affect human health,\u201d Mykhailenko said, \u201cbut how quickly we can adapt our science and practice to preserve the plants that have healed us for centuries.\u201d<\/p>\n Scientists in their own right<\/p>\n The loss of traditional medicines severs a cord with both the past and the future, a cultural link to the past and a source of future medicines, say community members who spoke to Mongabay.<\/p>\n More than 70% of pharmaceuticals are derived from natural compounds<\/a>, including traditional medicines. Researchers are increasingly finding scientific evidence for what some healers have long known.<\/p>\n In Samoa, for example, scientists worked with traditional healers to study matalafi, a remedy made from the leaves of a small tropical tree (Psychotria insularum). They found the plant\u2019s compounds reduced inflammation as effectively as ibuprofen<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThese people didn\u2019t just sit around and think, \u2018Oh, well, we\u2019ll try that leaf,’\u201d said Seeseei Molimau-Samasoni, a Samoan biologist who led the research. \u201cThey spent years of trial and error, testing the best combinations of plants and preparation methods.\u201d<\/p>\n Gaugau Tavana, a Samoan chief and educator, said traditional healers deserve recognition as empirical researchers. \u201cThey are scientists in their own right,\u201d Tavana said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe call the Cerrado a living pharmacy,\u201d Lucely Pio, a Brazilian traditional healer, or raizeira in Portuguese, told Mongabay<\/a> in an interview. \u201cAs I continue to study, I\u2019ve learned to make my own formulas,\u201d she says. \u201cThey are the medicines I use today. It is science, but science based on the knowledge of my grandmother.\u201d<\/p>\n When we lose a medicinal plant or the traditional knowledge about it, we lose the practical application of a millennium of trial-and-error experimentation. \u201cIf you lose the environment,\u201d Tavana said, \u201cyou lose the culture.\u201d<\/p>\n These plants are more than ingredients in remedies, according to communities that spoke to Mongabay. They are woven into the spiritual and cultural fabric of many communities. In Ghana<\/a>, for instance, researchers found that medicinal trees hold deep ties to tribal identity. Some town names and surnames derive from trees and plants.<\/p>\n \u201cThe loss of these species means the erasure of their traditional knowledge, spirituality and history,\u201d said Bismark Ofosu-Bamfo, a lecturer in ecology at the University of Energy and Natural Resources in Ghana.<\/p>\n Across the globe, communities are working to preserve both medicinal plants and the knowledge of how to use them.<\/p>\n In Nepal<\/a>, the Himalayan Amchi Association is working with researchers to find substitutes for threatened species. They have identified more than 200 alternatives that could replace endangered plants in traditional formulas.<\/p>\n The association is also pushing for official government recognition of Sowa Rigpa as an authentic medicinal practice, a status it already holds in India, China, Bhutan and Mongolia. Recognition could help link the traditional practice with stable livelihoods, making it more attractive to younger generations.<\/p>\n In Panama\u2019s village of Santa Marta<\/a>, the three local shamans worried that their knowledge would be lost to climate change, landslides and disinterested young people. They secured funding to build a health clinic and created a booklet documenting local medicinal plants, including their names, identification methods and healing properties.<\/p>\n \u201cKnowing what plants to use to cure our patients\u2019 illnesses is a gift we have,\u201d said Viviana Montero, a 72-year-old shaman. \u201cWe inherited it from our ancestors and it\u2019s part of the mystery of our people. \u2026 We have a responsibility to pass these traditions down.\u201d<\/p>\n In Brazil\u2019s Cerrado<\/a>, one of the world\u2019s most threatened savannas, healers and scholars worked together to create the Pharmacopoeia of People of the Cerrado, a text with harvesting and processing techniques for 90 traditional medicines. Healers are determined to preserve knowledge even as large-scale agriculture and cattle ranching barrel forward in one of the most threatened<\/a> biomes in the world.<\/p>\n Mykhailenko and colleagues have developed a new framework<\/a> to help identify which medicinal plant species are most vulnerable and should be prioritised for protection. They combine data on habitat loss, reproductive success, climate sensitivity and economic pressures from overharvesting.<\/p>\n The authors propose stricter regulations on harvesting and trade, growing more plants on farms rather than collecting them from the wild, creating seed banks to preserve plant genetics, using technology to track plants from forests to store shelves, and developing certification programs to ensure plants are collected sustainably. They also stress the importance of educating local communities and consumers about protecting these species.<\/p>\n Similarly, the Frontiers<\/a> review calls for conservation methods that combine ecology, traditional knowledge and policy.<\/p>\n \u201cClimate change is reshaping the ecology and pharmacological value of medicinal plants,\u201d the authors state. \u201cAn interdisciplinary, coordinated response is urgently needed to ensure sustainable production and use. This will also require a paradigm shift in all aspects of ethnopharmacological research and development.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sc0.blr1.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/inline\/kbyxifpzre-1765804085.jpg\" "\\"Meconopsis")
\n\t<\/a>Meconopsis grandis, also known as the Himalayan blue poppy, is among many other species are gradually on the verge of extinction. Credit: Conall CC BY 2.0, via Flickr. <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sc0.blr1.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/inline\/htnjwrfwnp-1765804168.jpg\" "\\"Matilde")
Matilde Amador, an ASASTRAN midwife in Panama, holds a plant known as the \u201cregulator\u201d that is used during childbirth and labor. Credit: Adam Williams, via Mongabay.Weather fever<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sc0.blr1.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/inline\/swspskjouf-1765804259.jpg\" "\\"Tenjing")
Tenjing Dharke Gurung, a traditional healer or amchi, examines one of his patients at Phende Sowa Rigpa Center in Kathmandu. Credit: Sonam Lama via Mongabay.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sc0.blr1.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/inline\/hnbrvesfxt-1765804367.jpg\" "\\"Traditional")
Traditional healers, or raizeira in Portuguese, often sell their products in community pharmacies like this one in Brazil. Image courtesy of Jaqueline Evangelista Dias\/Pacari Network.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sc0.blr1.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/inline\/ufwjzpgazq-1765804419.jpg\" "\\"A")
A traditional healer sells her products at a regional fair in the Cerrado. Image courtesy of Jaqueline Evangelista Dias\/Pacari Network.Preserving the pharmacy<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sc0.blr1.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/inline\/fwersptxwp-1765804479.jpg\" "\\"Three")
Three traditional medicine doctors, in Santa Marta, Panama. Viviana Montero (left), Mauricio Mart\u00ednez and Elicia Mart\u00ednez, stand in front of the town health clinic Iho Kebery. Image by Adam D. Williams for Mongabay.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sc0.blr1.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/inline\/svcewowlpn-1765804490.jpg\" "\\"Tenjing")
Tenjing Dharke Gurung, a traditional healer, shows a variety of threatened medicinal species in the Himalayas. Image by Sonam Lama.<\/p>\n