Indigenous people hold valuable wisdom when it comes to managing their natural environment, and harvesting crops sustainably. This article shares fascinating insights on what we have to learn from them.
“… I think we are called to go beyond cultures of gratitude, to once again become cultures of reciprocity.”
― Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass
One of the fundamental premises of Herbalism is the interconnectedness of life. Everything is interdependent. To be healthy, the whole body, mind and spirit have to be taken into account, and lifestyle, diet, sleep and other factors to be considered. With their versatile phytochemistry and different personalities, plants have been used as medicine for probably as long as humans have been around. But are modern Herbalists appreciating the interconnectedness of their craft to its full extent? Today we are part of a global community of plants, ecosystems, growers, suppliers, herbalists and patients or clients. As herbalists, we use many herbs that are not native to our ecosystems and even those native to our ecosystems, are often gathered and processed in different countries or different continents, from ecosystems we have never seen and by people we have never met. Do we know where the plants come from, how they were harvested, and how the ecosystem was treated in the process? We may celebrate these plants, and show our gratitude by expressing our thanks. But gratitude is not enough to sustain a healthy relationship.
Today, more and more plant species are facing extinction, many of which are used as medicines(1). To sustain a healthy relationship with medicinal plants, we have to step back into a more fully reciprocal relationship with the plants but also with the Natural World in general. But what does a more reciprocal relationship look like, and what kind of worldview allows a reciprocal relationship with plants to flourish?
Traditional ecosystem knowledge
For centuries, healers using plants would have been gathering the plants they used from their immediate surroundings, intentionally growing and harvesting in ways that would sustain and nourish their plant ally populations, which in return would continue to offer their medicine. Around the world, the localised ecological knowledge of traditional cultures is disappearing with increasing contact with modernization and Western lifestyles. This loss of traditional knowledge has also been recognized as one of the general factors affecting biological diversity (2). But individual tribes and ethnic communities in different parts of the world still preserve different versions of Indigenous or Traditional knowledge (3).
Traditional Ecosystem knowledge (TEK) is defined as a cumulative and dynamic body of knowledge, practices, and beliefs that evolves through adaptive processes, which are shared across generations through cultural transmissions(4). It usually consists of local observational knowledge of animal, fungi and plant species as well as other ecosystem factors (such as landscape), types and ways of practising interactions with the environment, such as harvest techniques, and further understanding, world view and beliefs about how people fit into or relate to ecosystems (4). They usually are based on a holistic worldview, where humans are part of a living community and where everything has repercussions that have to be considered. Another element is that these knowledge systems are usually very adaptive by nature, as the landscape changes, so do these knowledge systems adapt. Although maladaptations are also possible; sometimes traditional cultures also assume practices and interactions that are detrimental to some other species of the ecosystems.
In many ways, TEK is a knowledge system similar to Western modern science. It represents a way to gather knowledge about the world. Though science claims to adopt an objective view, TEK includes the moral and spiritual beliefs of the community it is part of and is usually expressed in stories, legends, folklore, rituals, songs, art and law.
The community life
“The world doesn’t belong to us, we belong to it. Always have, always will. We belong to the world. We belong to the community of life on this planet- it doesn’t belong to us. We got confused about that, now it’s time to set the record straight” ― Daniel Quinn
One of the most foundational differences between most traditional cultures and modern culture is the fundamental view of humans and their place within nature. In modern culture, humans are often viewed outside of nature. Nature is seen as a resource to humans, without its own intrinsic value (5,6).
Gadgil writes “The Western view of humans as entitled to dominate and utilise nature at will, elaborated during the age of European expansion, recognises no limits to the exploitation and modifications of ecosystems” (6).
What is underpinning this view is the belief that humans are more valuable than the rest of nature. Nature does not have an intrinsic value outside its capacity as a resource for human needs. Therefore, we can place higher value on human needs, desires and economic systems, and do not have to pay too much attention to suffering caused by human influence. In contrast to this, many traditional cultures attribute an intrinsic value to nature, which creates a whole different landscape for the development of ethics and relationship. If the world view of a people acknowledges the intrinsic value of nature it can seem very obvious to treat it in a more respectful and nourishing way. This can start with the language we use to describe the more than human world as in the following example given by Segwalise of the Seneca Nation:
“This cosmology places the Haudenosaunee in a balanced, familiar relationship with the universe and the Earth. In our languages, the Earth is our Mother Earth, the sun our Eldest Brother, the moon our Grandmother, and so on. It is the belief of our people that all the elements of the Natural World were created for the benefit of all living things and that we, as humans, are one of the weakest of the whole Creation, since we are totally dependent on the whole of Creation for our survival.” (7).
Robin Wall Kimmerer writes in Braiding Sweetgrass about how our modern language, on the other hand, shows our disregard for the more than human world: “We see nature as “it”. “It” robs a person of selfhood and kinship, reducing a person to a mere thing. So it is that in Potawatomi and most other indigenous languages, we use the same words to address the living world as we use for our family. Because they are our family” (8). It is common in traditional cultures to attribute an animate force to most parts of their environment, turning their environment from merely a resource into a community of beings, of which humans are only one part of(5,6,8). Nature has its own intrinsic value, and has to be treated as an equal, rather than a resource.
The potential for a reciprocal relationship with nature
According to traditional ecological knowledge, we are living in a reciprocal relationship with the plants that we use (5,8). But what do humans give back to the plants? We can show our gratitude, treat plants with respect, but what are we giving back? The modern nature conservation view on how to protect the natural environment from destruction usually involves keeping humans away from plant and animal species in question. Areas are protected from any human influence.
However, in North America, the indigenous people believe that without them harvesting and influencing the local plant population, these would suffer. This is in stark contrast to our modern belief about protecting nature. And it took scientists a long time to believe that this could be true. But in recent times this has been shown more and more to be the case. Laurie A. Reid researched the influence of Indigenous people and their harvest practices on local sweet grass populations which had been declining in recent times. She found indeed that the traditional management practices supported this species to thrive (5). This coincides with the finding of a study conducted by the University of British Columbia, which analysed the land and species data of Australia, Brazil and Canada, three of the world’s biggest countries.
Comparing different areas and categorising them according to their relationship to people, they found that land managed or co-managed by Indigenous communities had the highest biodiversity, followed by existing protected areas such as national parks(8). This indicates that, depending on the worldview, humans are either able to benefit a diverse ecosystem, or destroy it. In one of these worldviews, the only way to protect nature is to forbid humans to enter, but the other worldview suggests, only through the acknowledgement of our dependence on nature and the intrinsic value attributed to it, or in other words by stepping into a reciprocal relationship with nature as an equal, can we protect the natural world from harm caused by wrong action.
Different worldviews and their impact on relationship
World views as stated above inform human consciousness of what is possible and desirable. It is not superior intelligence that has allowed Western society to become so technologically advanced. It is the belief that we have the right to treat the rest of the Natural World as a resource. If we measure efficiency in the amount of “resources” extracted from the land, then agricultural machinery will always bring greater results than harvest by hand. Monoculture crops will always be able to bring more crop per harvest than a biodiverse ecosystem short term. But if these practices are considered unethical because of the impact on the ecosystem, and if the overall health of the ecosystem is one of the key goals of our interaction with the Natural World, then modern agriculture ideas become very ineffective and counterproductive.
Our “progress” is often portrayed as a positive advancement, made possible by our intelligence and creativity. But a lot that is done in the name of progress, more like inventing new weapons, is not a sign of great creativity and intelligence, but rather a lack of understanding, empathy and moral ethic.
Another world view is one that sees humans as one part of the living community, and encourages a relationship to the Natural World that is based on equality, respect and humility. It leads to the creation of rituals, practices and interactions that encourage and protect the diversity of life. Often the way this knowledge is conveyed was so alien to western scientists, that in the past, they often disregarded traditional ceremonies and rituals as superstitious and so easily overlooked the ecosystem management significance of such interactions (4).
Responding to ecosystem changes
The basic practice for traditional ecosystem management is environmental monitoring and community oriented action (as opposed to individualistic). Monitoring plays a big role for Indigenous people. Day to day changes in ecosystems are crucial and have to be understood correctly to know how to respond appropriately. The observation of local plant and animal populations informs Indigenous people about which animals to hunt, which plants to harvest and which species to protect. This knowledge is then used for the benefit of the whole community. It is not uncommon to restrict hunting times to certain periods of the year, or for certain areas to be declared sacred, which would protect the local habitat from any direct impact by humans (4).
In South Africa, the harvesting of medicinal plant materials used to be restricted to traditional health practitioners (3). These people would have stringent traditional values, including taboos to regulate harvests. For example, plants would only be harvested after performing certain rituals and if roots were harvested, no more than two roots were allowed to be collected of the same plant at one time. Or harvests were restricted to certain times of the year. But looking at specific harvest practices around the world and simply copying them is problematic and has little to do with stepping into relationships with local ecosystems. These rituals, taboos and ways of interacting with the Natural World arise out of an adaptive, localised and dynamic way of relating with the immediate surroundings. If the world view forms the basis, then being observant and responsive are the pillars of right relationship with the Natural World and the roof would be made the practices, rituals and other cultural forms of interactions that protect both the human community and the Natural World around them.
From a traditional to a modern worldview: How do we bridge the gap?
If most herbalists today use herbs from places far away, how can we know that local plant populations elsewhere are treated with respect? This is probably one of the greatest challenges for Modern Herbal Medicine, as it makes it impossible for herbalists to be in touch with the ecosystems that the herbs come from. It is often impossible to know whether a herb is cultivated or wild harvested, whether the herbs have been grown in monocultures or come from biodiverse environments. It is estimated that about 60-90% of species used for medicinal and aromatic purposes come from the wild, harvested by rural and marginalised communities. Often these people live in poor conditions, and depend on the income created by the harvest, and the only way to create more income is to increase harvests. Usually, they only see a fraction of the price that is paid for these herbs on the global market. This suggests that ecological sustainability is closely connected to social stability and fairness.
Just as with small Indigenous communities in relationship with the Natural World, as a whole global community, we need environmental monitoring, so we can adapt accordingly and then respond in ways that benefit the community as a whole, adapting a life community centric world view.
The key to making this possible is transparency along the whole way of the value chain. From the soil all the way to the person drinking the herb tea or using the herbal balm. Organisations such as FairWild work together with suppliers and growers to establish this kind of transparency and support growers and harvesters to practice sustainable harvest practices. But the road is long and difficult as it involves willingness and openness from all parties involved, and there are many challenges to establishing an ethical and sustainable trade. But first collaborative projects with growers show that the impact can be beneficial for all parties involved, suppliers, harvesters, growers and the ecosystem they are part of(10). Usually by supporting the people in imminent contact with the ecosystem, we can also support and protect the ecosystem itself. And herbalists, as people who step into relationship with herbs most days, can practise a reciprocal relationship, by acknowledging our connections all the way across the world. By learning about the impacts we are having and working together with suppliers, growers, the herbs and the ecosystems we are all part of allow a way of being together that benefits not just individual human beings, but all beings involved.
References
Further reading
Ethnopharmacology: Where science and traditional wisdom meet
References
- Jenkins M., Timoshyna A., Cornthwaite M. (2018), Wild at Home: Exploring the global harvest, trade and use of wild plant ingredients
- Keller G., Mndiga H., & Maass B. (2005), Diversity and genetic erosion of traditional vegetables in Tanzania from the farmer’s point of view. Plant Genetic Resources, 3(3), 400-413. doi:10.1079/PGR200594
- van Wyk, A.S.; Prinsloo, G. (2018), Medicinal plant harvesting, sustainability and cultivation in South Africa. Biological Conservation, 227, 335–342. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2018.09.018
- Berkes F., Colding J., Folke C. (2000), Rediscovery of Traditional Ecological Knowledge as Adaptive Management. Ecological Applications, Vol. 10, No5.
- Reid, Laurie A. (2005), The Effects of Traditional Harvesting Practices on Restored Sweetgrass Populations.
- Gadgil, M., Berkes, F. (1991), Traditional Resource Management Systems. Resource Management and Optimization. Volume 8(3-4), pp. 127-141.
- Segwalise. (2005) Akwesasne notes: A basic call to consciousness. p. 27
- Kimmerer RW. (2015, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants. Milkweed Editions.
- Schuster R., Germain R.R., Bennett J.R., et al. (2019), Vertebrate biodiversity on indigenous-managed lands in Australia, Brazil, and Canada equals that in protected areas.
- Traditional Medicinals Inc. (2020). From Wilderness to Wellness: https://www.nytimes.com/paidpost/traditional-medicinals/from-wilderness-to-wellness.html Paid post in NY Times.
