Plants and livelihoods

Plants – whether wild or domesticated – are fundamental components of ecosystems on Earth. They provide food, construction materials, fuel, medicines, all essential to human livelihoods. The type of plant cover on the land significantly influences the quality of the climate, the availability of water supplies and how much soil is eroded.

Human economies are highly dependent on the resources and services that plants provide. How plants are managed is a vital part of development. The management of wild plants for human benefit is especially significant in developing countries, where many people depend on products from wild plants for their own subsistence or to sell for income.

Plantlife’s Plants and Livelihoods Programme is concerned with building capacity to ensure that wild plant resources are used in sustainable and equitable ways – within the context of conserving plant diversity for the benefit of the future.

The Plants and Livelihoods Programme was launched in January 2005 and is initially concentrating on a Medicinal Plants Initiative.

To read more about the Plantlife Medicinal Plants Initiative,
click here