World Wildlife Day 2026: Insights from ITTO efforts to conserve medicinal and aromatic plants

As ITTO marks its 40th anniversary, the Organization draws attention to the often-overlooked role of wild plants, particularly medicinal and aromatic plants, whose healing properties have supported communities for generations.

Most think of wildlife as animals in forests, savannas, and oceans. Far less visible, yet equally vital, are wild plants—an essential part of the world’s biodiversity and a cornerstone of human survival. As ITTO marks its 40th anniversary, the Organization draws attention to the often-overlooked role of wild plants, particularly medicinal and aromatic plants, whose healing properties have supported communities for generations. 

This year’s World Wildlife Day on 3 March 2026 provides a timely opportunity to recognize that protecting wildlife also means safeguarding the plant species that sustain health, heritage, and livelihoods across the tropics. 

Pharmacy in the forests

Training the spotlight on such plant species, known as medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs), the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which leads the observance of World Wildlife Day, has chosen this theme for 2026: “Medicinal and Aromatic Plants: Conserving Health, Heritage, and Livelihoods.”

These apt words describe the far-reaching and multifaceted importance of MAPs, particularly for forest-dependent communities. These communities have long recognized the benefits of various plant species for human and ecological health, and this knowledge has become a fundamental aspect of their cultural and economic life, sustaining their well-being and underpinning their traditional practices and livelihoods.

In fact, a 2006 study by Gurib-Fakim discussed how certain plant species, owing to their therapeutic properties, have formed the basis of traditional medicine systems that have treated patients since antiquity, and remain critical to the ongoing search for compounds for new pharmaceuticals.

MAPs are not only indispensable for communities living in the periphery but also occupy considerable roles as raw materials for different industries – from foodstuffs to pharmaceuticals, from beverages to perfumes – powering local, national, and regional economies.

Ecological health also benefits from medicinal and aromatic plants, which promote biodiversity and provide essential nutrients that sustain soil health. In addition, MAPs help maintain ecological balance by providing habitats and food sources for diverse organisms.

Yet factors such as habitat destruction, overcultivation, and climate change, among others, continue to threaten the survival of these valuable plant species, emphasizing the urgent need for their sustainable use and conservation.

Current status of MAPs: A diagnosis

A crucial first step in any therapeutic journey is understanding the nature and causes of the condition. The dearth of reliable information can lead to misdiagnosis and a prolonged treatment process.

In Ghana, around 65% to 70% of the population still depends on traditional herbal medicine, especially in resource-poor communities where orthodox health care delivery systems remain inaccessible and expensive. 

Given the lack of access to modern medical systems, Ghanaians, especially those living in the periphery, have increasingly depended on traditional herbal medicines as the treatment of first resort. This necessitates comprehensive documentation of currently available medicinal plants, particularly those most vulnerable to pressures.

Recognizing this, the Forestry Research Institute of Ghana, with support from ITTO, spearheaded the “Conservation and Utilization of Medicinal Plants in Ghanaian Forests Fringe Communities” project in 2008. 

In response to the need to develop conservation and sustainable utilization strategies for medicinal plant species, the project examined how MAPs are distributed and used across selected fringe communities across Ghana's ecological zones.

The project, in collaboration with stakeholders, successfully documented Indigenous knowledge on 394 species of the more than 1,000 medicinal plant species estimated to exist in Ghana, providing an invaluable source of information on local plant names, key diseases treated, species abundance, and Indigenous cultivation techniques.

The results provide a clearer picture of the current status of MAPs in Ghana, offering a concrete basis for existing and future conservation efforts and initiatives that promote the sustainable cultivation and harvesting of medicinal plant species, particularly those that are vulnerable, commercially threatened, or at risk of extinction.

Similar initiatives have been conducted in other countries. Another ITTO project, titled “Strengthening the Resilience of Indigenous Mayan Communities in Tropical Forests of the Yucatán Peninsula through the Sustainable Use of Biodiversity in the Context of the Maya Train Project,” aimed as part of its wider objectives to document Indigenous knowledge, including medicinal plants in the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico.

The project, implemented in partnership with the National Autonomous University of Mexico and Mexico’s National Forestry Agency, highlights the integral role of Indigenous Peoples not only in conserving medicinal plant species and their applications but also in ensuring that invaluable traditional knowledge on these plants is perpetuated for posterity.

Our turn to heal nature

While MAPs provide a significant boost to Ghana’s economy through local trade, environmental disruptions and limited scientific knowledge on sustainable harvesting and management must be addressed to counter the dwindling availability of certain MAPs in Ghana’s forests and ensure the livelihoods of local communities.

Forest-based communities play a critical role in the conservation of MAPs, as they are the primary movers in implementing alternative strategies that advance the sustainable production, utilization, and conservation of these plant species under threat.

Hence, the project also supported the partner communities in implementing conservation practices by training stakeholders on the domestication of medicinal plant species in home gardens, as well as on natural regeneration techniques and silvicultural practices to rehabilitate degraded habitats within their areas. Similar measures were undertaken in the project in Mexico. 

Meanwhile, the “Assessing the Contribution of Selected Non-timber Forest Products Based on Community Participation Approach to Support Sustainable Forest Management” project adopted a multistakeholder model to attain its goal of increasing the contribution of non-timber forest products to the economy of East Kalimantan, Indonesia, particularly by promoting the sustainable small-scale production of medicinal plants.

Implemented by the Bogor Agricultural University and Indonesia’s Forestry Research and Development Agency, with support from ITTO, the project emphasized the role of community involvement throughout the project cycle, from the establishment of cultivation systems, product processing, small-scale and business strategy development up to the establishment of marketing networks.

These initiatives are a testament to the central role of forest-dependent communities in sustainable forest management and conservation efforts, particularly of threatened MAPs.

“Involving and benefiting local communities largely result in effective conservation efforts,” said ITTO Executive Director Sheam Satkuru. “They are indispensable to the success of sustainable forest management efforts, which in turn are critical to the proper utilization and conservation not only of medicinal and aromatic plants but also of other threatened species.”

“For the longest time, we have benefitted from the healing and restorative properties of nature. Now it’s high time for us to take our turn in nursing it back to health.”

An optimistic prognosis

The lessons learned from all these projects support an optimistic view: despite ongoing pressures that threaten MAPs, the resources and tools needed to mitigate these impacts are readily available.

ITTO has consistently supported projects that promote the conservation and management of protected areas, defend tropical forest biodiversity from various threats, and increase local capacities in conservation knowledge and sustainable natural resource utilization.

As we celebrate World Wildlife Day, the experiences of and efforts by communities remind us that measures working toward a long-term healing process are already yielding meaningful results. Marking its 40th anniversary, ITTO showcases how its work goes #BeyondTimber—embracing the vital role of wildlife in sustaining ecosystems, livelihoods and human well-being. With this foundation in place, there is every reason to replicate these efforts at scale toward full and lasting recovery.