A Review Study on Alternative Conservation and Management Methods to Sustain Medicinal Plants in South Africa
The use of indigenous medicinal plants is still prevalent as the most trusted form of health care, predominantly in developing countries. Overuse of medicinal plant resources, coupled with the negative impacts of unpredictable rainfall and rising temperatures, necessitated the development of local m...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Noyam Journals
2023-08-01
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| Series: | E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://noyam.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/EHASS2023489.pdf |
| _version_ | 1797674432388399104 |
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| author | Nyiko Faith Shibambu Witness Maluleke |
| author_facet | Nyiko Faith Shibambu Witness Maluleke |
| author_sort | Nyiko Faith Shibambu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The use of indigenous medicinal plants is still prevalent as the most trusted form of health care, predominantly in developing countries. Overuse of medicinal plant resources, coupled with the negative impacts of unpredictable rainfall and rising temperatures, necessitated the development of local methods to conserve medicinal plants. These indigenous conservation methods have proved to be failing and aggravating threats to medicinal plants. This study aimed to review the alternative conservation and management methods to protect medicinal plants in South Africa. A review of the literature presents in situ, ex situ, natural reserves, wild nurseries, botanical gardens, and seed banks as alternative conservation methods proposed and used by scientists to conserve and manage medicinal plant species. These methods are Western practices introduced to the local communities in an effort to conserve and protect the indigenous medicinal plant species for future use and as a cultural heritage. From a qualitative standpoint, this study adopted the interpretivist research design to offer support to employ the systematic review method. Seminal studies on this subject were purposively collected using keywords extracted from the research topic. The collected data was analysed using the inductive Textual Content Analysis (TCA) method. The results of this study reveal that there are various conservation methods that are implemented as strategies to safeguard the existing medicinal plants, and this proves if these methods are implemented correctly these plants will still be available for future use. It is concluded and recommended that the demand for medicinal plants imposes huge threats to their anticipated availabilities, therefore, the relevant stakeholders need to take urgent corrective measures concerned parties should be consistently exposed to improved resources, advanced training and better education about the benefits and importance of these plants. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T21:58:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-adf3c64499c840318d46e7a7235d67e0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2720-7722 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T21:58:56Z |
| publishDate | 2023-08-01 |
| publisher | Noyam Journals |
| record_format | Article |
| series | E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-adf3c64499c840318d46e7a7235d67e02023-09-25T15:33:45ZengNoyam JournalsE-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences2720-77222023-08-014810061015https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2023489A Review Study on Alternative Conservation and Management Methods to Sustain Medicinal Plants in South AfricaNyiko Faith Shibambu0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6733-2160 Witness Maluleke1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6228-1640 Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Limpopo, South Africa Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Limpopo, South AfricaThe use of indigenous medicinal plants is still prevalent as the most trusted form of health care, predominantly in developing countries. Overuse of medicinal plant resources, coupled with the negative impacts of unpredictable rainfall and rising temperatures, necessitated the development of local methods to conserve medicinal plants. These indigenous conservation methods have proved to be failing and aggravating threats to medicinal plants. This study aimed to review the alternative conservation and management methods to protect medicinal plants in South Africa. A review of the literature presents in situ, ex situ, natural reserves, wild nurseries, botanical gardens, and seed banks as alternative conservation methods proposed and used by scientists to conserve and manage medicinal plant species. These methods are Western practices introduced to the local communities in an effort to conserve and protect the indigenous medicinal plant species for future use and as a cultural heritage. From a qualitative standpoint, this study adopted the interpretivist research design to offer support to employ the systematic review method. Seminal studies on this subject were purposively collected using keywords extracted from the research topic. The collected data was analysed using the inductive Textual Content Analysis (TCA) method. The results of this study reveal that there are various conservation methods that are implemented as strategies to safeguard the existing medicinal plants, and this proves if these methods are implemented correctly these plants will still be available for future use. It is concluded and recommended that the demand for medicinal plants imposes huge threats to their anticipated availabilities, therefore, the relevant stakeholders need to take urgent corrective measures concerned parties should be consistently exposed to improved resources, advanced training and better education about the benefits and importance of these plants.https://noyam.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/EHASS2023489.pdfmedicinal plantsconservation methodin situnatural resource |
| spellingShingle | Nyiko Faith Shibambu Witness Maluleke A Review Study on Alternative Conservation and Management Methods to Sustain Medicinal Plants in South Africa E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences medicinal plants conservation method in situ natural resource |
| title | A Review Study on Alternative Conservation and Management Methods to Sustain Medicinal Plants in South Africa |
| title_full | A Review Study on Alternative Conservation and Management Methods to Sustain Medicinal Plants in South Africa |
| title_fullStr | A Review Study on Alternative Conservation and Management Methods to Sustain Medicinal Plants in South Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Review Study on Alternative Conservation and Management Methods to Sustain Medicinal Plants in South Africa |
| title_short | A Review Study on Alternative Conservation and Management Methods to Sustain Medicinal Plants in South Africa |
| title_sort | review study on alternative conservation and management methods to sustain medicinal plants in south africa |
| topic | medicinal plants conservation method in situ natural resource |
| url | https://noyam.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/EHASS2023489.pdf |
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