Sustainability, rooted in the Seven generation stewardship concept believed to have originated with the Great Law of the Iroquois, urges the current generation of humans to live and work for the benefit of the seventh generation into the future. It encompasses various forms based on core sustainability principles: economic, environmental, social, distribution, cultural and health. These often-overlapping sustainability principles provide the necessary foundation for guiding the ethical utilization of medicinal plants. Long-term availability of medicinal plants is thus ensured by this, which also helps to strengthen fragile ecosystems, safeguard and promote robust populations in their native habitats, and increase their resilience to many threats including the impacts of climate change.

– Dr. Kelly Ablard

Ethical sourcing is important not only for the protection of medicinal plants but also for their safe use in therapeutics and clinical research. Key areas to consider when sourcing include the plant’s conservation status and CITES status, its geographical location, whether it is cultivated or wild, sustainable harvesting methods and management, quality control measures highlighting adulteration, traceability along the supply chain, and transparency with key permits and/or certificates available as evidence. Further, understanding and applying evidence-based research within the framework of sustainability, and recognizing the vital link between medicinal plants and Indigenous communities, are important components.

– Dr. Kelly Ablard