Climate change isn’t just reshaping forests ➡️ it’s targeting traditional medicine first.
A Nature study just published on Amazonian ethnobotany found that medicinal uses dominate the regional record:
✅ 33,245 medicinal use reports vs 12,333 for food, across 3,862 vs 1,804 species.
The worrying part is that across use categories, species used for medicine show some of the strongest projected range contractions under future climate scenarios to 2060–2080.
Overall, 28–34% of utilized species and 18–23% of their associated services may become locally extinct within Indigenous language territories, even before you add deforestation, fire, or mining into the picture.
❗ For herbalism, nutraceuticals, and pharma, this means the plants that underpin both local health systems and global innovation are also among the most exposed to climate risk.
✅ If our industries depend on Amazonian pharmacopoeias, we have to start treating climate adaptation, in situ conservation, and Indigenous-led monitoring as core business infrastructure…not just charity.
Reference: Cámara-Leret, R., Bascompte, J., Fortuna, M. A., et al. (2026). Amazonian biocultural heritage under climate change. Nature.