The Informal Trade of Medicinal Plants by Rastafari Bush Doctors in the Western Cape of South Africa

Abstract

This research investigates the trade of medicinal plants by Rastafari bush doctors in the biologically diverse Western Cape region. Inventories of the plant collections of 52 bush doctors reveal 38.6 tons of 135 ethnospecies were traded with a market value of $733,000 (ZAR 5 million) in 2010. Although a small part of the total trade of medicinal plants in South Africa, the characteristics of the Rastafari trade are unique in many respects. Men dominate this trade, there is homogeneity of plant species among vendors, and low species richness in comparison to the area’s high floral diversity indicates a cultural sharing of plants and medical knowledge. Diversity indices and species accumulation curves verified adequate sampling efforts and reveal that the range of medicinal species from the Western Cape may not have not been fully exploited, with up to 35 species involved in the trade yet to be “discovered.” The 27 ethnospecies in high demand that are targeted as conservation priorities include six plants new to the trade, ten unsustainably harvested species, six endemic fynbos plants, two plants with rare phylogenies, and three identified in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List Status. Bush doctors play a crucial role in transmitting herbal healing traditions and influence the future of this traditional plant knowledge and the sustainability of their diverse ecosystem. Western Cape medicinal plant trafficking by Rastafari should be monitored based upon the developing nature of this trade, the growing popularity of the group, and their willingness to engage in gardening, where community–based conservation strategies may be successful.