Climate change could cause the loss of about one-third of the plant species used by Indigenous peoples of the Amazon, jeopardizing essential resources such as natural medicines, food, and traditional materials. The warning emerges from a study published in the scientific journal Nature, which also points to the risk of the disappearance of a significant portion of the ancestral knowledge associated with the tropical rainforest.
Investigation was conducted by scientists from Switzerland and the United States, who gathered more than 90,000 records on the use of Amazonian plants, produced between 1504 and 2023. The analysis revealed that regional communities use almost 5,800 different plant species, a number roughly double previous estimates.
In addition to the biological wealth, the researchers highlight the enormous cultural diversity of the Amazon, where more than 400 Indigenous groups live. Of the more than 76,000 analyzed records relating to native plants, 57% were associated with 156 different Indigenous languages. Of these, more than half are currently endangered.
The researchers sought to determine how climate change could affect the distribution of these species in the coming decades. To this end, they developed climate models for the period 2060 to 2080, considering different greenhouse gas emission scenarios.
The results point to average local extinctions between 28% and 34% of the species used by Amazonian communities, depending on the trajectory of global warming. The losses are expected to be particularly high among plants with greater cultural and practical importance for local populations.
Consequently, the services provided by these species, including medicinal applications, food, construction, and crafts, could decline by 18% to 23%.
The study also concludes that regions where Indigenous languages are most threatened tend to face greater losses of biodiversity and of ecosystem services. Should many of these languages disappear, the researchers estimate that about 26% of the documented knowledge regarding the use of Amazonian plants could be lost.
According to the authors, the combination of biodiversity loss and the disappearance of Indigenous languages represents an unprecedented threat to the Amazon’s biocultural heritage, one of the planet’s most important regions in ecological and cultural terms.
The scientists argue that forest conservation should involve not only protecting species and ecosystems but also valuing and preserving the traditional knowledge of Indigenous communities. To that end, they recommend that environmental policies integrate more effectively the protection of biological and cultural heritage, recognizing the close link between the two.
For the authors, the results should serve as a starting point to strengthen strategies for conservation and restoration of the Amazonian biocultural heritage, at a time when climate change continues to intensify pressures on the world’s largest tropical forest.
