Dr. Mark Plotkin joins Talks at Google to discuss "The Healing Forest on Fire: Plant Medicine, Isolated Tribes, & Climate Change".
Ethnobotanists are scientists who study the relationship between people and plants, often with a special focus on traditional healers and their botanical medicines. As rainforests disappear, however, many of these plant species face extinction. At the same time, due to acculturation, much of this indigenous knowledge is disappearing as well, often much faster than the plants themselves. And climate change—particularly changing rainfall patterns—is placing added stress on rainforest animals, plants and peoples. We see these impacts resulting from the Amazon fires that are devastating the most biodiverse forests in the world, crippling indigenous livelihoods and fundamentally altering traditional indigenous landscapes.
For well over two decades, the Amazon Conservation Team (www.amazonteam.org) has played a pioneering role in biocultural conservation, working to protect both rainforest ecosystems and tribal cultures. Over 15 years ago, ACT began collaborating with Google Earth to help indigenous peoples map and better manage their own lands. To date, ACT has partnered with over 50 South American tribes to not only map tens of millions of acres but also to carry out projects in ethnoeducation, shamanic knowledge intergenerational transmission, sustainable livelihoods, and women’s empowerment. This talk details those efforts
For more information: www.amazonteam.org
