Country development does not presuppose the loss of forest resources for traditional medicine use

There are challenges in using ethnobotany as a research technique. Foremost, there is a generational loss (if traditional medicine knowledge and a loss of plant resources as raw material for medicinal use. These losses are frequently attributed to the development and modernization of cultures. However, recent work has reported that the loss of languages, a classic marker of traditional knowledge, does nest correlate with the relative development status of a country. By analyzing datasets regarding the relative development status of countries and land use patterns, I show that the loss of natural resources for traditional medicine use does not correlate with the relative development status of a country. This work implies that with proper governance, it is possible for countries to develop while preserving the natural resources utilized in traditional medicine. (C) 2005 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.