Leveraging Botanical Gardens for the Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Wild Food Plant Resources

Abstract

Wild food plants (WFPs) are consumed by the indigenous communities in various parts of the
world for food, nutrition, and medicinal purposes. They are usually collected from the wild and
sometimes grown in the vicinity of the forests and the dwellings of the indigenous people in a
way such that they are not far from their natural habitats. WFPs are important for the food and
nutritional requirements of the indigenous communities. The WFPs are seasonal and collected
from the wild whenever they are available. Therefore, the food menu of the tribal communities
changes with the seasons. A number of studies have demonstrated various WFPs consumed by
indigenous communities including India. The results show that an enormous diversity of WFPs
is consumed by the indigenous people of India. However, a few studies also suggest that the
consumption of WFPs among the indigenous communities is declining along with the
dwindling of traditional ethno botanical knowledge linked to the collection, processing,
cooking, storage, and limited cultivation of WFPs. India can leverage the network of its botanic
gardens for the conservation of its wild food plant resources, the traditional and indigenous
knowledge linked to it, and its popularization among the citizens within the framework of
Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC). This article provided an overview of the need
to focus on WFPs, limitations of current studies, and role of botanic gardens in the conservation
of wild food plants through the implementation of GSPC. This article further provided a
framework for the role of botanic gardens in the popularization of WFPs, increasing the
awareness about their importance, documentation, and preservation of the traditional
knowledge linked to various aspects of WFPs within the GPSC framework.