Afona Chernet
cSwiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, CH-4123 Allschwil, Switzerland
Manuel Luján
eRoyal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 3AB, UK
Jürg Utzinger
cSwiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, CH-4123 Allschwil, Switzerland
Keywords:
Ethnic minority groups, Mayan fruit trees, Mexico, Nature-based solutions, Neglected and underutilized species of plants, Neglected tropical diseases, One Health, Sustainable Development Goals
Abstract
Neglected and underutilized species of plants (NUS) have been identified by the Food and Agriculture Organization as valuable resources for fighting poverty, hunger and malnutrition as they can help make agricultural production systems more sustainable and resilient. Adaptation of NUS to changing environments over several millennia has rendered most of these plants resistant to pests and climate change. In this paper, we explore the potential values of some of the Mayan fruit trees justifying conservation efforts in their native habitats. Our research was primarily based on a scoping review using Google Scholar. We considered articles published in English, Spanish and Portuguese. Our review rendered two sets of articles including those focusing on the nutritional and medicinal properties of NUS and their products, and those focusing on their uses in traditional medicine. Both sets of papers strongly support arguments for conservation of NUS. Additionally, our scoping review expands and includes a case study on the conservation of NUS, highlighting the critical role of civil society on how it can spearhead rescue efforts of botanical resources through the creation of what is possibly the first arboretum of its kind in the Americas. Among the project's key selling points was not only the rescue of an important component of Yucatan's cultural heritage but its nutritional value as well as its potential medicinal properties. Our paper is not prescriptive on how to preserve or even commercially exploit NUS. It is intended as a thought-provoking piece on the potential of a One Health approach as a multisectoral platform to support conservation efforts, while stimulating greater interest in the subject and encouraging more action from the academic and pharmaceutical sectors as well as civil society.
Keywords: Ethnic minority groups, Mayan fruit trees, Mexico, Nature-based solutions, Neglected and underutilized species of plants, Neglected tropical diseases, One Health, Sustainable Development Goals
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