Assessing medicinal plants as the linkage between healthcare, livelihood and biodiversity: a case study from native villages surrounding a second-tier city in the central Peruvian Amazon

Abstract

Medicinal plants are still used for healthcare and as medicaments especially in developing countries and some rural areas. The potential and high expectation of medicinal plants for local healthcare and livelihood and as biodiversity management is prevalent globally. This study assesses the extent to which medicinal plants bring benefits in biodiversity management and improve livelihood and healthcare in indigenous villages near a small city, a second tier city in the central Peruvian Amazon, taking into consideration the course of urbanization. A total of 81 people living in two villages were interviewed. The results show that unlike areas surrounding large cities in the Amazon, areas around the second tier city do not have the conditions to commercialize medicinal plants to support livelihood. Therefore, the local utilization of medicinal plants does not deteriorate the forest resources, thus medicinal plants would not be expected to be a driver for biodiversity management. Although medicinal plants still support healthcare of the locals, the reliance on modern medicine is aparent. The distance to the urbanized city and modern facilities influences the use of medicinal plants. While close proximity facilitates the use of modern medicine, it is found that mal-accessibility to modern medicine does not increase the variety of medicinal plant use.