DEVELOPMENT OF AN INDIGENOUS KENYAN ETHNO BOTANICAL HEALTH

 

There are two major threats to humankind today: the loss of biodiversity and the loss of traditional knowledge about biodiversity. Both are issues of utmost importance. Any species that becomes extinct is an option for medicine, food, genes, etc., lost forever. Cultures with vast knowledge of their plant resources also are threatened by extinction because of acculturation. The traditional knowledge of plants has provided our modern society with medicines, food, industrial materials and many other advantages that we take for granted. Ethnobotanical research is providing fundamental information in the search for new drugs, foods, pesticides, natural products, genes and all kinds of chemicals. Ethnobotanical data provides an extraordinary diversity of important questions for botanical,

ecological and anthropological research.