Tree project aims to save SA's medicinal heritage

A trust is working with traditional healers and harvesters to stop the pepper-bark tree becoming extinct

- Sheree Bega

For thousands of years, Africa's landscapes have yielded plants with healing powers, sustaining not only traditional medicine but also cultural identity and livelihoods.

In South Africa, these deep-rooted traditions are under threat - yet are also finding new life through collaboration and conservation.

Historically, rituals, protocols and practices helped manage plant harvesting sustainably, says Jenny Botha, the programme manager for People in Conservation at the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT).

But as human populations have grown and rural populations migrated to urban areas, demand has outstripped the availability of many plant species.

This, together with the erosion of harvesting controls and extensive habitat transformation through other human activities, has placed pressure on numerous medicinal plant species.

In South Africa alone more than 2000 plant species are used for traditional medicine, with 770 species recorded in local markets. Of these, 182 appear on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species and at least 82 are believed to be at risk of extinction in the wild.

Among them is the pepper-bark tree (Warburgia salutaris), long recognised in Southern Africa for its healing properties, from respiratory ailments to digestive problems. Many of its therapeutic properties have been corroborated scientifically.

Under the Sappi Rare and Threatened Species Programme, started in conjunction with SANParks, the EWT received 1 600 pepper-bark tree saplings from its projects in Limpopo in 2019. These saplings were provided by SANParks' nursery at Skukuza in the Kruger National Park.

Native to montane forests, thickets and woodlands, the pepper-bark tree also occurs in Mozambique and eSwatini but is believed to be extinct in the wild in Zimbabwe.