A Review Study on Alternative Conservation and Management Methods to Sustain Medicinal Plants in South Africa
Nyiko Faith Shibambu 
& Witness Maluleke
Issue: Vol.4 No.8 Article 9 pp.1006-1015
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2023489 | Published online 18th August, 2023
© 2023 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
The use of indigenous medicinal plants is still prevalent as the most trusted form of health care, predominantly in developing countries. Overuse of medicinal plant resources, coupled with the negative impacts of unpredictable rainfall and rising temperatures, necessitated the development of local methods to conserve medicinal plants. These indigenous conservation methods have proved to be failing and aggravating threats to medicinal plants. This study aimed to review the alternative conservation and management methods to protect medicinal plants in South Africa. A review of the literature presents in situ, ex situ, natural reserves, wild nurseries, botanical gardens, and seed banks as alternative conservation methods proposed and used by scientists to conserve and manage medicinal plant species. These methods are Western practices introduced to the local communities in an effort to conserve and protect the indigenous medicinal plant species for future use and as a cultural heritage. From a qualitative standpoint, this study adopted the interpretivist research design to offer support to employ the systematic review method. Seminal studies on this subject were purposively collected using keywords extracted from the research topic. The collected data was analysed using the inductive Textual Content Analysis (TCA) method. The results of this study reveal that there are various conservation methods that are implemented as strategies to safeguard the existing medicinal plants, and this proves if these methods are implemented correctly these plants will still be available for future use. It is concluded and recommended that the demand for medicinal plants imposes huge threats to their anticipated availabilities, therefore, the relevant stakeholders need to take urgent corrective measures concerned parties should be consistently exposed to improved resources, advanced training and better education about the benefits and importance of these plants.
Keywords: Medicinal plants, conservation method, In situ, natural resource
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Ms Nyiko Faith Shibambu holds a Bachelor of Arts [BA] Degree: Sociology and Anthropology) and BA Honours: Anthropology and she is currently (2023) enrolling for the Master Arts [MA]: Anthropology (All with University of Limpopo – UL). She is the Research Assistant, under the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice of UL. She is also serving as a Tutor for the Centre for Academic Excellence (CAE), catering for Sociology and Anthropology undergraduate students. Her research specialisation(s) are confined to ‘Medical and Cultural Anthropology.’
Prof Maluleke is a rated Y2 Rural Criminologist/Stock theft researcher by the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa; he is currently serving as the Associate Professor, attached to the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice of University of Limpopo (UL). He is the ‘Programme Coordinator for the Criminology and Psychology Bachelor of Arts [BA] Degree [Criminology and Psychology] (BAAA01), Extended Curriculum Programme [ECP] (BAAH01); and BA Honours Degree in Criminology [HBAI01]. He won the following selected awards in his academic journey: Emerging Scholar Award for the 2020 International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, Athens, Greece, 2022 Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) and Universities South Africa (USAf) Medal for the Social Sciences and Humanities [Emerging researcher category], 2022 Sunday World Unsung Hero [Youth in Academia and Education category], 2022-2023 Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) Future Professors Programme (FPP) Phase 2 Cohort 1, 2023-2024 Junior Research Fellows Programme, 2021 UL Best Overall Upcoming Researcher, 2018 College of Humanities Staff Excellence Awards (Top 30 Most Published Researcher), University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) and 2010 Chancellor’s Medal and Certificate for Outstanding Academic Achievement, Tshwane University of Technology (TUT). In the year 2017, he founded the biennial ‘Hlayani Excellence Awards for Learners (HEAL),’ focusing on disadvantaged ‘primary-high schools’ learners from rural settings across South Africa.
Shibambu,Nyiko F. & Maluleke, Witness.“A Review Study on Alternative Conservation and Management Methods to Sustain Medicinal Plants in South Africa.” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 4, no.8 (2023): 1006-1015. https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2023489
© 2023 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Journals. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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