Online Reporter
Lovemore Kadzura
Post Reporter
EVERY year on March 3, the world marks World Wildlife Day, a United Nations–proclaimed occasion to celebrate wild fauna and flora and to raise awareness of the urgent need to protect them.
While global conversations often spotlight elephants, rhinos, and forests, Zimbabwe holds another priceless natural treasure that deserves equal attention—its medicinal and aromatic plants.
From the Miombo Woodlands to the Eastern Highlands, the country’s landscapes cradle a living pharmacy of indigenous species.
For generations, these plants have been central to traditional healing, nutrition, cosmetics, and spiritual practices.
Protecting them is. not only an environmental duty, but also an economic opportunity, a cultural imperative, and a pathway to sustainable development.
For centuries, traditional healers have relied on native species to treat ailments ranging from common colds to chronic diseases.
These plants are more than remedies. They embody knowledge systems passed down through generations.
Yet today, many face mounting threats from veld fires, land clearing, and climate change.
This year’s World Wildlife Day theme: ‘Medicinal and aromatic plants: conserving health, heritage and livelihoods’ underscores their importance.
The United Nations notes that between 70 and 95 percent of people in developing countries depend on traditional medicine for primary healthcare.
Mhakwe Heritage Foundation Trust executive director, Mr David Mutambirwa emphasised the multiple benefits of prioritising locally available medicinal plants in the health sector.
He, however, lamented the slow pace in developing a robust herbal industry that could harness this rich heritage for national growth.
“Medicinal and aromatic plants play a pivotal role in heritage and culture preservation. Some of the plants help in plants and crops pollination which propel fertilisation and progression of life in the bio-diversity. They help to maintain people’s health and some of them are very nutritious.
“There is need for sensitisation on the importance of these special plants so that there is preservation and conservation. We are all aware of what happened during the Covid-19 pandemic when we turned to medicinal plants such as zumbani and others for protection and treatment. Resources must be channelled towards the development of herbal industry.
“Communities are sitting on ‘gold’ and need to be capacitated so that there is commercialisation of the plants. This will push for alterative income and wide range of affordable and locally available trees,” said Mr Mutambirwa.
Traditional leader and health expert, Headman Talkmore Mupambawahle said traditional leaders play central and critical roles to safeguard natural assets, including medicinal plants through creating conservation zones, restricting destructive harvesting and enforcement of cultural taboos.
“For generations, traditional leaders have been the keepers of plant‑based healing traditions. Much of this knowledge of how to identify, harvest, prepare, and protect medicinal species—has been passed down orally. As younger generations drift away from traditional practices, traditional leaders are increasingly seen as the last line of defence for this heritage. Their participation ensures that the knowledge surrounding these plants is, not only preserved, but also legitimised in the eyes of the community and country as a whole.
“In rural areas, traditional leaders hold authority over communal land and natural resources.
‘‘This gives them a unique ability to protect habitats where medicinal plants thrive. By designating conservation zones, restricting destructive harvesting, or reviving cultural taboos that protect sacred groves, traditional leaders can enforce rules that outsiders such as governments or NGOs—struggle to implement. Their decisions can determine whether a species survives or disappears,” he said.
He added that these plants offer vital economic opportunities if proper research and development is done to make herbal medicines like what has been successfully done by countries such as India and China. These are earning billions of dollars supplying world markets.
He said communities can be uplifted through coordinated preservation, harvesting and processing of medicinal plants
“Medicinal and aromatic plants are not just cultural artefacts—they are economic assets. From herbal remedies to essential oils and cosmetics, global demand is rising. Traditional leaders can help communities tap into this opportunity by allocating land for cultivation, supporting cooperatives, and negotiating partnerships with researchers or private companies.
“When conservation translates into income, communities are more likely to protect the resource and ensure jobs that are created as well. For many communities, medicinal plants are woven into rituals, healing systems, and spiritual life that binds them. In an era of rapid environmental and social change, safeguarding these plants becomes a way of safeguarding the community itself from oblivion.
“Traditional leaders are, not just participants in the conservation of medicinal and aromatic plants—they are pivotal actors. Their authority, cultural insight, and connection to the land make them uniquely positioned to protect both biodiversity and the livelihoods that depend on it,” he said.
