Role of traditional ethnobotanical knowledge and indigenous communities in achieving Sustainable Development Goals

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) envisaged under Agenda 2030 are a set of seventeen goals which envisage a holistic approach towards attaining certain targets keeping humankind and the planet at center. There are total 169 targets spread across seventeen goals covering wide ranging issues and challenges the world is facing in the twenty-first century. And they are to be achieved by 2030. Concerted efforts of all the stakeholders ranging from indigenous communities, common citizens, scientists, policy makers, world leaders are needed to achieve all the goals and targets Of the seventeen goals, at least seven goals are of interest to the ethnobotanists and are associated with traditional ethnobotanical knowledge. Therefore to achieve those set of goals, a thorough understanding is required to disentangle the intricacies involving traditional ethnobotanical knowledge, indigenous people as traditional knowledge holders and their future role. Understanding relationships between traditional ethnobotanical knowledge and indigenous communities, seeking cooperation from and establishing partnerships with them would help us design policies to achieve intended outcomes of SDGs. In this paper, particular attention is attracted towards the potential role of traditional ethnobotanical knowledge in achieving select sustainable development goals and targets.


INTRODUCTION
The United Nations General Assembly in its 70 th meeting on 25 th September 2015 adopted a resolution "Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development'' (UNGA 2015). Member countries adopted 17 set of goals called Sustainable Development Goals to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all. Each goal has specific targets to be achieved by 2030. Sustainable Development Goals are an extension of Millennium Development (MDG's) Goals and part of a new sustainable development agenda to complete what they (MDG's) did not achieve (ICSU 2015). For the goals to be realized, everyone needs to do their part; governments, the private sector and civil society.. Though the Agenda 21 of the Rio Earth Summit in 1992(UNGA 1992 where the concept of sustainable development emerged, advocated the pivotal role of indigenous' people and other local communities, in environmental management and development because of their knowledge and traditional practices (Kimerling 2002), the official UN document of 2015 has not explicitly recognized the role of ethnobotanists in achieving these sustainable development goals. Apart from the role of different countries and various stakeholders mentioned in the document in achieving these goals and targets, we advocate and reiterate the role of indigenous communities by recognizing and duly supporting their identity, culture and interests and by enabling their effective participation in the achievement of sustainable development goals as mentioned in the Principle 22 of the Rio declaration on Environment andDevelopment, 1992 (UNGA 1992). We reaffirm that traditional ethnobotanical knowledge, ethnobotanists and people's participation can significantly contribute to achieving sustainable development goals by 2030 and beyond. People have a long history of interactions with the plants for various purposes such as food, medicine, decoration construction and clothing (Balick 1996). The usage of plants for various purposes by the indigenous and local communities comprises traditional ethnobotanical knowledge. The traditional knowledge on the usage of plants is not well documented formally by indigenous people as it is orally and vertically transmitted from generation to generation (Garnatje, Peñuelas, and Vallès 2017a). Though it is transmitted orally, ethnobotanists have played an important role in unravelling these plant-people interactions and in unlocking the knowledge by various types of interviews and surveys. Apart from interviews and surveys, recently archaeological, palaeontological and archaeogenomics evidence have also been used to establish the plantpeople interactions from the prehistoric times (Allaby et al. 2015, Liu et al. 2013, Mercader 2009). Though records on the consumption of plants by humans in the prehistoric times are scarce, recently it has been discovered that people in South Africa used leaves of Cryptocarya woodii for construction of bedding 77,000 year ago and it has now been established that this plant is toxic to mosquitoes because of its larvicidal properties (Wadley et al. 2011). Retrieval of a large assemblage of starch granules from the surfaces of Middle Stone Age stone tools from Mozambique suggests that early humans consumed grass seeds. These records date back to at least 105,000 years ago (Mercader 2009). The discipline of ethnobotany works at the intersection of plants-people at one end and science at the other end, therefore ethnobotanists can act as a bridge between the plants-people and science (Alexiades 2003). Tuxill & Nabhan (2001) have suggested that ethnobotany can act as a useful vehicle for development and can also serve as a useful process in development. The outcomes of the interactions between the plants and people as deciphered by ethnobotanists holds a large potential to solve some of the issues the world is facing today. The common global challenges range from ending poverty, achieving zero hunger, improving the nutritional status of the people, promoting sustainable agriculture, improving the health status of the people, providing affordable health care services, combat climate change (FAO 2016, UNSD 2017. In the present review article, We have identified seven sustainable development goals, where traditional ethnobotanical knowledge can contribute significantly. The select seven goals associated with traditional ethnobotanical knowledge are; SDG 1 (No poverty), 2 (Zero hunger), 3 (Good health and wellbeing), 12 (Responsible consumption and production), 13 (Climate action), 15 (Life on Land) and 17 (Partnerships for the goals). In the following sections, a brief background to the major challenges ( Figure 1a) which SDG's seeks to achieve by 2030 ( Figure 1b) and then we present how ethnobotany can contribute to achieve these goals and targets ( Figure 3).

FOOD PLANTS
The current rate of population growth translates directly into increased numbers of consumers and increased demand for goods and services (Newson et al. 2013). The Agenda 2030 seeks to end poverty (SDG1), achieve zero hunger and improve nutritional status of the public (SDG2).
Poverty, hunger and nutrition are three interlinked issues having cause and effect relationship and they need to be addressed systematically and in an integrated manner. Targeting poverty alone may help to achieve zero hunger, but unless people have access to nutritional food, simply targeting poverty may not deliver expected results. Therefore initiatives for alleviating poverty must be coupled with addressing the issues related to diet related malnutrition and under nutrition. It has been estimated that, approximately one billion poorest people of the world remain undernourished today, and by 2050, the Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that we will need to increase food production by 70% to feed the 9.1 billion people (FAO 2009). This data suggests the gravity of challenges the world is facing to ensure food security for all.  reportedly affected as much as 500 million hectare (Mha) in the tropics (Lamb, Erskine and Parrotta 2005), and globally 33% of earth's land surface is affected due to land degradation (Bini 2009, Lal 2015. Besides agronomic production, soil degradation can also slow down economic growth especially in countries where agriculture is the major engine for economic development (Scherr 2001). The use of chemical pesticides have a deteriorating effect on the non-target insects such as honey bees and other beneficial insects (Quarles 2008a, Quarles 2008b, Stokstad 2012 (Schacker 2008). Increased use of pesticides can lead to reduced food production endangering our food security (Schacker 2008). The fertilizer and pesticide runoff have also adversely affected quality of surface and groundwater (Aktar, Sengupta and Chowdhury 2009).
Thus total land available for cultivation is reduced due to its degradation caused by various activities such as water and wind erosion, salinity, sodicity and alkalinity which has lead to reduced soil fertility, urban expansion is also major form of land degradation, removing large areas of the best agricultural land from production (FAO 1995). The productivity of land available must be increased using practices which are sustainable, the conservation of the remaining land resources and reclamation of the degraded land are some of the challenges in land use and sustainable agriculture (Bhan 2013, Spiertz 2013, Winterbottom et al. 2013. Besides achieving zero hunger and improved nutrition, SDG2 also seeks to achieve sustainable food production systems (Sustainable agriculture) and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production and that help maintain ecosystems. Through intimate association with the plants and agriculture related activities, people have gained tremendous knowledge on the various aspects of agriculture and the crops. The knowledge ranges from the soil types, season of sowing a particular crop, the water and nutrient requirements, the other conditions which promote or limit productivity. The knowledge also pertains to the diseases caused by pathogens and attack by pests and their management strategies. The ethnobotanical knowledge is vast and is non uniformly distributed and locally suited as per the environmental conditions and the availability of particular crops (Brush 1992, Brush 2005. In addition to lack of proper documentation, some researchers (Wolf and Medin 2001) have suggested that increased modernization may have led to loss of this knowledge in many places. Turner and Turner (2008)  Not only in the developing countries, but natural products and medications derived from them also contribute significantly to the health care systems of the remaining 20 percent of the population residing in developed countries (Bussmann 2002). Interestingly, of the 25 best-selling pharmaceutical drugs, 12 are natural products derived from the plants [Baker et al. 1995, Farnsworth et al. 1985 Youyou, a chinese scientist was awarded Nobel prize in 2015 (Su and Miller 2015). plants and people in the conservation of plant genetic resources (Cunningham 1992). Various researchers have demonstrated the importance of ethnobotany in the conservation and management of vegetation resources. For example, Phillips and Gentry [Phillips, and Gentry, 1993a,b] have shown that the versatility of uses, as well as the popularity of a plant, may represent a useful measure to indirectly evaluate the harvesting ''pressure'' to which that species is exposed in nature, as well as the role that a given group of plants plays in local cultural practices. Many other studies have also highlighted the role of ethnobotany in conservation of biodiversity (Bussmann 2002 Ecuador has stressed the need to include interdisciplinary approaches for the conservation of ethnomedicinal plants and prevent from over harvesting. The most popular herbal tea of Southern Ecuador, the "Horchata" which consists of more than 30 medicinal herbs, nowadays, these 30 ingredients are organically produced by local farmers in small managed gardens instead of directly collecting from the wild which poses greater pressure on the wild population (Bussmann 2002). Peters, Alexiades, and Laird (2012) has also suggested the role of imparting skills to the indigenous communities for the better management of the tropical forests. This would reduce the dependency on the external inputs and create a skilled workforce of local communities. Experts from various disciplines such as forestry, ecology, ethnobotany, economics and anthropology can intervene and play a crucial role in managing the forests and other resources. Skills and knowledge of best practices such as how to grow, harvest and consume wild vegetables and other resources in a sustainable manner (SDG 12) would also play a synergistic role in strengthening the community management of the valuable resources.
Awareness programs at larger scale must also be integrated while training selected members of local indigenous communities to highlight negative effects of destructive harvesting practices.
The sustainable consumption production patterns would further halt biodiversity loss (SDG15).
Besides this conservation initiatives can be undertaken along with the help of conservation scientists, geneticists and the people's participation. Integration of traditional knowledge into ecological research for biodiversity conservation involving local communities holds the potential to become sustainable (Peters 2011) and it must be recognised and promoted (Posey 1992, Pimbert andPretty, 1995). funding needs to be channeled for promoting research in this field in order to meet SDGs. We conclude this with a quote by Dr. Margaret Chan (Former Director General of WHO), "The two systems of traditional and Western medicine need not clash. Within the context of primary health care, they can blend together in a beneficial harmony, using the best features of each system, and compensating for certain weaknesses in each. This is not something that will happen all by itself.

CONCLUSIONS
Deliberate policy decisions have to be made. But it can be done successfully" (WHO 2008). This holds true not only for the traditional medicines but also for other domains of traditional knowledge such as food plants, sustainable agriculture, biodiversity conservation and climate change. Traditional knowledge can be supplemented with the modern advancements in science.
This integrated approach involving a blend of traditional knowledge and modern advancements in science can contribute to achieve the SDGs if planned and implemented properly. These integrated approaches are in consonance with the SDG 17 (revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development) which emphasizes the importance of global partnership for achieving the rest of the 16 goals. We believe that ethnobotany research groups and societies from various parts of the world must initiate collaborations and partnerships among themselves and with other fields in a cross-disciplinary manner for realising Sustainable Development Goals for the larger interests of the people and planet.