Ethnobotany: hope for the future?

Ethnobotany has been around for a very long time. Some even go as far as to say that ethnobotany started with the first human beings observing the effects of plants on each other and making use of these plants for various purposes according to the usefulness observed. Some associate ethnobotany with the study of medicinal plants, all other uses being sidelined or considered to be of little potential contribution to modern society. Although one may consider ethnobotany to have a history as long as humankind, the standing and status of ethnobotany in research, in academic studies and teaching has mainly been considered as marginal, both in the natural and social sciences, in comparison with other mainstream subjects. Part of the problem lies in the wide scope and multi-disciplinary nature of ethnobotany. To be an all-rounded ethnobotanist, one needs to be sufficiently knowledgeable in the fields of plant taxonomy, plant chemistry, plant physiology, plant anatomy, plant ecology, anthropology, linguistics, economics, ethnic studies, community development, health science, and even psychology to evaluate and interpret the truth and reliability of information obtained. One way out of this complexity of ethnobotany is to specialise. In specialising, however, the selected field may not be considered ethnobotany anymore. Thus, a researcher who studies and publishes on the lingustic system of narning plants in any community will consider the specialisation to be ethnic linguistic, not the study of ethnobotanical taxonomy. The most popular specialisation in ethnobotany among natural scientists is the study of medicinal plants but most of them do not consider themselves ethnobotanists but are phytochemists, natural chemists, pharmacologists or applied chemists. Recent developments in genetic engineering and molecular biology have provided new and exciting avenues in the field of medicine, thus, dimming the lights on ethnobotany, more specifically, medicinal plants. There are two major branches in medicinal plants research, one leads to the discovery and development of new and useful chemical compounds as pharmaceuticals for modern medicine; the other branch leads to the general usage and commercial development of medicinal plants in herbal medicine, traditional medicine, food supplements, cosmetics, toiletries, tonics, etc. The focus is on product development from plants or from the findings of ethnobotany. Funding is more easily available for developing products, less so for field ethnobotany to gather primary information and data from various communities. Thus, arises the question, "Ethnobotany: Hope for the future?" This paper looks at this question on ethnobotany as a teaching and research subject in universities, lessons to be learnt from the past records and thereafter provider a forecast for the future of ethnobotany in Malaysia in particular and for humanity in general.