Extinction risk assessments are important tools for plant conservation. However, misinterpretations can lead to negative consequences for survival of species. Inconsistent categorization as extinction, when the species is still extant, constitutes a Romeo error, and annuls all and any mechanism of existing legal protection. But precisely determining the extinction of a plant species is a challenging task, in that the plants can portray characteristics that permit survival in a state of dormancy. To circumvent this problem, specialists frequently adopt precaution and a comprehensive approach that consider biological, ecological, and geographical parameters as inputs for the assessments. It is also important to include explicit logic arguments, as building-blocks of the rational that will support the assessment. Transparent interpretation of the available data can minimize inconsistent categorization. In Brazil, 23% of the plant species assessed as Extinct or Extinct in the Wild, comprise Romeo errors. The other 77% are cases of Data Deficient. Countries that succeeded in minimizing problems arising from this error developed specific legislation to protect threatened species, including mechanisms to annul an erroneous categorizations. Anyhow, the use of categories Extinct (EX) and Extinct in the Wild (EW) according to IUCN definitions should be avoided when no effort has been made to provide evidence of extinction in the wild.
Background: Studies that aim to analyze the transcultural traditional knowledge from different countries still in their infancy but are essential to favor an equal and fair division of the benefits resulting from the exploration of genetic resources and to develop sustainable strategies for conservation. The goal of this research is to compare the traditional knowledge about medicinal plants by the Huni Kuĩ people with the knowledge from other cultures, in order to assess the singularity of the Huni Kuĩ knowledge and to identify the convergence in medicinal plants use with other cultures.Methods: We did a literature review for 83 plant species and compiled all traditional knowledge available on the Scielo PubMed and Google Scholar. We searched for the scientific name of each species and its synonyms (382) plus the words "ethnobotany", "ethnobotanical" or "medicinal" as inclusion criteria.Results: We found 625 papers for 54 plants. About 73% of the medicinal services found for these species were considered, and 90% of all medicinal services cited were from the Huni Kuĩ people. The other 10% (20 species) were shared with other communities. Most of the research was conducted in the Brazilian Amazon, but also in the other countries.Conclusion: Our results show the singularity of the Huni Kuĩ knowledge and the complexity in the distribution of traditional knowledge, which highlights the importance of projects that document the traditional knowledge, in order to create new conservation strategies and public policies.
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