Commercialization of medicinal bioeconomy resources and sustainability

Abstract

The economic value of medicinal and aromatic plants as well as other bioresources have been exploited for centuries, more recently on an industrial scale, and their impact on human health indicates an ever-increasing demand on medicinal bioresources and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future. The industrial production of medicinal ingredients from such bioresources not only endangering the biodiversity of indigenous cultures, as well as dramatic impact of climate change on the sustainability of these bioeconomy resources, it also generates an economic imbalance: the added value of these resources to the countries of origin are still negligible. In this review we will discuss different strategies for combatting these issues, including sustainable management of commercial gathering of these biological resources, alternative cultivation strategies and sustainable circular economy approaches, while protecting biodiversity of the planet in the face of an up-coming climate challenge.