The role and protection of medicinal plants in the spotlight

By: STA Date: 2026. 03. 04. 09:30

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On March 3, we celebrated World Wildlife Day, the aim of which this year is to draw attention to the role of medicinal and aromatic plants in ensuring human health, cultural heritage, local livelihoods and human well-being. In our country, many species are also collected and produced on about 30 thousand hectares. Due to its prominent role in folk medicine, for example, the Great Plain chamomile inflorescence has been included in the Hungarikum since 2015.

(Illustration: AI)

This year’s event presents the diversity of these species, their impact on science, and also draws attention to the increasing pressure from habitat loss, overexploitation and climate change. Medicinal and aromatic plants are essential for both human health and ecological balance. They are of particular importance in developing countries, where 70-95 percent of the population relies on traditional medicine for primary care and are the direct or indirect active ingredients of many medicines. In addition to their medicinal uses, they also provide important ecosystem services through their use in the cosmetics, food and luxury goods industries, soil stabilisation, biodiversity enhancement and provision of essential food sources for pollinators such as bees and butterflies. Medicinal plants, as genetic resources and the traditional knowledge associated with them, are used in many areas in agriculture, medicine and conservation, and sharing these benefits directly supports the achievement of several objectives of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF). One in five people rely on wild plants, algae and fungi for food and income, and their global trade is therefore significant. The European market for herbal supplements and medicines alone is estimated to be worth $7.4 billion per year.

Approximately 50,000–70,000 medicinal and aromatic plants are cultivated worldwide, but more than 20 percent of them are on the verge of extinction

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) lists approximately 1,500 such plants, of which almost 800 species, including American ginseng and the snowdrop, which also occurs in Hungary, are listed in CITES Appendix II. Several species, such as the Indian dwarf thistle, have been driven to the brink of extinction by collection. This species now enjoys the strictest protection of CITES Appendix I, and international trade in wild-collected plants is prohibited. The Ministry of Agriculture, as the CITES Management Authority, is responsible for ensuring that international trade in wild animals and plants is legal, traceable and sustainable, and does not endanger their survival.