Environmental impact of ethnoveterinary medicine

Evelyn Mathias, October 2001

The effect of ethnoveterinary promotion on the environment can vary between two extremes. 

Positive:

bulletLocal practices can be environmentally friendlier than their allopathic counterparts. Local tick control methods, for example, are commonly less harmful to the environment than dipping with commercial chemicals.
bulletEthnoveterinary projects that stimulate conservation measures and the establishment of herb gardens help maintain biodiversity.

Negative:

bullet The large-scale promotion and commercial production brings with it a danger that heavily used plant species may become scarce or even extinct. Therefore projects promoting plant medicines on a large scale should be required to monitor their environmental impact and explore how far endangered species can be cultivated. 

More data on this is needed.

Reference: 
McCorkle et al. 1999

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