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The fruits of the peach palm (Bactris gasipaes) are a very important food in Amazonia. Parts of the domesticated palm species are also used for construction or ritual practices.
Photo Credit: Rodrigo Cámara Leret
Scientific Frontline: Extended "At a Glance" Summary: Amazon Biocultural Heritage Decline
The Core Concept: Anthropogenic climate change and the extinction of Indigenous languages are projected to eliminate up to one-third of the native plant species utilized by Amazonian cultures, causing a massive decline in regional biocultural knowledge by 2080.
Key Distinction/Mechanism: While standard ecological forecasts evaluate species extinction in isolation, this model quantifies the compounding effects of climate-driven range contraction and language loss, revealing that the geographic ranges of human-utilized plants will shrink more severely than those of non-utilized flora.
Origin/History: Detailed in a July 8, 2026, Nature publication led by researchers at the University of Zurich, the underlying database synthesized 700 historical references spanning over 500 years of documented Amazonian plant use.
Major Frameworks/Components:
- Compilation of a comprehensive ethnobotanical database detailing the utilization of 5,796 plant species across nine Amazonian countries and territories.
- Integration of 8,429 species distribution models to project future geographic plant ranges.
- Application of three distinct Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) climate scenarios to simulate habitat shifts between 2060 and 2080.
- Calculation of biocultural heritage decline by linking the ecological extinction of plant species with the linguistic extinction of the Indigenous names and oral traditions associated with them.
Branch of Science: Ethnobotany, Ethnoecology, Ecology, Climatology, and Linguistics.
Future Application: The dataset and associated models will guide targeted biocultural restoration efforts, inform environmental stewardship policies that integrate Indigenous knowledge, and direct future ethnobotanical fieldwork to document oral traditions before they disappear.
Why It Matters: Over 400 Indigenous groups in the Amazon rely on native flora for food security, medicine, construction, and cultural rituals. The simultaneous loss of these species and the languages used to describe them threatens to permanently erase a vast "living library" of ecological knowledge, unraveling both the biological and cultural identity of the region.
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| Men of the Indigenous Macuna community of Centro Providencia, near the Apaporis river of the Colombian Amazon, are carrying fruit to their village. Photo Credit: Rodrigo Cámara Leret |
Indigenous cultures in the Amazon region will lose up to one-third of the native plant species they use because of climate change. In addition, biocultural knowledge is set to decline sharply by 2080 as a result of the loss of Indigenous languages. These are the findings of a new study by the University of Zurich.
The Amazon region, the Earth’s most important ecosystem, is home to more than 400 Indigenous groups that use thousands of rainforest plant species. They pass on their knowledge of the flora primarily through oral tradition, usually from parents or other family members to their children. This creates a “living library of knowledge” about how to use the native plants. Until now, little has been known about how the combined effects of climate change and language loss affect this treasure trove of knowledge. A new study by the University of Zurich (UZH) provides the first reliable scientific data on the impact of global change on the biocultural heritage of the Amazon region.
To investigate the value of the Amazon region’s biocultural heritage, a research group led by UZH professor of tropical plant diversity and ethnobotany Rodrigo Cámara Leret began by compiling a database documenting all reports on plant use in Amazonian countries and territories (Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana). The researchers collaborated with Patrick Roehrdanz, the director of climate change and biodiversity at Conservation International’s Moore Center for Science in the United States. Commenting on the significance of the database, study leader Rodrigo Cámara Leret notes, “For the first time, we synthesized information dispersed across 700 references spanning more than 500 years, revealing that Amazonian peoples use at least one-third of the region’s known plant species.” In absolute terms, this amounts to 5,796 plant species.
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The peach palm harvest marks a crucial period in the Indigenous ecological calendar that is associated with a healing ritual.
Photo Credit: Rodrigo Cámara Leret
Indigenous Peoples Use 5,796 Plant Species
Although the database represents a major step forward, Cámara Leret believes that further ethnobotanical fieldwork will lead to important new discoveries. “For example, our participatory work with the Indigenous Cacua people led to the description of a new canopy palm species previously unknown to science, despite being locally abundant and long recognized by the Cacua as a key source of food security,” he says.
Plants play a key role in Indigenous societies in many ways: as food, including legumes, peach palms, patauá oil, and much more; in cultural practices, such as communal customs or hunting; in construction; and as medicine. “Tobacco, for example, is a plant that is used in many ways in everyday life,” explains Cámara Leret. Indigenous peoples not only chew the leaves of the tobacco plant as a stimulant but also burn them before entering the rainforest to signal the arrival of humans. The distinctive smell is said to appease the forest spirits and give dangerous animals, such as snakes, time to retreat. “Such everyday rituals reflect a respect for nature and an awareness of humanity’s dependence on the rainforest,” says co-author Jordi Bascompte, a professor of ecology at UZH. Moreover, such rituals define the cultural identity of Indigenous groups, just as French or Italian cuisine helps define the identity of those countries.
One-Third Fewer Plants Used in the Future
In a second step, the researchers fed the collected plant-use data into 8,429 species distribution models and simulated the future of these plants based on three climate scenarios from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). However, many of the plant species currently in use are already rare and found only in a few areas, where they are increasingly being displaced by hyperdominant species.
The researchers have shown that between 2060 and 2080, the ranges of plant species used by humans will shrink more significantly because of climate change than those of plant species not used by humans. Specifically, Indigenous cultures may lose an average of 28% to 34% of the plant species they use and 18% to 23% of the associated ecosystem services as a result of climate change.
Biocultural Heritage to Decline by 26%
By focusing on plants used by humans, the researchers were able to combine the effects of species loss with language extinction in the Amazon. When a plant species goes extinct, its Indigenous name, uses, and benefits are lost as well, along with knowledge of its role in the rainforest ecosystem. As a result, the valuable body of knowledge about the world’s richest flora, which also helps shape cultural identity, is gradually disappearing.
The study quantifies for the first time the extent to which the biocultural heritage of the Amazon region is expected to diminish as a result of species and language extinction from 2060 to 2080: by 26%. “It turns out that the plants that Indigenous communities rely on could be decimated more severely than previously thought,” says Cámara Leret. He adds, “But our results also suggest that the climate tipping point for Amazonia will not only impact biological diversity but also interact with language threat and cascade across the unique cultural heritage of the biome.”
Guide to Biocultural Restoration
The study’s findings, together with the publicly available dataset, may serve to guide biocultural restoration in the Amazon region, according to Cámara Leret. “We want our results to help stop, or even reverse, growing global change impacts on ecosystems and cultural traditions,” he states. It is important to continue documenting knowledge about Amazonian flora in writing, in partnership with local Indigenous communities, while also preserving the tradition of oral transmission. Patrick Roehrdanz agrees, noting, “Effective conservation will depend on recognizing Indigenous knowledge systems as fundamental to effective environmental stewardship. The study will help identify the locations where preserving culture and nature in tandem can have real impact for species that are currently under threat.” As Jordi Bascompte adds, “Recognizing this intimate dependence between the ecological and cultural heritages is key to assessing nature's contributions to people.”
Published in journal: Nature
Title: The forest of knowledge under global change
Authors: Rodrigo Cámara-Leret, Patrick R. Roehrdanz, and Jordi Bascompte
Source/Credit: University of Zurich
Edited by: Scientific Frontline
Reference Number: bot070826_01