It's great to see World Wildlife Day 2026 focus on medicinal and aromatic plants.
They are part of the bountiful offerings that we owe to wild species and more broadly, to biodiversity.
An estimated 50,000 wild species of these plants sustain billions of people, at least 70% of the population.
Developing countries rely on them for traditional medicine for primary health care, and global trade in medicinal and aromatic plants has tripled since 1999.
But pressure is mounting.
Around 9% of plant species used globally for medicinal and aromatic purposes are threatened with extinction.
Overharvesting, illegal or poorly regulated trade, habitat loss, pollution and climate change are among the drivers.
Yet solutions are within reach.
The Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework provides an overarching science‑based blueprint to ensure effective protection, sustainable management and restoration for all wild species.
International instruments such as the Nagoya Protocol can advance the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilisation of medicinal and aromatic plants as genetic resources as well as the associated traditional knowledge.
The multilateral mechanism for the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from the use of digital sequence information on genetic resources, or DSI, including its Cali Fund, allows companies making commercial use of genomic data derived from medicinal and aromatic plants to contribute to global biodiversity conservation.
Giving back to nature, in other words. For these companies, a meaningful way to mark World Wildlife Day this year would be to contribute to the Cali Fund, which is the financial arm of the multilateral mechanism on DSI.
At least 50% of the resources of the Cali Fund will be disbursed to meet the self‑identified needs of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, many of whom are custodians of medicinal and aromatic plants and holders of traditional knowledge.
We will continue to work with our colleagues of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, and all Parties, to protect medicinal and aromatic plants and knowledge of their use.