Endangered knowledge and endangered plants: Threats to Indigenous medicinal traditions in Borneo

In Borneo’s dense rainforest, some communities of Punan people still find their medicine among the trees. For generations the forest has been their living pharmacy, with each medicinal plant tied to tradition. But as modern pressures grow, both the forest and the knowledge it shelters are slipping away. To understand what’s at stake, researchers from Universiti Putra Malaysia traveled to Punan communities in the Malaysian state of Sarawak to document traditional medicinal practices and identify the plants behind them. The results were recently published in the journal Tropical Conservation Science. Tribes in Sarawak, Borneo live in stilted longhouses often along rivers. Historically housing one kin group, today a longhouse is typically home to multiple extended families of mixed heritage.