Forest medicinal plants Program
Forest Therapies
Learning About and Creating Therapies from
Forest Medicinal Plants
Forest Therapies is the most recent version of our Forest Medicine program, reflecting our longstanding interest in and experience with the medicinal plants native to the Atlantic Rainforest. Many people in our local community are well versed in the ways of plant lore and plant medicines, and we aim to learn with them and from them. Iracambi is also a member of a nation-wide network run by Fiocruz, the highly respected research foundation that aims to catalog all the medicinal plants in Brazil.
The Forest Therapies program has three main goals:
- To promote the conservation of medicinal plants of the Atlantic Rainforest
- To rescue and document traditional knowledge on the uses of these plants
- To research and encourage the use of holistic therapies derived from forest plants
Understanding and promoting the use of local medicinal plants is an important strategy for conserving the Atlantic Forest. If we lose the forest we lose its wealth of medicinal plants, but the more we learn about them and make them a part of our daily life, the more likely we are to protect them.
Program activities include botanical and ethnobotanical research, cataloging medicinal plants digitally, creating a herbarium and studying traditional ways of using the plants. We have also created a medicinal mandala, which is home to a variety of native medicinals. The mandala serves as both a sacred space and an educational tool.
Our forest nursery includes medicinal plants which we donate to community members and visitors, and plant on our rainforest campus. The medicinal plants trail is one of the most popular areas at Iracambi, where visitors can enjoy a short hike, immerse themselves in the forest, and learn about the plants.
Our team researches different uses for medicinal plants, and we hold regular workshops with women from the local community, together creating herbal remedies, soaps, essential oils and simple cosmetic products, and encouraging them to develop products to generate additional income.
In order to document these activities, we create short videos on topics such as distilling essential oils, creating herbal teas and household products, and interviewing community members.
Will you support us?
This small project is something we are deeply passionate about and we would love your support to help continue our journey. We want to reach more communities and help them to see the beauty and the benefits of using 100% natural products, thereby protecting the amazing biodiversity of the Atlantic Forest from unsustainable farming, pesticides and deforestation.
