Traditional medicine was once ubiquitous on islands and a valued component of local environmental knowledge. Its practice has declined and been partly superseded by biomedicine in every island context. A comprehensive initial comparative review of contemporary studies from more than forty mainly tropical and sub-tropical islands indicates that the number of medicinal plants in use, and the range of uses, has fallen fastest in European and Caribbean islands and more slowly in Pacific islands, where biomedicine is more recent and less accessible, and generational knowledge transmission is more likely. However, the practice and reception of traditional medicine is increasingly confined to older people and centred on minor ailments. The uneven loss of medicinal plants in island contexts is a significant component in the decline of biodiversity, through entanglements and material encounters with habitat loss, climate change, invasive species, modern education, migration and employment, monetisation, and attitudes to medical practice. Recent times have seen greater retention, medical pluralism, and a partial revival in islands and diasporas as local Indigenous values stress more holistic perspectives on identity and wellbeing.
John Connell (Tue,) studied this question.