When dingaka tsa Setswana hurt the environment
Pauline Dikuelo | Monday October 19, 2026 12:35
MAUN - Traditional medicine remains an important part of healthcare and cultural heritage in the country, with indigenous plants valued for their medicinal properties. However, the harvesting of these natural resources, particularly their roots, is raising concerns about the sustainability of traditional healing practices and the protection of biodiversity.
The challenge is to ensure that knowledge passed down through generations does not come at the expense of the very plants on which traditional medicine depends.
Maun District Coordinator for the Department of Waste Management and Pollution Control, Mabala Letsatle, has raised concerns about the increasing harvesting of natural resources beyond sustainable limits, warning that uncontrolled extraction can contribute to soil erosion and environmental degradation.
Speaking during the Botswana Society for Human Development (BSHD) media training held under the theme “Strengthening Reporting on Biodiversity Loss, Environmental Degradation and Sustainable Solutions”, Letsatle said the depletion of natural resources could have consequences extending beyond the loss of individual plant species.
In Botswana, communities depend on indigenous plants for traditional medicine, livelihoods and cultural practices. Medicinal plants form part of the country's biodiversity, supporting ecological systems while providing resources that communities have relied on for generations. Their continued availability, however, depends on how they are harvested and managed.
Letsatle said one of the major concerns was the harvesting of medicinal plants for their roots, a practice that can destroy entire plants and prevent them from regenerating. Unlike the harvesting of leaves or fruits, which may allow plants to survive and reproduce when done responsibly, uprooting plants can permanently remove them from their natural habitats.
He warned that repeated harvesting in the same areas without allowing vegetation to recover could gradually reduce the availability of certain species.
The environmental consequences may extend beyond medicinal plants themselves. Vegetation helps stabilise soil, retain moisture and provide habitats for insects, birds and other wildlife. When plant cover is depleted, land becomes more vulnerable to erosion, while the loss of native vegetation can disrupt wider ecological systems.
For traditional healers, this presents a long-term challenge. The destruction of medicinal plants today could reduce the availability of remedies for future generations, threatening both cultural knowledge and the natural resources that sustain it.
Mmashoro-based traditional healer, Morena Matlhaku, acknowledged the importance of conserving medicinal plants to ensure their continued availability.
He said traditional healers generally try to avoid removing all the roots when harvesting medicinal plants, although certain remedies require the entire root system.
“Normally, when we go to harvest these medicines in the wild, we ensure that we do not remove all the roots whenever possible. However, there are cases where we are forced to take out the entire root, such as with kgalemela, a plant used to address lenyatso,” he said.
Matlhaku acknowledged that such practices were not sustainable and recalled how some villages, including Moiyabana, which were once known for having powerful traditional healers, had experienced the disappearance of certain medicinal trees.
He suggested that the loss of these plants could also be linked to harvesting by people who were not traditional healers but had observed healers collecting the plants and subsequently imitated their practices.
The concern highlights the need for greater awareness of sustainable harvesting methods, particularly among people who collect medicinal plants without sufficient knowledge of their growth and regeneration.
Meanwhile, Letsatle said the government had been working to strengthen the management of biological resources through legislation intended to regulate access to natural resources and ensure that communities benefit from their use.
In 2022, Botswana enacted the Access and Benefit Sharing of Biological Diversity Act, which provides a framework for accessing biological resources and sharing benefits arising from their use.
Letsatle said consultations had been conducted across the country to inform communities about the legislation, gather their views and strengthen regulations governing biological resources. The consultations had been completed, with the government preparing to move to the next stage of the process.
He said the approach recognises that protecting biodiversity should not mean denying communities access to resources on which they depend. Instead, it seeks to establish a system in which biological resources are accessed responsibly and benefits are shared fairly.
“Researchers seeking to study medicinal plants may be required to obtain authorisation and comply with applicable access and benefit-sharing arrangements. “Such measures can help regulate the use of biological resources and ensure that benefits reach relevant communities,” he told Mmegi.
However, effective implementation will be essential. Legislation and consultations can provide a foundation for sustainable management, but their impact will depend on compliance, enforcement and the ability to monitor harvesting activities.
Traditional healers possess knowledge of indigenous plants accumulated and passed down through generations. This knowledge can contribute to scientific research, the identification of medicinal compounds and the development of potential treatments.
The challenge is to protect this knowledge while ensuring that the plants associated with it are not depleted through unsustainable harvesting.
Research into the medicinal properties of indigenous plants could also create economic opportunities for communities, particularly where products are developed and commercialised responsibly. However, commercial interest must be accompanied by safeguards against overharvesting and the unauthorised exploitation of biological resources.
Letsatle said a plant's medicinal value must therefore be considered alongside its ecological importance and the rights of communities that possess traditional knowledge about its use.
“Fair benefit-sharing arrangements can help ensure that communities are not merely suppliers of raw materials but also participants in, and beneficiaries of, the economic opportunities generated by their biological resources,” he told Mmegi.
The government's efforts to manage biological resources also involve collaboration with international partners. While continued support will be important, long-term conservation will require practical measures at community level. These could include documenting medicinal plant species, identifying those vulnerable to excessive harvesting, establishing sustainable harvesting guidelines and promoting the propagation and cultivation of high-demand species.
Traditional healers could be involved in developing harvesting practices that allow plants to regenerate. Where roots are required for medicinal purposes, research into alternative harvesting methods and cultivation could help reduce pressure on wild populations.
Letsatle suggested that stronger monitoring would help government to identify species most at risk, establish the scale of harvesting and determine whether existing regulations are producing measurable results.
“Public education is equally important,” he said. “Communities need information about the consequences of unsustainable harvesting and the importance of conserving indigenous vegetation. “Such efforts should recognise traditional healers as potential partners in conservation rather than treating traditional medicine itself as the problem.”