today’s challenges

today’s challenges

entanglement in global economic strains

  • Integration into global markets (with a volume of billions of dollar) of multinational enterprises.
  • Object of (international) private patents.
  • International industrial marketing.
  • Growing demands due to population growth and increasing consumption quantities.
  • Shift of roles – concerning Asian countries often towards the role of exporting raw materials and importing ready products.
  • Decline of earlier local professions and possibilities of livelihood.

interdependence with ecological processes

  • Overexploitation and overconsumption of natural resources.
  • Endangerment and loss of biological resources with their unique aromatic notes and character, resulting in a decline of biodiversity.
  • Mass cultivation, often including the use of pesticides and fertilizers and followed by their effects on local ecosystems and human health.
  • Distribution of synthetic substitutes in nature, followed by their specific effects on ecological systems and human health.

expression of profound cultural changes

  • Change of consumption habits (towards mass-consumption and preference of fashionable international products).
  • Loss of traditional skills of recognizing, growing, refining and appreciating aromatics.
  • Loss of (phyto-) therapeutic resources, knowledge and skills.
  • Loss of earlier olfactory knowledge.
  • Neglect of effective methods of preventive und curative healthcare, in favor of (often costly) synthetic remedies.
  • General detachment from nature, followed by the so-called ‘nature deficit disorder’ with its typical mental and physical health symptoms.

further information

Links for taking up further research on this topic