Posthouwer, C.

The Caribbean islands are considered a biodiversity hotspot, with high levels of endemism but also extreme levels of habitat loss. One factor causing local extinction or species scarcity is plant extraction by humans. Very few recent ethnobotanical studies exist for the Dutch Caribbean. We aimed to make a rapid sustainability assessment of wild plant harvesting on the island of St. Eustatius. A quantitative inventory of 11 plots (25 × 25 m) was carried out to obtain abundance data on wild plants, and 31 interviews were conducted to collect information on wild plant uses, extraction methods, and harvesting locations. In total, our respondents mentioned 181 useful plant species of which 66 were harvested exclusively from the wild. Four of these (Melocactus intortus (Mill.) Urb., Nectandra coriacea (Sw.) Griseb., Pilosocereus royenii (L.) Byles & G. D. Rowley, and Chiococca alba (L.) Hitchc.) may encounter sustainability problems in the future or might suffer from overharvesting already, as they do not survive harvesting and occur in low numbers in protected areas only. For the majority of wild species on St. Eustatius, plant extraction does not form an immediate threat to their survival. Several wild species are cultivated in gardens. Further population studies on the four shortlisted species are needed to calculate sustainable harvest levels and design adequate management plans for their survival in the future.

1. An often overlooked mechanism driving local extinction or scarcity of species is the selective  plant extraction by humans. Not much scientific attention has been paid to selective plant harvesting and the use of plants by inhabitants of the former Dutch Antilles. The aim of this study was to make a rapid sustainability assessment of wild plant harvesting on Sint Eustatius. A quantitative plot inventory was done to gather abundancy data on plants in the wild, and 31 interviews were conducted to collect information on local names, plant uses, preparation methods and harvesting locations. In total, 181 plant species belonging to 63 different plant families were mentioned as useful by the inhabitants of Sint Eustatius. Of these species, 66 were harvested exclusively from wild sources. Several wild species were cultivated in gardens. We found four wild-harvested species (Melocactus intortus, Nectandra coriacea, Pilosocereus royenii and Chiococca alba) that may encounter sustainability problems in the future, or might experience them already. From our study we can conclude that for the majority of useful species on Sint Eustatius, plant extraction does not form an immediate threat to their survival.