Sacred Plant Biocultural Recovery Initiative

The Sacred Plant Biocultural Recovery Initiative will fast-track model solutions to deal with daunting challenges to the freedom to practice religions. Due to the increasing scarcity of sacramental, ceremonial or entheogenic (“God-manifesting”) plants essential to spiritual rituals and expressions, the practice of certain ancient traditions is being disrupted. Efforts are urgently needed to: 1) seed or transplant the spiritually significant species into their original biocultural landscape; 2) buffer them from climate change through ecological restoration of sheltering habitats guided by spiritual leaders, and 3) involve and train youth who will become the next generation of caretakers for their cultural or religious community.