Unraveling Sustainability in Brazilian Ethnobotany: An Analysis of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the main mechanism of global appeal and action regarding the attainment of sustainability, with a focus on environmental, social, and economic dimensions. Ethnobotany can make relevant contributions to the pursuit and achievement of the SDGs due to its interdisciplinary nature and ability to give visibility to the worldviews, knowledge, and practices of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLC). Although the primary focus of ethnobotany is the investigation of the plant-related knowledge and practices of different groups, including IPLC, with an emphasis on the environmental dimension, the appreciation of biocultural diversity cannot be decoupled from social and economic contexts. In this study, we evaluated how the Brazilian ethnobotanical literature has contributed to the sustainability debate through the SDGs. We conducted two systematic reviews of the ethnobotanical literature: first, a broad review of 810 articles identified using keywords related to each of the 17 SDGs; and second, an in-depth analysis of 45 indicators related to the 17 SDGs in 23 articles that mentioned sustainability or sustainable development. In both reviews, we found the most results for SDG 15 (life on land), indicating that environmental sustainability is strongly connected to ethnobotanical studies. We also identified information that explored the social and economic dimensions of sustainability through SDG 1 (no poverty), SDG 2 (zero hunger), SDG 4 (quality education), SDG 5 (gender equity), SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth), and SDG 9 (innovation and infrastructure). We discuss gaps and opportunities to be explored by ethnobotany and conclude that the connections between ethnobotany and the SDGs can be reinforced. This would improve the ability of ethnobotanical studies to effectively contribute to the political aspect of the 2030 agenda through appreciation of and respect for traditional knowledge and practices of IPLC and their active participation in the sustainability debate.