THE LONG ROAD TO SUSTAINABLE LICORICE

Journal of Medicinal Plant Conservation, 2020.

"The majority of licorice root in global trade is harvested from wild populations situated in extremely remote areas within republics of the former Soviet Union (e.g. especially Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan, but also Armenia, Georgia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan); frontier areas of the People’s Republic of China (e.g. Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, and Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region); and other major licorice-producing countries…."

United Plant Savers is an active member of the IUCN (International Union

for Conservation of Nature). Within the IUCN Species Survival Commission

is the Medicinal Plant Specialist Group – a global network of people working

on medicinal plant conservation.

Every four years the IUCN gathers for the

conservation congress. The last congress was held in Hawaii, and this year’s

congress was planned to be in Marseille, France in June. Unfortunately, it has

been postponed until January of 2021.