Does medicinal plant collection provide incentives to conserve forests?

We tried to answer the title question for Santiago Camotlán, a Zapotec village in the Sierra de Juárez, Oaxaca, Mexico, with primary and secondary vegetation. Medicinal plants are commonly gathered and used, but not commercially. Participative mapping and a field survey resulted in a vegetation map. Interviews with medicinal plant specialists and the general population, as well as systematic plant collection, contributed data on the habitat of medicinal species, and for a weighted importance index based on frequency of mention, frequency of use and perception of importance. Of the 9 vegetation types, home gardens, fields and ruderal habitats provide the largest number of and the most important medicinal species. Primary vegetation contains mainly species used by specialists. People would like to cultivate some of these plants, but would not conserve forests to maintain them. For the study area, the answer to the title question is no.