Why you should go wild for FairWild

FairWild is a certification organisation that aims to help showcase those producers, farms and suppliers who harvest herbs and plants for food, skincare and medicines, sustainably and fairly. It is also working to develop best practice guidelines for the entire supply chain - from harvesters to producers - something that hasn't existed before.

60-90% of all medicinal and aromatic plants are collected from the wild, but increasingly more species are under threat from bad land management, climate change and over-harvesting - it's thought about 10,000-12,000 plants species are currently threatened

So what does FairWild look like in action?

Pukka Herbs uses the FairWild scheme to buy bibhitaki fruit, a key ingredient in its Ayurvedic-inspired tea. The fruit comes from the bibhitaki trees which are under threat because historically low prices for the fruit couldn't compare with higher prices for the tree as timber. But chopping these trees down isn't just disastrous for the fruit but also because the Great Pied Hornbill, a iconic bird of western India, calls these trees home. Only one mating couple of birds can live in one tree and as the trees are logged, the hornbills become homeless and under threat.

Through Fairwild, Pukka has helped to save 1,300 bibhitaki trees and more than 30 pied hornbill nesting sites.

So what can you do?

• Look for the Fairwild certification on teas, herbs and other products, which means that the plants have been harvested sustainably.
• Ask questions if you don't see this certification on your favourite plant based products.
• Support conservation programmes, both at home and abroad.
• Want to go foraging yourself? Read our basic guide for beginners, along with 5 easy plants to forage.
• Learn how to be a fruit forager here.