Inherent inequalities in biodiversity-based value chains, weak consideration of social justice concerns, and poor recognition of the rights of traditional knowledge holders and biodiversity custodians often underpin linkages between poverty, livelihoods and biodiversity use. Approaches to reduce inequality in value chains and address these injustices are emerging through requirements for benefit-sharing agreements, market demand for ethically traded products, and improved organisation and entrepreneurship among rural producers. In South Africa, significant resources have been directed towards developing a biodiversity economy, with a focus on a select number of species and the upscaling of their production through cultivation. At the same time, policy frameworks for traditional knowledge have become increasingly regulated, bureaucratised and institutionalised, based on the dual assumptions that TK is a source of commercial benefits and that it can be pinpointed to a particular people or place. Instead of a careful assessment of how equity can best be achieved, benefits are increasingly captured by those who have the capacity to engage with commercial partners or who are more politically organised or connected.

This theme aims to interrogate the political ecology of the biodiversity economy and to ask questions about approaches to biodiversity use and trade that can alleviate poverty, reduce inequality and address biodiversity loss. Why, for example, are we focusing on the passive concept of “benefits”, rather than a rights-based approach which gives holders of resources and knowledge greater agency? Who will benefit from the upscaling of the biodiversity economy? How will informal economies be affected? How can we support communities marginalised by colonial and apartheid laws which continue to persist into the 21^st century, impacting customary access to indigenous resources? How can we move from a “tick-box” approach of legal compliance towards one that is more adaptive, creative and transformative? And what models can we learn from that show another way. We aim to answer such questions through detailed case study work that builds on existing longitudinal and historical studies, with a focus on southern African species traded as natural products on local, regional and global markets, This includes baobab, marula, rooibos, Hoodia, devil’s claw, buchu, honeybush, Aloe ferox, Sceletium, Pelargonium sidoides, Commiphora, resurrection plants, mopane and indigenous wild foods.