Format: ORAL

Teresa Garnatje1,2, Airy Gras3, Montse Parada3, Joan Valls3,4

1 Institut Botànic de Barcelona (IBB), CSIC-Ajuntament de Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain 2 Jardí Botànic Marimurtra - Fundació Carl Faust, Blanes, Catalonia, Spain 3 Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain 4 Institut d’Estudis Catalans (IEC), Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Plant blindness -or, at least a certain degree of plant myopia- does exist, as plants are often either neglected by people as objects of interest or much less considered than animals, the latter probably reflecting phylogenetic proximity and empathy. This concerns people in many aspects of their lives, and even students at different levels in academic subject preferences. Nevertheless, it is also true that there is an extended interest of people in nature, natural products useful for many purposes, and biodiversity. Ethnobotanical research can undoubtedly contribute to attracting general peoples attention to plants, for different reasons. First of all, for its multidisciplinarity, for its situation in the interface between social and natural sciences, for highlighting biocultural aspects of plants. Secondly, for its important component of citizen science, in which academic and popular knowledge converge. Finally, for the ethical commitment that an ethnobotanist has to return to society (and not only to the scientific community, as is logical in any research) the knowledge that comes from it. In this communication, we will delve into the ways our research team employed on ethnobotany of the Catalan linguistic area. Our objective is to disseminate the traditional knowledge on plant biodiversity and to try to increase peoples interest in plants, their names and uses and their management. Different kinds of outreach publications, an open-access webpage, educational issues, conferences, practical workshops are powerful instruments to capture peoples attention for plants and their biocultural aspects, and, therefore, to diminish the extent of plant blindness.