Local knowledge: Who cares?

In this Thematic Series, we focus on the potential and actual value of LKS to local and global challenges. The catchphrase of this paragraph, "Think globally, act locally," has been around for a few decades as a slogan for activism at the local level to increase overall well-being on earth. In an increasingly globalized society with many social, economic and environmental uncertainties, what are the lessons that can be drawn from LKS? One of the virtues of LKS is that these systems depart from the premise of interconnectedness and embeddedness, whereby humans and their behaviors are seen as part of a broader environmental, socio-cultural and spiritual context. The ethnobiological literature showcases several examples that demonstrate the importance and usefulness of LKS for community health, nutrition, education and cultural heritage, conservation and other societal challenges, as we will review in the next paragraphs. This Thematic Series of the Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine contains solicited manuscripts based on new research that continues to demonstrate the potential and established value of ethnobiological knowledge and its associated plant and animal resources for local communities and society at large, especially in the areas of community health, education and conservation.The value of LKS for global healthcare has been demonstrated at different levels: (a) in providing primary healthcare to the rural poor in the absence of (mainstream) biomedical healthcare; (b) in being a more satisfying healthcare option to many transnational migrants as compared to biomedical healthcare; and (c) as a way to select interesting candidate plant species for the discovery and development of new pharmaceuticals.Mainstream (biomedical) healthcare is often lacking in quantity and quality in poor rural areas around the world. Innovative thinking and novel approaches are therefore urgently needed to fill the gap between the need for healthcare and its provision in situ.