Ethnobiology in and for Africa: bottlenecks, solutions, and a practical guide for the next generation of field researchers

Africa carries a share of the world’s linguistic, biological, and pastoral diversity out of all proportion to the attention its knowledge systems receive in the international scientific record, and it is home to the youngest population on Earth. African ethnobiology rests on decades of work—from the People and Plants Initiative and the Local and Indigenous Knowledge Systems (LINKS) programme of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to university programmes and regional networks across the continent—yet much of this work remains under-represented in the global literature, difficult to compare across studies, and hard to synthesise in meta-analyses. Building on earlier recommendations for field studies, this essay offers practical, low-cost recommendations addressed to early-career African ethnobiologists. We discuss eight recurring bottlenecks—description without a guiding question, a plant-centred analytical lens, inequitable “parachute” collaboration, resource and infrastructure constraints, weak reporting and predatory publishing, ethics and sovereignty gaps, accelerating knowledge erosion, and professional isolation—and pair each with concrete solutions. The toolkit includes a cross-species documentation matrix that records, for every plant use, the associated domestic animals, wild fauna, fungi, microorganisms, and insects; clearly articulated research questions that can, where appropriate, be developed into testable hypotheses; comparative and phylogenetic analysis; a diachronic lens grounded in long-term engagement with communities; and reporting adapted from the STROBE (Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology) statement. We present hypothesis testing as one valuable approach among several, alongside exploratory, ethnographic, and community-led inquiry. Situated within the One Health paradigm, this approach can turn features often framed as disadvantages—remoteness, pastoral livelihoods, holistic knowledge—into a scientific comparative advantage and a foundation for resilient rural economies, while increasing the visibility of African researchers in the global community of practice.