Etheridge Foundation Begins Root Relationship Contributions

[Update: in 2024, the RRC percentage was raised to 10%.]

The Etheridge Foundation has begun an ongoing effort that we propose as a practice for all research-funding organizations: Root Relationship Contributions.

For every research grant that we make, we will also contribute an additional 5% companion grant to Indigenous-led biocultural conservation projects related to the plant medicine being studied. 

We have made our first two Root Relationship Contributions to match our first two research grants – more details are below – and will continue this practice moving forward with all future grants.

Beginning this practice represents a first step forward and actions toward Right Relationship. Although this is just one aspect of various shifts needed for a sustainable global future, it is very relevant to the work we do.While the percentage is modest and the amounts we're contributing are humble to start, we aim to increase both as we continue to build our organization and funding capabilities. 

And most importantly, we invite our allies and peers – other organizations that are funding research into psychedelic medicines – to join us in practicing Root Relationship Contributions.

Melissa Etheridge announces Root Relationship Contributions

Why Root Relationship Contributions?

Unquestionably, the origins – the roots – of human knowledge of various plant medicines are at the hearts of Indigenous cultures worldwide. 

The Original Peoples of many places on Earth have interacted deeply with plants, fungi, and animals for generations to develop the sacred relationships, traditional practices, and important worldviews that have allowed humans to benefit from these medicines. 

In an era of escalating attention on psychedelic medicines, it’s crucial to recognize that this essential Indigenous biocultural knowledge and stewardship is inseparable from the research that is happening now in Western scientific and medicine settings – just as the roots of plants are connected to their leaves.

“Roots” are not just connections to “the past,” but remain vitally alive with acute importance right now. 

The leaves at the crown of a soaring old growth tree are hundreds of feet in the sky, far apart from and looking very different than its roots reaching hundreds of feet into the earth below. Yet both are reaches of the same plant, the same whole – and could not survive long as separate “parts.”

Because roots are underground, unseen from the surface, it may be easy to overlook them from a certain perspective. But there is just as much of the plant below ground as above – and the roots are vital to the plant’s health and very life. 

Whilst the roots send nutrients and nourishment all the way up to the leaves, the leaves send energy from sunlight throughout the plant to the very roots. 

So it is with plant medicines. 

The traditional knowledge and relationships cultivated by Indigenous cultures is an inseparable part of plant medicine research, and Indigenous perspectives are crucial to its successful future.

Recognizing the fact of interconnectedness – amongst humanity, and with our living Earth – highlights our innate responsibilities to one another.

Our First Root Relationship Contributions

Partnering the Etheridge Foundation’s first two research grants to studies on ibogaine and psilocybin for opioid use disorder, we have made our first two Root Relationship Contributions to biocultural conservation projects related to iboga and mushrooms, through the Indigenous Medicine Conservation Fund (IMC Fund).

The IMC Fund uses an Indigenous-led, assessment-based governance model to offer solidarity-based support to Indigenous communities in the conservation of five “keystone” medicines and their biocultures: ayahuasca, peyote, toad, Iboga, and mushrooms.

“Keystone” is an ecological term defined as “irreplaceable; without substitute; an essential component of an ecology and culture.” 

The IMC Fund is a means for more equitable participation in the benefits of these medicines, inspired  by a global standard – called The Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing  – that was developed more than 30 years ago by hundreds of Indigenous leaders. 

By partnering with philanthropists globally, the IMC Fund aims to raise $20 million by 2023 to support more than 28 Indigenous-led initiatives across the five keystone medicines and their biocultures.

Part of the IMC Fund’s goals in building a new philanthropic paradigm of trust and right relationship between Indigenous communities and funders has been to create mechanisms for benefit sharing for the psychedelic industry and the broader community. 

In addition to organizations like the Etheridge Foundation, now individuals – like you! – can easily contribute to these projects through the Fund’s Grow Medicine initiative.

Iboga and Blessings of the Forest

Iboga – the main source plant for the medicine ibogaine – has been used in Gabon traditionally for thousands of years. 

However, due to increasing demand internationally, overharvesting, illegal poaching and trade this “sacred wood” is experiencing rapid decline in the wild.

It's becoming increasingly difficult for some local people in Gabon to access their own medicine for traditional and cultural purposes.

Iboga takes at least 7-10 years to reach maturity before it can be sustainably harvested, and currently most Iboga is illegally poached. Deforestation and climate change are causing additional increasing pressure on Iboga ecosystems in Africa.

If nothing changes, Iboga risks extinction in the wild.

The IMC Fund is supporting the nonprofit Blessings Of The Forest, which funds and provides technical support to community-based permaculture agroforestry projects with iboga as the anchor plant, growing alongside other useful plants and trees.

The work of Blessings Of The Forest is based on supporting the direct implementation of the Nagoya Protocol so that communities can offer sustainably-sourced Iboga while protecting their natural resources and cultural heritage. Once established, these ethical fair trade routes will allow local communities to then receive a fair percentage of the profits from their harvest. 

So far, Blessings of the Forest and their community partners have established Iboga plantations in 12 villages and have planted and protected more than 21,000 Iboga trees. They also develop income-generating activities in communities (such as beekeeping, handicrafts, and cultural promotion) to sustain the communities while the cultivated iboga plants mature and can be sold.

The IMC Fund will support a suite of initiatives in Gabon to provide communities with funds for local projects, support for building temples, accessing essential living supplies like water, and training the next generation of spiritual leaders.

This partnership illustrates how all parties can progress and prosper through plant medicine benefit-sharing that is done fairly and sustainably.

Mushrooms and Indigenous communities in the Mazatec Sierra

It has been well-documented that Western knowledge of psilocybin mushrooms comes directly from experiences and information that Americans unethically extracted from Mazatec people in Mexico during the late 1950s. 

Western culture, including the subsequent medicalization and commercialization of these mushrooms, has had a devastating impact on the Indigenous communities in the Mazatec Sierra. They are struggling for the health and survival of their language, culture, and people. 

To begin appropriate engagement with these communities, the IMC Fund is supporting a small technical team in the Mazatec Sierra made up of academics and community leaders who are undertaking a community-based assessment through the end of 2023.

This type of assessment starts by asking a broader question: “What do the people of the Mazatec Sierra want and need in order to thrive for the next 100 years?”

Subsequent projects will be developed in accordance with the communities’ needs and requests. From early conversations, the IMC Fund team is hearing that they’re requesting support with language and land preservation, as well as techniques for mitigating the ongoing impact from psychedelic tourism.

A Regenerative Way Forward

The global mainstreaming of traditional plant medicines is at a tipping point, with a tendency of moving towards an extractive or transactional paradigm where knowledge and/or plant and fungi are seen as resources for “use” in new ways.

However, it is not too late to redirect this energy into a regenerative dynamic.

While Western science is increasingly embracing psychedelic research, stigmas against traditional medicine are also beginning to shift in countries of origin – creating opportunities for the open development of benefit sharing in ways that communities themselves request. 

The average total cost of developing a new drug for FDA approval has been estimated at between $2 to $3 billion in recent years. Certainly, numerous companies are engaged in this process right now for the ownership of “new” psychedelic therapies – that stem from Indigenous cultural knowledge.

In comparison, even the IMC Fund’s goal of raising $20 million is a drop in this ocean of funding – less than 1% of that cost – and yet it has the potential to do so much. 

An ethical and morally right approach to developing therapies based on traditional plant medicines must not simply address the needs of one population at the expense of other populations.

If we do not honor this reality of interconnectedness, overall we will cause more damage than relief.

As industrialized societies reap the fruits of plant medicines – including transformational treatments for our epidemic of substance use disorders – we must also ensure that we don’t do harm to those roots in the process. 

We cannot continue to just take from the roots – we must also give.

The Etheridge Foundation urges our overlapping stakeholder communities – in addiction medicines, in psychedelic therapeutics, in research and drug development, and more – to join us in taking the first steps in a new direction. 

The Etheridge Foundation thanks Andrea Langlois, Miriam Volat, and the IMC Fund and Grow Medicine team for collaboration and sharing of language and information used in this piece.