Multifunctional role of medicinal and aromatic plants: Perspectives and constraints

Multifunctionality is one of the major concerns in agri-environmental issues. All over-national organizations, such as EU, FAO and UN, unanimously claim that the opportunity to supply goods and services other than the Mclassical" ones is one of the basic steps in order to promote a sustainable and effective development of rural areas. In many Mediterranean environments, often called to severe marginality conditions, such a goal is especially important - and somehow especially difficult to achieve. Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MAPs) may play a decisive role in this, and their potentialities involve the environmental, economic and social benefits that are, sensu FAO (1999), identified as crucial for a multifunctional development of agricultural activity. Fig. 1 illustrates a broad relational scheme of the major issues that are linked to the cultivation - and related economic activities - of MAPs inside rural territories.