Nejma Belarbi
Founder, Terra Ethics
What is ethnobotany? How can we combine natural science with our own history? Nejma Belarbi explains how she connects people, nature and science to drive change across all disciplines.
Coming soon.
Meet the guest
As an ethnobotanist, herbalist and sociologist, Nejma has worked in the non-profit and research sectors for many years. She is a graduate of Kent University in Canterbury and is a Master Herbalist. In 2019, Nejma founded Terra Ethics, a consulting social enterprise focusing on equity in practice and the rights of nature. Her work consists of deconstructing historical concepts which have led us to the very issues we are attempting to mitigate, namely, climate change and inequity. Her focus is on supporting collaborative design through an ecosystem’s lens via facilitation of workshops and community driven education and engagement. She incorporates multidisciplinary collaboration as a foundation and often uses this framework in current research, projects and teaching philosophy with the objective of supporting a solution based broader understanding of the interrelationships between people, environment, and economy.
Prior to founding Terra Ethics, Nejma also worked in the business sectors supporting both environmental sustainability and economic growth. As the director of Casa Botanica in North Africa, she created gardens with drought resistant species, researching and applying concepts of economic growth through sustainable practices. She also served as Co-Director of Voices for Biodiversity, provided individuals with biodiversity knowledge the tools and platform to share their wisdom more broadly. Nejma also serves as an advocate in social and environmental issues, and as the Co-Director of an Indigenously led advocacy grassroots organization in Western Canada. Her goal is to support the integration of multidisciplinary frameworks, including Indigenous and local knowledge systems, in both academia and policy.
She is a mother and enjoys engaging in, and organizing community events that center on Ethnobotany and valorize Traditional Ecological Knowledge. She also works and volunteers as a herbalist in her community.
Connect with Terra Ethics on Linkedin.
Key Articles:
• The Obvious Mirror: How Biocultural Diversity is Mirrored in the Natural World (Langscape Magazine; Volume 6- 2017) Re-published in 2021 Landscape 25th anniversary Special Edition.
• My Life for the Land. Kiliii Yuyan’s Powerful Article on Indigenous Conservation Efforts (National Geographic Blog V4B Review -05-2018) • Everyday Extinction: An Instagram Campaign Raising Awareness of Species Extinction (National Geographic Blog V4B Review -12-2017)
• Monograph for Argania spinosa (HANE 12/2015) • The transfer of Greek knowledge of Humors into Islamic medicine and its influence in North Africa; Heating medicinal plant mixtures in Morocco (HANE 10/2015)