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Contact information
Applied Environmental Research
Foundation (AERF), C-10 Natya Chitra
Co-op Society (Kalagram), Bhusari Colony,
Pune 411029, India.
www.aerfindia.org.
Email: [email protected]
Kunming Institute of Botany
(Applied Ethnobotany Research
Group), Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Heilongtan, Kunming 650204, Yunnan,
People’s Republic of China.
www.kib.ac.cn
Ashoka Trust for Research in
Ecology and the Environment
(ATREE), Eastern Himalayas Programme,
E2, Golden Heights, Gandhi Road,
Darjeeling 734 101, West Bengal, India.
www.atree.org
Ladakh Society for Traditional
Medicines (LSTM), P.O Box 97, Leh,
Ladakh, Jamu and Kashmir, India,
Tel +91 1982251 537.
Email: [email protected]
Ethnobotanical Society of Nepal
(ESON), 107 Guchcha Marg, New Road,
GPO 5220, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Tel +977 16213406.
www.eson.org.np
Foundation for Revitalisation of
Local Health Traditions (FRLHT),
74/2 Jarakabande Kaval, Post Attur,
Via Yelahanka, Bangalore 560064, India.
www.frlht
NOMAD Recherche et Soutien
Internatonal, 11 rue Lantiez, 75017
Paris , France.
www.nomadrsi.org
Uganda Group of the African
Network of Ethnobiology
(UGANEB), P.O. Box 16453
Wandegeya, Uganda
World Wide Fund for Nature
(WWF-Pakistan), Ferozepur Road,
Lahore- 54600, P.O. Box 5180, Pakistan.
Tel: +92 42 111 993725.
www.wwfpak.org
Yangzhou University (College of
Bioscience and Biotechnology),
Yangzhou 225009, Jiang Su Province,
People’s Republic of China
Further information on the case studies is
available on Plantlife’s website:
www.plantlife.org.uk
Plantlife International,
14 Rollestone Street, Salisbury,
Wiltshire SP1 1DX, UK.
Tel +44 (0)1722 342730. Fax: +44 (0)1722
329035. www.plantlife.org.uk.
Email: [email protected]
Plantlife International - The Wild Plant Conservation Charity
14 Rollestone Street, Salisbury Wiltshire SP1 1DX.
Telephone +44 (0)1722 342730 Fax +44 (01722 329 035
[email protected] www.plantlife.org.uk
Plantlife International -The Wild Plant Conservation Charity is a charitable company limited by guarantee.
Registered charity Number: 1059559. Registered Company Number: 3166339 © 2008
MEDICINAL PLANTS IN CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT
ISBN: 978-1-904749-15-8
Design: www.rjpdesign.co.uk
Print: www.crownlitho.co.uk
Joint Ethnobotanical Research and
Advocacy (JERA), P.O Box 27901,
Kampala, Uganda.
Tel +256-712212006/+256-712747798.
Email: [email protected]
National Museums of Kenya,
P.O. Box 40658-00100, Nairobi, Kenya
Tel +254 20 3742131.
Fax + 254 20 3741424 .
www.museums.or.ke.
Email: [email protected]
Tooro Botanical Gardens,
P.O. Box 840, Fort Portal, Uganda
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References
Plantlife International, the wild plant
conservation charity, is a charitable
company limited by guarantee (Registered
in England, Charity Number 1059559,
Company Number 3166339). Plantlife’s
goal is to halt the loss of wild plant
diversity. We identify and conserve sites of
exceptional botanical importance, rescue
wild plants from the brink of extinction
and ensure that common plants don’t
become rare in the wild. We achieve this
by facilitating conservation work across
the globe, influencing policy and legislation
and collaborating widely to promote wild
plant conservation. Plantlife International
is the lead organisation for Target 5 of the
Global Strategy for Plant Conservation.
We also provide the secretariat for Planta
Europa, the pan-European network of over
70 organisations working for plant
conservation. HRH The Prince of Wales is
our Patron.
Published 2008 by Plantlife International
© Plantlife International November 2008
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-904749-15-8
Citation: Hamilton, A.C. (editor) (2008).
Medicinal plants in conservation and
development: case studies and lessons learnt.
Plantlife International, Salisbury, UK.
Photos by Alan Hamilton (AH) unless
otherwise indicated.
Sub-editing and proofreading by Sue Nottingham.
Disclaimer: The designations of geographical
entities in this publication do not imply the
expression of any opinion whatsoever on the
part of Plantlife International concerning the
legal status of any country, territory or area, or
of its authorities, or concerning the
delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
Acknowledgements
An international advisory group was formed
for the programme and has provided
invaluable help, including specific suggestions
for proposals submitted to Plantlife for
funding through Allachy Awards. The names of
members of the advisory group are listed on
the title page. Plantlife International is
immensely dedicated to all of them for their
unstinting support.
Plantlife acknowledges with gratitude the
foresight of Jane Smart in starting the Plant
Conservation and Livelihoods Programme.
Jane was the first Chief Executive of Plantlife
and is now Head of the Species Programme
of the International Union for Conservation
of Nature (IUCN). Another driving force
behind the programme was the late Richard
Sandbrook, a former Board member of
Plantlife and a visionary environmentalist.
Many thanks to Mark Nesbitt of the Royal
Botanic Gardens, Kew for undertaking
literature searches on Plantlife's behalf.
Plantlife is indebted to those who have
financially supported the programme, notably
the Allachy Trust, the Rufford Maurice Laing
Foundation, the Gurney Charitable Trust, the
Tanner Trust and Dr William Hamilton.
Partner organisations of Plantlife in this
programme would like to express their
acknowledgements as follows:
The Applied Environmental Research
Foundation (AERF) wishes to acknowledge the
support of the G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan
Ecology and Development (GBPIHED), the
High Altitude Plant Physiology Research
Centre (HAPPRC), HNB Garhwal University,
and Ankur (an NGO which promotes the
cultivation of medicinal plants in Uttarakhand).
The assistance of Dr R.K. Maikhuri, Dr A.R.
Nautiyal and Mr Sudarshan Singh Kathait was
instrumental in achieving the project’s success.
The Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and
the Environment (ATREE) sincerely
acknowledges the co-operation of the Forest
Department of Sikkim and the Forest
Department of West Bengal for granting
permission for their work. The Botanical Survey
of India Himalayan Circle (Gangtok), Lloyd
Botanical Garden Herbarium and the
Herbarium at North Bengal University were
immensely helpful in undertaking a preliminary
screening of the habitats of the targeted
species. Mr Bijoy Gurung, Director of the State
Medicinal Plants Board (Government of Sikkim),
provided various types of help and is sincerely
acknowledged.
The Ethnobotanical Society of Nepal (ESON)
thanks the District Forest Office, Langtang
National Park and Buffer Zone Council of
Rasuwa. Thanks are also due to Mr Kaisang N.
Tamang (President, Manekor Society Nepal), Mr
Binod Poudel (President, Federation of
Community Forest User Groups Nepal, Rasuwa
Branch) and Ms Kabita Ghale (Social Mobilizer)
for their very active support and close
cooperation.
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Centre for Development (CCD, Madurai),
Pichandikulam Forests, Auroville and Arya
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and Mr Raju for training provided on medicinal
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Medicines
Cover photo: A small part of the medicinal plant market at Dali,Yunnan, China. Photo AH.
MEDICINAL PLANTS IN CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT
MEDICINAL PLANTS IN CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT
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Editor
Alan Hamilton, Plantlife International (UK)
Authors
Gerald Eilu, Uganda Group of the African Network of Ethnobiology
Archana Godbole, Applied Environmental Research Organisation (India)
Tsewang Gonbo, Ladakh Society for Traditional Medicines (India)
Alan Hamilton, Plantlife International (UK)
Huai Huyin, Yangzhou University (China)
Syed Kamran Hussain, WWF-Pakistan
Fanny Jamet, NOMAD Recherche et Soutien International (France)
Dennis Kamoga, Joint Ethnobotanical Research and Advocacy (Uganda)
Peris Kariuki, Kenya Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge, National Museums of Kenya
Ashiq Ahmad Khan, WWF-Pakistan
Staline Kibet, Kenya Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge, National Museums of Kenya
Giridhar Kinhal, Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions (India)
Rudy Lemmens, Tooro Botanical Gardens (Uganda)
Frank Olwari, Joint Ethnobotanical Research and Advocacy (Uganda)
Cyprian Osinde, Joint Ethnobotanical Research and Advocacy (Uganda)
Ram C. Poudel, Ethnobotanical Society of Nepal
Suman Rai, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment (India)
Paul Ssegawa, Uganda Group of the African Network of Ethnobiology
Pei Shengji, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Krishna Shrestha, Ethnobotanical Society of Nepal
Yang Lixin, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Members of the international advisory group that has guided the programme
Mr Ashiq Ahmad Khan, former Chief Technical Officer, WWF-Pakistan
Dr Wolfgang Kathe, private consultant involved in development of an international sustainability standard
(see Case study 14)
Dr Sonia Lagos Witte, General Coordinator, Grupo Etnobotánico Latinoamericana (Costa Rica)
Dr Danna Leaman, Chairperson, Medicinal Plants Specialist Group, Species Survival Commission,
International Union for Conservation of Nature
Dr Patrick Maundu, Kenya Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge, National Museums of Kenya
Professor Pei Shengji, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Dr Susanne Schmitt, WWF-UK
Mr Darshan Shankar, former Director, Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions (India)
MEDICINAL PLANTS IN CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT
1
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Dedication
Dedication
In memory of Monik Adraens (1954-2008)
First Director of Tooro Botanical Gardens, Fort Portal, Uganda and Research Support
Officer with the Sustainable Agricultural Trainers Network (SATNET) (see Case study
1). Born in Belgium, she graduated as an engineer in Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture
and farmed organically in the South of France for more than 20 years. Her particular
interests in complementary medicine included Naturotherapy, Ethnopharmacology, Bach
Flower Therapy and Aromatherapy.
2
MEDICINAL PLANTS IN CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT
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Contents
Contents
Acknowledgements
(inside front cover)
Editor, authors, members of the international advisory group
1
Dedication
2
Executive summary
4
PART 1: Setting the scene
6
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Plantlife’s Plant Conservation and Livelihoods Programme
Medicinal plants: threats and conservation reactions
Medicinal plants seen as conservation opportunities
Medicinal plants and healthcare
Medicinal plants and livelihoods
Medicinal plants and cultural traditions
6
8
11
12
15
16
PART 2: The case studies
17
7.
8.
9.
17
57
67
Community-based case studies
Experience-sharing case studies
Testing a sustainability standard
PART 3: Commentary
71
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
71
73
75
77
81
Basis of the analysis
Suggestions for project teams
Interactions between project teams and communities
Suggestions for community groups
Suggestions for the enabling environment
References
84
Boxes
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
How can community-based conservation of medicinal plants be successful?
List of community-based case studies
Occurrence of some principal species of medicinal plants, Darjeeling and Sikkim Himalayas
Summary of regulations governing Medicinal Plants Conservation Areas at Ludian
List of experience-sharing case studies
Summary of the principles and criteria of the International Standard for Sustainable Wild Collection of Medicinal
and Aromatic Plants (ISSC-MAP)
5
17
51
56
57
68
Figures
1.
2.
3.
Localities of community-based case studies
Three fundamental elements in medicinal plant conservation
Stages in adaptive management
7
71
78
Top ten medicinal plants at Rasuwa, Nepal, as prioritised by the communities
Spatial units recognised as significant for the conservation of medicinal plants in the Himalayas
45
60
Tables
1.
2.
MEDICINAL PLANTS IN CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT
3
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Traditional medicine, based largely on
herbs, still supports the primary
healthcare of more people worldwide
than ‘conventional’ or western medicine.
According to the World Health
Organisation, up to 80% of the population
in Africa uses traditional medicine for
their primary healthcare, and natural
remedies are also popular in many
western countries. The majority of plant
species used in traditional or herbal
medical treatments are harvested from
the wild rather than cultivated. In some
parts of the world, large numbers of
people are involved in the collection of
wild medicinal plants to sell – for example
people from an estimated 323,000
households in Nepal alone.
About 15,000 species of medicinal plants
are globally threatened – the causes
include loss of habitat, commercial overharvesting, invasive species and pollution.
The extinction or scarcity of these plants
is not only a problem for conservation –
it also results in serious problems for
people’s health and livelihoods.
Plantlife’s Plant Conservation and
Livelihoods Programme was established to
find ways to conserve these plants and
ensure their availability for continuing use.
Under the programme, Plantlife has
supported local partners in China, India,
Kenya, Nepal, Pakistan and Uganda to
mount community-based projects on the
conservation of medicinal plants. A further
four projects have been organised for the
exchange and evaluation of experiences.
This report presents a description of
these projects and an analysis of lessons
learnt. A set of principles, actions and
conditions needed to promote the
success of community-based conservation
of medicinal plants is provided based on
these experiences (Box 1).
4
Because of the value of these resources
for local healthcare or income, we believe
that a focus on medicinal plants in
conservation or development carries the
potential to save many other types of
plants and animals too – the inhabitants of
those habitats which are valued for their
medicinal plants. Thus, the presence and
sustainable use of medicinal plants can be
the key to conserving whole habitats.
There are three main elements in our
recommended approach:
● Community groups: members of
local communities with a special
interest in medicinal plants who are
prepared to work within their
communities to foster developmental
activities related to the conservation
and use of these plants. At this level
conservation means having ensured
supplies of medicinal plants to provide
continuing benefits for the community
in terms of healthcare, income or
retaining cultural traditions.
● Project teams: composed of
individuals willing to make an effort to
help communities conserve their
medicinal plants or create a favourable
enabling environment. Project teams
may consist of individuals from various
types of organisation. In our case
studies they are from non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) and research
institutes, but task teams in government
departments and civil society could also
take this role, for example in forestry
departments, faith-based groups,
women’s associations, indigenous
people’s organisations or the organic
movement.
MEDICINAL PLANTS IN CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT
● The enabling environment:
embracing all those forces that
influence affairs at the community level,
such as laws and regulations, national
policies towards indigenous groups,
local healthcare traditions and the
management of natural resources, the
ethical stances of industry and
consumers, the orientation of research
institutes, and the positions of religious
establishments and political parties on
the environment.
We have assumed a three-tier structure
of society for the purposes of our
blueprint for the successful conservation
of medicinal plants – the community, the
district level and the state.
Our concentration is on species that
carry value at the community level. Plants
vary in their value according to the
community – species valued for their
medicinal properties in one community
may not be similarly valued in another.
Therefore, additional approaches are
needed to fully safeguard plants that have
been recognised as medicinals. Other
conservation tools such as protected
areas and ex situ conservation have
important roles to play, and should be
linked with the community-based
approaches described in this report to
ensure their relevance to development.
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Box 1
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Box 1: How can community-based conservation of medicinal plants be successful?
Establishing a thriving community group
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Ensure that the whole community is served by the group’s activities.
Identify local development concerns relating to medicinal plants.
Provide greater recognition and roles to primary stakeholders, such as housewives using herbal remedies and commercial
collectors of wild medicinal plants.
Strengthen the conservation of wild medicinal plants through the following:
●
Identify priority species and places for improved management.
●
Develop local teams to take care of these sites (this may require an umbrella group if communities are collecting in
each others’ areas).
●
Seek recognition of community rights over the medicinal resources of the areas (this may require negotiation with
landowners, such as forestry departments).
●
Establish adaptive systems of management, based on cycles of monitoring, reflection, and decision-making on
management (e.g. rotational harvesting, quotas, restoration, distribution of tasks and benefits).
Encourage the cultivation of medicinal plants identified as local priorities.
Develop home herbal healthcare by identifying best practice within the community and seeking advice from research centres.
Seek information on medicinal plant markets and negotiate improved terms with traders (assured high quality materials in
exchange for better prices).
Seek technical guidance on how to add value to medicinal plants and products (e.g. proper drying, making powders).
Record local knowledge of medicinal plants, develop a cultural centre and encourage educational programmes to raise
appreciation for local cultural traditions.
Establishing a supportive project team
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Include community members with practical knowledge in the project team.
Learn about local medicinal plants, livelihoods and stakeholders before starting community work. Identify institutions that
support local ecological knowledge.
Form a cross-disciplinary advisory group.
Provide in-service training to team members.
Raise awareness at community and district levels about the usefulness of medicinal plants and the need to conserve them.
Make long-term commitment to communities.
Identify community groups with a special interest in medicinal plants. If lacking, assist in their formation.
Undertake joint research with community groups to identify key local concerns relating to medicinal plants and find practical
ways to resolve them.
Providing the right enabling environment – recommendations for policy makers
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Support national centres of excellence for medicinal plants orientated towards community development. The types of
support useful to communities are indicated under ‘establishing a thriving community group’ above. Support may be
channelled through the district resource centres (see next point).
Develop district resource centres to serve community needs relating to medicinal plants, including provision of information
on the identification, management, use and marketing of medicinal plants, nurseries to supply seedlings and training
programmes.
Develop protocols for the propagation and cultivation of priority medicinal plants, and ensure the availability of high quality seed.
Integrate herbal medicine based on local medical traditions into national healthcare systems.
Encourage communities to record and maintain their traditional knowledge.
MEDICINAL PLANTS IN CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT
5
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PART 1: Setting the scene
PART 1: Setting the scene
1. Plantlife’s Plant Conservation
and Livelihoods Programme
In 2005, Plantlife International launched a new programme ‘Plant Conservation and
Livelihoods’. In this programme, Plantlife is concerned with finding ways to conserve the
diversity of the world’s plants within the context of people’s everyday lives – the normal
context in which conservation must be achieved.
‘Plant Conservation and Livelihoods’ is a huge subject and Plantlife soon decided to
concentrate on one particular category of plant use – medicinal plants. Accordingly, a
Medicinal Plants Conservation Initiative was launched. Two considerations guided this
choice. First, the use of plants as medicines represents by far the biggest category of use
of plants or animals in terms of number of species (50,000-70,000 plant species1).
Secondly, medicinal plants connect to three basic human interests – health, income and
cultural identify – representing potentially powerful motivational forces for conservation.
The great majority of species of medicinal plants are harvested in the wild rather than
cultivated2-5, a state of affairs that will certainly continue1. The big methodological
challenge in the conservation of medicinal plants is to determine how the management
of wild medicinal plants can be improved. Conservation of wild medicinal plants requires
conservation of their habitats and thus success in conserving medicinal plants (driven by
the motivational forces of health, income or culture) has the potential to benefit many
other types of plants and animals too.
Training women in herbal medicine for
use against opportunistic infections
associated with HIV/AIDS (Case study 1).
Photo Rudy Lemmens.
Plantlife’s work on medicinal plants is supportive of Target 7 of the Millennium
Development Goals (‘Ensure environmental sustainability’), agreed at the Earth Summit
in Johannesburg in 20026, 7, and the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC),
agreed in 2002 under the United Nation’s Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)8.
The Targets of the GSPC of special relevance to Plantlife’s programme are:
●
●
●
●
6
MEDICINAL PLANTS IN CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT
Target 3: Development of models with
protocols for plant conservation and
sustainable use, based on research and
practical experience.
Target 5: Protection of 50 per cent of the
most important areas for plant diversity
assured.
Target 13: The decline of plant resources, and
associated indigenous and local knowledge,
innovations and practices that support
sustainable livelihoods, local food security and
health care, halted.
Target 16: Networks for plant conservation
activities established or strengthened at
national, regional and international levels.
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PART 1: Setting the scene
The Plant Conservation and Livelihoods
Programme takes an ecosystem-based
approach to conservation, consistent with
the requirements of the CBD9, 10. Features
of an ecosystem-based approach include
the decentralization of management to the
lowest appropriate level, consideration
given to the economic context of
conservation, the use of adaptive
approaches to resource management, and
full use made of both indigenous and
scientific knowledge.
As an international organisation, Plantlife
perceives its role as one of partnership,
working with national and international organisations to share experiences and analyse
lessons learnt. Thanks to generous grants from the Allachy Trust and the Rufford Maurice
Laing Foundation, Plantlife has been able to offer a number of small grants (typically
£10,000) for case studies on the conservation of medicinal plants. Geographically, East
Africa and the Himalayas have been selected as areas of focus for these grants, based on
the high value accorded to medicinal plants in these regions and pre-existing contacts
with concerned individuals and organisations. A total of fourteen Allachy Awards have
been made, ten for community-based conservation (four in Africa, six in the Himalayas –
see Figure 1 for locations), three on projects to share experiences between countries,
and one to test a new international standard for the sustainable harvesting of wild
medicinal plants.
The local level is where conservation of medicinal plants must be effected, since this is
where the plants grow and where people interact with them directly. Attention is
therefore focused in this programme on projects that work directly with communities.
Of course, communities are not isolated from the rest of the world and what happens
at the community level is much influenced by the wider ‘enabling environment’ – the
policies and laws of government, cultural influences (e.g. connected with religion or
ethnic identity), the economic context, and so on. We therefore offer some reflections,
based on our projects, on the developments in the enabling environment that would be
useful for supporting community-based conservation of medicinal plants.
International participants in a training
course on conservation of medicinal
plants, Savanadurga, India (Case study 12).
Photo AH.
Figure 1. Localities of community-based
case studies (numbered 1-10).
MEDICINAL PLANTS IN CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT
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2. Medicinal plants: threats and conservation reactions
2. Medicinal plants: threats and
conservation reactions
2.1. What is a medicinal plant?
A medicinal plant is one used by people for medicinal purposes – to build or maintain
health, stave off disease, or promote recovery from illness or misfortune. No precise
definition is possible, given this wide scope and because the use of plants as medicines
grades into their use for other purposes, for example, for food, personal hygiene, beautycare, psychological support and spiritual practices.
Phyllanthus emblica, a very important
medicinal plant used in Ayurveda and
Tibetan medicine.
Photo AH.
Traditions of healthcare must have always been features of human societies and from the
evidence available it seems that plants have normally been accorded lead roles in
therapy. Even today, traditional medicine (based largely on herbs) supports the primary
healthcare of more people globally than ‘conventional’ or western medicine11-13.
2.2. Threats to medicinal plants
Historically, the greatest driver behind efforts to
conserve medicinal plants has been the fear of losing
species. Related to this has been concern about losing
genetic diversity, a serious matter with useful plants.
The number of globally threatened species of medicinal
plants has been calculated at about 15,000 species1.
Field observations of the conservation status of
medicinal plants in East Africa and the Himalayas are
very limited, thanks to their huge areas and sometimes
inhospitable terrain14. However, there are recent reports
from many localities of increasing difficulty in finding
some popular species of medicinal plants in China15,
India16-18, Kenya19, 20, Nepal21, Tanzania3, 22 and Uganda23-25.
Globally, the immediate causes of endangerment of
medicinal plants are the same as those for plants
generally, that is, loss of habitat, over-harvesting for
medicinal or other purposes, suppression by invasive
species, and pollution (acid rainfall, eutrophication).
Greenhouse climate change, which is a mounting
threat, is likely to have a particularly major impact in
the Himalayas26, placing high altitude endemic species
especially at risk. Most medicinal plants are used only
locally, with a lesser number entering national or
regional trade, and fewer still (about 3000 species)
reaching international markets2, 27.
In East Africa, the bulk of trade in medicinal plants is to
local urban centres28, 29, while in the Himalayas, most
commercial demand originates from herbal companies
based in lowland parts of the Subcontinent or in
lowland China.
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2. Medicinal plants: threats and conservation reactions
Generally, harvesting for local medical use is not a conservation problem – it is
commercial collection that does the harm. Commercial pressures are mounting, driven
by growing populations, high rates of poverty in many places, and the increasing
popularity of herbal treatments. Mounting poverty can fuel commercial harvesting
because more people driven by circumstances resort to herbal treatments, and because
collecting medicinal plants to sell can be a useful source of income for economically
marginalised people in difficult times28, 30, 31.
Unlike local people collecting for their own use, commercial collectors generally harvest
medicinal plants with little care for sustainability. This can be partly through ignorance,
but mainly because such collection is unorganised and competitive. Certain biological
and ecological features increase the vulnerability of the plants. Many medicinal plants in
East Africa are trees or other types of woody plants with the roots or bark being
collected – features that raise their vulnerability to over-harvesting19, 23, 32-35. With the
Himalayas, it is high altitude plants that tend to be most at risk, due to their slow
growth rates, strong market demand and the fact that it is usually the underground
organs that are the parts collected.
Market surveys are useful for identifying medicinal plants at risk from commercial trade.
Such surveys have recently been conducted in several major cities and towns in East
Africa, with several genera and species common to several lists (for example, Osyris,
Prunus africana, Warburgia and Zanthoxylum). Medicinal species sold in Tanga considered to
be at risk include Artemisia afra, Morella (Myrica) salicifolia, Ocotea usambarensis, Warburgia
stuhlmannii and Zanthoxylum chalybeum3. A list of 53 species of Himalayan medicinal plants
threatened by commercial harvesting has been published under one of our case studies
based on a consensus of experts from five countries (see Case study 11)36. This list
includes such well known Himalayan medicinals as Dioscorea deltoidea, Nardostachys
grandiflora, Picrorhiza kurrooa, Rauvolfia serpentina and Taxus wallichiana, all confirmed as
vulnerable in a recent review14.
2.3. Conservation reactions to the threats
Several types of conservation measures have been applied to medicinal plants, among
them protected areas and other forms of legal control, cultivation (intended to reduce
the collection pressure on wild medicinal plants) and ex situ conservation.
Protected areas are useful for conserving medicinal plants – as they are for biodiversity
generally. Theoretically, well-designed networks of protected areas would be of great
value for conserving the genetic diversity of medicinal species, though in actuality it is
doubtful whether the geography of medicinal plants has ever been a serious
consideration in designing such networks.
Due to limited resources, the managers of protected areas in East Africa and the
Himalayas tend to take little interest in medicinal plants, apart from sometimes
encouraging their cultivation in buffer zones. The reality is that, in practice, there are
usually few practical restrictions to the illegal harvesting of medicinal plants in
protected areas, as is often reported. Forest reserves generally afford even weaker
protection, their managers tending to be more interested in timber than in ‘minor
forest products’. Even in Nepal, where the need to engage local people in the
management of forest reserves is well recognised, medicinal plants have been almost
entirely ignored in management plans (see Case study 8). An example of illegal
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2. Medicinal plants: threats and conservation reactions
harvesting is reported by one of our projects in India (Case Study 7): “Collection and
selling of Cordyceps (a highly priced caterpillar-fungus) has emerged as a new source of
income in the rural areas of inner mountain ranges of Uttarakhand. During the months of
April and May thousands of people from far and nearby villages come to a particular alpine
meadow, stay there and search the entire meadow vigorously for two months. Cordyceps
gatherers extract natural resources without considering sustainability and use destructive
methods. The Forest Department of Uttarakhand has imposed a ban on the collection of
Cordyceps but proper monitoring of the ban is not possible due to the harsh climatic
conditions, steep terrain and shortage of manpower.”
Expert in traditional medicine Muhamed
Omar Kasomo in his medicinal plant
garden,Tanga,Tanzania. Mr Kasomo works
closely with the Tanga Aids Working Group,
a progressive organisation using both
antiretroviral drugs and herbal preparations
to treat patients with HIV/AIDS.
Photo AH.
There are various other types of legal control that can be applied to medicinal plants,
apart from those associated with protected areas and forest reserves. They seem to
have been given more attention in some Asian countries than in East Africa. In the
Himalayas, the medicinal plant sector tends to be highly regulated, with a series of
permits required for the collection, transport and export of medicinal plants14. There can
also be total bans on the harvesting of some species, such as the orchid Dactylorhiza
hatagirea in Nepal and all species of wild yews Taxus in China. However, as with
protected areas, these legal controls have proved difficult to enforce14. According to our
project partner ATREE (see Case study 9), a complete ban on the collection of medicinal
plants was imposed in Sikkim in 1992, but in reality the extraction of medicinal plants
for domestic use continues, as does some commercial collection (for example, of
Aconitum palmatum, Panax pseudoginseng, Rhododendron anthopogon and Swertia chirayita).
Cultivation is commonly recommended as a conservation measure for medicinal plants,
to provide alternative supplies for medicinal species in market demand37. This can be a
good idea and has been pursued by many of our projects, but it is not a universal
panacea. Depending on policies towards land ownership, which varied greatly at the
localities of our case studies, a problem can be that cultivation is adopted by relatively
prosperous farmers, who are unlikely to be collectors of wild medicinal plants.
Meanwhile, more impoverished inhabitants, perhaps lacking land, may have little
economic option but to continue to collect wild medicinal plants for sale. It is
noteworthy that only about 200 medicinal plant species are commercially cultivated in
China38, despite a long history of government encouragement. Problems with cultivation
in East Africa and the Himalayas can include a small size of land holdings, limited supplies
of seed (especially of good quality), uncertainties about cultivation protocols, long
gestation periods for many species and poor access to markets. Water supply poses an
additional problem in dry regions. Experience in Kenya (see Case study 4C) suggests
that projects in arid lands should concentrate on improving the management of wild
medicinal plants and the cultivation of medicinal plants for domestic use, rather than
trying to grow plants for the market.
Ex situ conservation is a desirable objective with medicinal plants. The opening of the
Southwest China Wild Plants Germplasm Bank in Kunming (2004) is thus to be warmly
welcomed. We have observed during the course of our work that the term ‘ex situ
conservation’ is often interpreted differently by field conservationists and development
workers, in comparison to international plant conservationists, who consider it to be
the systematic storage of germplasm in botanic gardens, field genebanks and seed
collections. Many field workers in East Africa and the Himalayas consider any form of
cultivation to constitute ex situ conservation, regardless of who is involved or for what
purpose, and regardless of any connection with conservation science.
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3. Medicinal plants seen as conservation opportunities
3. Medicinal plants seen as
conservation opportunities
Medicinal plants can be viewed not only as problems from the conservation perspective
but also, more positively, as ‘conservation opportunities’. This is because the actual or
anticipated values of these plants for healthcare, income or cultural identity carries the
potential for them to act as motivating forces for conservation – for the species
themselves and their habitats. Since other (non-medicinal) species will be living in the
habitats, community initiatives focusing on medicinal plants can have the potential to save
many other species too.
From the community perspective, conservation of medicinal plants should be seen as a
matter of development. Projects concerned with the conservation of medicinal plants
cannot concentrate solely on ‘pure conservation’ – they must engage to some extent in
the concerns that make these plants of interest to the local people. As NOMAD has
observed (see Case study 6): “Sustainable access to medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) is
vital for local healthcare and for the survival of Sowa Rigpa (Tibetan medicine) as a medical
system. The Ladakh Society for Traditional Medicines found that explicitly linking MAPs
conservation to healthcare needs was a powerful way to raise awareness and mobilise
communities to work towards better resource management. By adopting this approach, the
project simultaneously raised conservation issues and drew attention to the financial problems
being faced by amchi (traditional doctors following the Tibetan medical tradition), thus
contributing to MAPs protection and the revitalization of Sowa Rigpa in rural areas.”
MEDICINAL PLANTS IN CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT
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4. Medicinal plants and healthcare
4. Medicinal plants and healthcare
4.1. The history and tradition of herbal medicine
In East Africa and the Himalayas, the use of plants as medicines is an ancient and still
common practice, although there are some exceptional social groups that are reported
to no longer commonly resort to traditional medicine (for example, the Agikuyu – see
Case study 4B). Studies in rural parts of East Africa have found that more than 80 per
cent of the people resort first to herbal medicine to meet their primary healthcare
needs24, 25, 39. Careful studies of individual localities commonly record over 150 species in
use23, 25, 35. Even in the towns, the use of traditional medicine persists, associated with the
excessive expense of western medicine40 and high levels of stress associated with
modern urban living41. For the Himalayas, many studies have shown a high level of
dependency on herbal medicine21, 42-46.
There are several reasons for the popularity of herbal medicine. One is belief in its efficacy,
a belief associated with its psychological appropriateness for the cultures concerned. It is
commonly held in our case study regions (as elsewhere) that western medicine can be
good for the quick relief of symptoms but herbal medicine is better for treating chronic
complaints. Herbal medicine tends to be cheaper40, though not invariably so3, and is
generally much more readily available, especially in rural areas. A measure of the relative
availability of traditional compared to western medicine is the ratio of doctors to the
general populace. In East Africa, these ratios are 1:350 and 1:25,000 for traditional and
western doctors respectively22, 23, 33, 47. Most western-trained doctors in East Africa are
concentrated in cities and the ratio in the countryside is much less than the regional
average. In the Himalayas, poorer people in particular tend to have little access to western
medicine. At our project site of Miandam (Pakistan) (Case study 5), there is only one
primary healthcare centre serving 20,000 people and no doctor in attendance.
Herbal medicine in East Africa is folk medicine, passed down from generation to
generation through lineages of expert healers. While studies of traditional medicine in
East Africa often concentrate on traditional healers, in fact it is women who are the
frontline workers in primary healthcare. As Geissler48 has pointed out for Luo women in
western Kenya: “Women’s washing, massaging, steaming, feeding of small children, the
observation of small signs, and the debates about illness and treatment, in which all women in
a homestead participate, are Luo medicine. Medical knowledge is women’s collective and
communal knowledge for the creation and maintenance of children’s life and well-being. Hence,
it is ordinary women, not exotic ‘traditional healers’, to whom we ought to turn in order to learn
about Luo plant medicine.” Some of the most commonly used medicinal plants at
household level in East Africa are herbaceous or shrubby, or else common trees. These
plants tend to be common and well known to many people, being widely planted in
home gardens or found in abundance in the wild. They are rarely sold in markets, so
market surveys can easily miss this major aspect of indigenous medicine. In the Tanga
area, these species include Azadirachta indica (neem), Ocimum spp. (basil), Plectranthus
longipes, Psidium guajava (guava), Solanum incanum and Vernonia lasiopus 3.
Traditional healers are well respected members of Africa societies, their social roles varying
according to ethnicity. With the Maasai, traditional physicians (laibon) are priests, medicine
men and oracles, but they are considered to have no specialist herbalist role – and
knowledge of medicinal plants is widely distributed throughout their society3, 49. With Bantu
tribes, there can be many types of specialist healers, including some that concentrate on
12
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4. Medicinal plants and healthcare
particular somatic problems or conditions, such as liver failure, broken bones or midwifery23,
50, 51
. Some herbal treatments are administered in an apparently straightforward remedial
way, but medicinal plants can also be used more opaquely, such as to attract a spouse or
protect a home3. Divination is extensively used to diagnose the fundamental causes of
ailments. Traditional healers commonly view their powers as being granted by God or the
ancestors, their duty being to use this gift to serve the people. They may favourably contrast
their own attitudes and approaches to those of commercial street vendors, whom they can
view as charlatans, only interested in financial enrichment and selling plants without really
knowing how to use them effectively51.
Knowledge of medicinal plants is distributed unevenly in the Himalayas. Commonly,
about 45-60 local plant species are used medicinally at particular localities52, 53, but a
spectacular 450 species are known as medicinals at Dolpa (Nepal)44, 54, while the Shuhi
people of the Hengduan mountains in China use only 27 species52. Most published
information on medicinal plants in the Himalayas is biased towards those used by
traditional doctors or those which enter the market. It is possible that, just as in East
Africa, there are many species used in homes that are common plants either cultivated
in home gardens or found growing in the wild near homesteads. Not all Himalayan
medicinal species favour pristine habitats; there are many which prefer habitats strongly
disturbed by people52, 55.
Much village medicine in the Himalayas has a strong folk element, but the region is also
home to several of the world’s great traditions of systematic medicine, namely Ayurveda,
Tibetan medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine and Unani. Practitioners of these medical
traditions can use plants from far and wide, for example with a considerable use of
lowland Indian plants in Tibetan medicine44. The number of species of medicinal plants
(not all Himalayan) used by these major medical traditions are reported to be 12501400 for Ayurveda, 1500-1600 commonly for Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1100-3600
for Tibetan Medicine and 342 for Unani43, 56, 57.
Traditional medicine – Amchi Gurmet
Namgyal treats a patient in Kanji village,
Ladakh, India (Case study 6).
Photo Tsewang Gonbo.
4.2. Recognition of traditional
medicine by government
Politics has a big influence over herbal
medicine, as can be demonstrated
historically. East Africa and parts of the
Himalayas were subject to colonial rule
until the 1940s to 1960s, during which
time traditional medicine tended to be
neglected or even denigrated by the
authorities58. Since independence,
traditional medicine has gradually gained
increasing recognition in East Africa,
especially recently with the declaration by
the African Union of 2001-2010 as ‘The
Decade of Traditional African Medicine’. A
‘Traditional Healer Policy’ was established
for Tanzania in 2002 and similar policies
are at an advanced state of preparation in
Kenya and Uganda59. An East African
Network on Traditional Medicine and
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5. Medicinal plants and livelihoods – trading and markets
Medicinal Plants has been established with its hosting since 2007 in the Lake Victoria
Basin Commission of the East African Community60, 61.
Tibetan stall in the medicinal plant market
at Dali,Yunnan, China. Over 500 species of
mainly wild collected medicinal plants are
sold in this market. Photo AH.
14
Among the Himalayan countries, Bhutan has accorded an equal status to Tibetan and
western medicine, influenced by Buddhism and regard for environmental stewardship. The
government in China has provided strong encouragement to Traditional Chinese
Medicine, and recognised several other medical traditions, such as those associated with
the Dai, Mongolian, Tibetan, Uigur and Yi peoples. In India, several indigenous systems of
medicine have been legally recognised (for instance, Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani, but not
Tibetan) and the government has established a National Medicinal Plants Board to
develop and regulate the medicinal plants sector. In Nepal, recognition has been accorded
to Ayurveda, but not Tibetan medicine, and development of the medicinal plants sector
has been accorded a priority in government planning A high-level Herbs and Non Timber
Forest Products Coordination Committee has been formed with 12 medicinal and
aromatic species selected for the development of agronomic technologies62.
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5.
5.Medicinal plants and livelihoods – trading and markets
5. Medicinal plants and livelihoods –
trading and markets
Trade in medicinal plants is difficult to research, because of the secrecy and sometimes
complexity of trading networks. In the Himalayas (where the situation is better
understood than in East Africa), wild medicinal plants are collected in large quantities in
some areas by large numbers of people, for whom this activity provides a substantial
part of their income. The collectors include local villagers, nomadic herders (especially in
the western Himalayas) and in some places ‘outsiders’ working either for themselves or
on contract. Collectors can be permanently in debt with little bargaining power, as
reported for Rasuwa (See Case study 8): “The economic status of most of the herb
collectors is below the poverty line, so normally they take money in advance from the road head
trader and pay back later the equivalent value in terms of herbs. So, the collectors are forced to
sell their herbs to the same traders from whom they took the money in advance. They easily
accept the price value of the herb offered by the traders. Collectors hardly bargain for the value
of their herbs because they are less aware or mostly unaware about the latest prices. The prices
of the herbs entirely depend on the wisdom of the trader.”
Himalayan medicinal plants pass to lowland areas around the Himalayas, usually in
unprocessed form, with many eventually ending up in wholesale markets established in
an arc around the Himalayas – at Rawalpindi, Lahore, Amritsar, Delhi, Kolkata,
Mandalay, Kunming and Dali. A survey at Dali counted a total of 517 species of plants
in trade, nearly all collected from the wild (though not all Himalayan)63. About 100 of
the 750 native species of medicinal plants traded throughout India are sourced from
the Himalayas64. The livelihood benefits of this business have been best studied in
Nepal, where an estimated 323,000-470,000 households (2.6 million people) are
engaged in the collection of wild medicinal plants for sale64-67. Medicinal plants are
economically so important in Uttarakhand that this Indian state has labelled itself the
Herbal State. It is estimated that 25-80% of income in the Tibetan Autonomous
Prefecture of northwest Yunnan, China, stems from the sale of non-timber forest
products, the most lucrative commodity being matsutake (pine mushroom, Tricholoma),
a medicinal and culinary mushroom68.
In East Africa, the demand for herbal medicine in cities and towns creates a substantial
flow of plant material inward from the countryside. Much is collected by urban-based
herbalists or members of their families, or harvested for them by villagers on request3.
A more structured trading system has only been reported for Kampala, where, since
2005, an association of professional collectors has been formed now with around 150
members69. Some well-prepared local herbal medicines are today starting to appear in
pharmacies, being sold alongside conventional medicines.
The prices of medicinal plants sold by professional collectors in Kampala are reported
to be higher with a greater distance of collection, which can exceed 300 km, and their
legal status (collection in protected areas puts up costs). However, in contrast, no
relationship between price and difficulty of collection has been recorded for Tanga3.
Where collection is by villagers, the number involved can be substantial. Twenty-two per
cent of villagers are involved in the commercial collection of medicinal plants at Sango
Bay (see Case study 2), while research in one hamlet near Tanga has revealed that a
minimum of 20% of the villagers (mainly women) are involved in the (illegal) commercial
collection of medicinal plants from a nearby forest reserve3.
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6. Medicinal plants and cultural traditions
6. Medicinal plants and cultural
traditions
Long residence and close dependence on the local natural environment tend to result in
a profound knowledge of local plants and their uses, and related beliefs and practices
that promote their continuing survival. A common practice is for traditional doctors to
collect medicinal materials in ways that avoid undue damage to the plants or which
promote regeneration3. Such methodologies can be documented in literate societies, as
they are in Gyud Zhi (the fundamental text of Tibetan medicine), which offers guidance
on seven techniques for harvesting medicinal plants sustainably. Another common
traditional practice is for medicinal plants to be retained when land is cleared or crops
are weeded. Again, many villages in East Africa and the Himalayas have associated sacred
forests or pastures, granted special protection for spiritual reasons or to protect water
sources69-71. These can be exceptionally rich in medicinal plants72. There are an estimated
150,000-200,000 sacred groves in India73.
Most people’s lives in East Africa are profoundly influenced by their membership of
tribes, clans and lineages, strongly influencing their abilities to maintain good health or
cope with illness. The importance attributed to family position has a bearing on nature
conservation, for example in terms of the protection accorded to certain organisms
(usually animals) seen as the totemic ancestors of clans. Ancestral graveyards are
sometimes associated with sacred groves – even today, when the graveyards may have
become Christian cemeteries.
Holy forest (on triangular hill, left
background) protected by the Tibetan
community of Kegong,Yunnan, China.
Photo AH.
16
The Himalayas are the home of several major religions, each associated with a particular
tradition of systematic medicine – Ayruveda with Hinduism, Traditional Chinese Medicine
with Confuscianism and Taoism, Tibetan medicine with Buddhism, and Unani with Islam.
There are traditional connections between these religions and nature conservation. For
example, in Pakistan, Islamic cemeteries in
the Himalayan foothills are sometimes
home to the last vestiges of wild olive
forest (decimated elsewhere), while
Buddhist philosophy teaches care for all
forms of life. Buddhist beliefs protect
whole landscapes in Tibet, such as the
Holy Mountain of Khawa Karpo (Meili
Snow Mountain) in northwest Yunnan72 70-72.
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PART 2: The case studies
PART 2: The case studies
7. Community-based case studies
Introduction
These ten case studies of medicinal plant conservation initiatives were supported by
Allachy Awards from Plantlife International. After submission of applications to
Plantlife, the selection of projects to fund was based on an initial vetting by Plantlife
and then review by members of an international advisory group (see introductory
pages for their names). In some cases, the proposals were revised following advice
received from the group.
These are all independently conceived projects though united by geography (East Africa
and the Himalayas) and in being community-based. Some are new projects, while others
represent new phases in projects that have existed for some time. The projects cover a
wide spectrum of activities, reflecting the interests of their proposers and the stages
reached in project development.
Box 2: List of community-based case studies (for localities, see
Figure 1 on page 7).
CS1
Uganda: First aid herbal toolkit for the Rwenzori region
CS2
Uganda: Conservation and sustainable use of malaria medicinal plants
CS3
Uganda: Community-based cultivation of commercial medicinal plants
CS4
Kenya: Building capacity for community-based conservation
CS5
Pakistan: Promotion of sustainable harvest of medicinal plants, Swat
CS6
India: Development of methodology on medicinal plant conservation,
Ladakh
CS7
India: Capacity-building to link medicinal plants conservation and
livelihoods
CS8
Nepal: Community-based conservation of medicinal plants, Rasuwa
CS9
India: Strategy development for medicinal plants conservation,
Darjeeling and Sikkim
CS10
China: Development of methodologies for conservation of medicinal
plants
MEDICINAL PLANTS IN CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT
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Case study 1
Demonstration homestead and garden
under construction at Tooro Botanical
Gardens, Uganda (Case study 1).
Photo Rudy Lemmens.
Case study 1: First aid herbal toolkit for
the Rwenzori region (Uganda)
Organisation responsible for the project: The project was run by Tooro Botanical
Gardens (TBG), a non-profit organisation founded in 2004 based in a 40 hectare forest
reserve on the outskirts of Fort Portal, western Uganda. TBG has been established
under a 25-year licence from the National Forest Authority. The mission of TBG is to
establish a living collection of plants from the Rwenzori region (Albertine Rift) for the
purposes of conservation, development and research.
Project team: the late Monik Adriaens, Rudy Lemmens, Professor E.B. Rugumayo
(Chair of TBG), Clovis Kabaseke.
Period of grant support: October 2006-September 2007.
Geographical context
The Rwenzori region is a land of varied topography and climate, ranging in altitude from
913 m in the relatively dry rift valley to 5109 m on the glacier-capped peaks of Rwenzori.
The natural vegetation is highly varied, including rainforest, savanna and afroalpine
vegetation. Wetter parts of the region are densely populated, with most of the local people
basing their livelihoods on farming. The average income is low (less than US$ 1 per day).
Parts of the region have been severely affected by rebel activity and cross-border
incursions, with many people only able to return and rebuild their homes since 2001.
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Medicinal plant issues
The project is concerned with the distribution of a home herbal first aid kit for the safe
treatment of common medical conditions. There are few clinics or medical staff in this
region, particularly in its remoter parts and, in any case, treatment is beyond the pockets
of many people. There is a strong reliance on herbal medicine, although unfortunately
some of the more knowledgeable and trusted healers and herbalists have disappeared
during the periods of violence and instability.
The Rwenzori region hosts a large number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
dedicated to the development of agriculture and rural livelihoods. Fifty-five of these
NGOs are members of a Sustainable Agricultural Trainers Network (SATNET), which is
dedicated to training communities in sustainable organic agriculture and natural resource
management. Prior to the present project, the network was asked by its members to do
something about the use of traditional medicinal plants and prepare a simple and
practical handbook for trainers to use in the communities. The idea of a First Aid Kit
consisting of medicinal plants was born. The species to be included should be safe to use
for everyday treatments at the household level. More than 50 healers and herbalists
were consulted on their most popular medicinal plants and the medical conditions that
they cure. After further selection, the results were compiled in a technical handbook by
Monik Adriaens Family Medicinal Plant Gardens in the Rwenzori region.
Project aims, activities and achievements
The project aimed to extend the work described above, reaching out to the wider
community through providing training and materials. There were three main areas of activity:
● The establishment of a demonstration homestead at Tooro Botanical Gardens with
construction of a farm similar to that of a local farmer and with medicinal plants
inter-planted among the crops.
● The use of the demonstration
homestead for training trainers from
NGOs, with these trainers then
providing further training within their
communities.
● Production of training materials in the
local language for the use of trainers in
the SATNET network.
Drying shed for Artemisa annua at
Tooro Botanical Gardens, Uganda
(Case study 1). This Chinese herb is
becoming increasingly popular as an
antimalarial in Uganda.
Photo Rudy Lemmens.
A 4 metre diameter hut was built in TBG
and a garden established around it with
crops typical of the area, including bananas,
sweet potatoes, sugar cane, cassava and
beans. The garden is intended to serve as a
demonstration site for improved organic
agriculture, as well as for medicinal plants.
Accordingly, improved varieties of fruit
trees have been included among the
plantings for demonstrative and
comparative purposes.
Thirty-two species of medicinal plants
MEDICINAL PLANTS IN CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT
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were selected for planting in the garden, with the great majority soon becoming well
established. More than 50% of these chosen species are already well known to local
farmers, the others being herbs known in other parts of the world to be medicinally
valuable and considered useful for local health improvement. Scientific information on the
known medical effects of these newly introduced plants is made available to the people.
In collaboration with SATNET, a six-day seminar was organised at the demonstration
homestead in March 2007, with 29 trainers from various NGOs and community-based
organisations attending. Items on the agenda included the identification and cultivation of
medicinal plants, and how to prepare and use medicines made from them. Fourteen of
the trainers were given planting materials, so that they themselves could establish their
own demonstration gardens at their homes. The idea was that the trainers would then
use their own gardens to train their neighbours. Accordingly a four-day course was
designed for their use. By September 2007, eight such out-posted training sessions had
been held, each attended by at least 30 farmers. An unexpected outcome of the training
at TBG has been that some of those receiving training have opened a herbal clinic,
where neighbours can buy some herbal preparations.
Prospects
Sadly, the project leader Monik Adriaens passed away in March 2008. Naturally, this
proved a serious blow to the project. Nevertheless, other members of TBG remain and
are continuing the work.
A planned poster and booklets on medicinal plants will be available soon. The booklets
will be in local languages and will contain information on everyday diseases and
ailments, and how to treat them with herbal medicine. New activities have been
triggered by the project, including cooperation with Rukararwe Partnership Workshop
for Rural Development (an NGO at Bushenyi) for research into the vegetative
propagation of endangered species of medicinal trees. A processing plant has been
opened for medicinal herbs cultivated by women living near Tooro Botanical Gardens,
and a medical centre has been established at Kasese to promote the First Aid Kits in
the Rwenzori Mountains region.
Flowers of Erythrina abyssinica, a
medicinal tree reported to have become
scarce in the Rwenzori region (Case
study 1). Photo Rudy Lemmens.
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Case study 2
Case study 2:
Conservation and
sustainable use of key
malaria medicinal
plants (Uganda)
Organisation responsible for the project:
The Uganda Group of the African Network of
Ethnobiology (UGANEB) is a non-profit
membership organisation formed in 1997 to
promote indigenous knowledge in Uganda and
undertake activities to enhance the
understanding, management, conservation and
utilization of biological resources for improved
human welfare and environment. Its facilities
include a resource centre, coordination office
with communication and computing facilities
and a vehicle. The main base of UGANEB is
Makerere University, Kampala, the longest
established university in the country.
Project team: Professor Joseph Obua, Dr
Gerald Eilu, Dr Paul Ssegawa, Charles Galabuzi
Period of grant support: April 2006-March
2008.
Geographical context
The project is based in the district of Rakai,
Uganda, where the five Sango Bay Forest
Reserves lie near the equator close to Lake
Victoria. This is an area with subdued topography (altitude 1100 m) characterized by a high
water table and a floristically unusual tropical forest flora. The dominant forest trees
include the gymnosperm Podocarpus usambarensis (now largely logged out), Baikiaea insignis,
Cleistanthus polystachyus and Trichilia dregeana. The forest reserves are managed by the
National Forestry Authority, working with local people organised into Community Forest
Management committees. Most of the boundaries of the five forests, which together cover
150 km2, are considered natural, rather than their positions being the result of human
influences. The forests are generally surrounded by seasonally inundated grassland or
o
swamp. The mean annual maximum temperature is 25 C with two rainy seasons per year.
Warburgia ugandensis in rainforest at
Sango Bay, Uganda (Case study 2). This
tree has been stripped of its bark, much
valued for the treatment of malaria.
Photo AH.
Medicinal plants issues
The project is concerned with the conservation and sustainable production of some of
the most important medicinal plants used for the treatment of malaria. Malaria is a very
common disease at Sango Bay, with medicinal plants being much used for its treatment.
Malaria is the main cause of mortality in Uganda after HIV/AIDS, with infants less than 5
years old being particularly vulnerable. Rakai District has the lowest number of health
centres per head of population in Central Uganda and they often lack drugs.
MEDICINAL PLANTS IN CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT
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The project focuses on the two forest
reserves of Minziro and Kanabulemu and
on the trees Hallea rubrostipulata, Syzygium
guineense, Warburgia ugandensis and
Zanthoxylum chalybeum and the shrub
Vernonia amygdalina. All these plants are
known from earlier research to be key
anti-malarials at Sango Bay. Vernonia is found
outside the forest, but all the other plants
are medium to large sized forest trees and
there is concern about their unsustainable
harvesting. This is especially so because the
parts collected are bark and roots and the
trees die with excessive or careless
harvesting. Warburgia, which is a rather rare
tree both here and elsewhere in Uganda, is
a very popular anti-malarial and considered
especially vulnerable.
Visiting a monitoring site for medicinal
plants in the rainforest at Sango Bay,
Uganda (Case study 2). Photo AH.
Collection for the market, rather than for home treatment, is believed to be the main
cause of excessive damage. According to research carried out by the project, 51% of the
local people harvest Hallea, Syzygium or Warburgia for home use and 22% sell one or
more of these species commercially. Research has demonstrated that there is a greater
intensity and frequency of collection near forest edges and footpaths than in the forest
interior. Commercial collection of medicinal plants within the forests is illegal, but
studies carried out by the project show that plants from Sango Bay are being traded
within Rakai District and to outside markets.
Project aims, activities and achievements
The ultimate aim of the project is to improve the health and livelihoods of rural
households through ensuring the continuing availability of low cost malaria treatments
based on indigenous plants. A more immediate objective is to ensure conservation and
sustainable supplies of the selected medicinal species at Sango Bay, both for local
healthcare and to provide a long-term source of income for the people. Activities
undertaken under the project include community education, agreements with the
communities on their involvement in the project, research to back up project activities,
steps to improve the management of the plants in the forests, and the establishment of
nurseries to provide seedlings for planting on private land.
Mr Charles Galabuzi, a postgraduate student of forestry, coordinated the project locally.
Apart from his project work, Mr Galabuzi was engaged in research for an MSc on the
medicinal species of interest to the project. Mr Dennis Ssebugwawo, a local villager,
assisted him in the field. Other members of the project team visited occasionally for
project review, research, discussions with the communities and to conduct training.
Two local project committees were formed for the project (the Mugamba-Mujanjabula and
Kigazi Allachy Committees), each linked to an established Community Forest Management
committee. Each Community Forest Management committee already has a Traditional
Medicine Minister, providing a useful point of contact for the project team. The MugambaMujanjabula and Kigazi Allachy Committees were based on the villages of Minziro and
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Kanabulemu respectively, lying about 15 km
apart. Each Allachy Committee has two subcommittees, one concentrating on plants in
the forest and education of the
communities, and the other on developing
nurseries for medicinal plants.
The local project committees decided on
the detailed activities of the project, being
supported in their deliberations by the
project team. On the in situ side, training
has been provided to the villagers on
methods of inventorying medicinal plants,
assessing damage to the trees from
collection of bark or roots, estimating
regeneration of the trees, and monitoring
and managing the plants.
Sites for nursery development were selected at Minziro and Kanabulemu, the former being
in the home garden of Ms Scholastic Namayanja and the latter at a nursery site of a
previous project. Tasks were allocated among community members to cover all aspects of
the nursery work, including identification of ‘mother trees’ in the forests (to provide seed),
collection of the seed, and construction and maintenance of the nurseries themselves.
Women preparing seeds of Warburgia
ugandensis for nursery planting (Case study 2).
Photo Paul Sssegawa.
A visit was organised for a group of seven local herbalists (four men, three women) to Tooro
Botanical Gardens in Fort Portal (see Case study 1) and Namanve Tree Seed Centre
(Kampala). These visits, for experience-sharing in relation to nurseries, were much
appreciated by the people from Sango Bay. A consequence of the visits was an expansion in
the number of species of medicinal plants grown in the nurseries, now including some
others of interest to the communities for their home healthcare. The Sango Bay community
was visited by a church group from nearby northern Tanzania during the course of the
project, which proved to be a fruitful occasion for passing on their experiences.
The project has established 19 monitoring sites in the forest and two nurseries for medicinal
plants. The project team considers that the local community has become more aware of the
importance of protecting the forest and of developing nurseries to secure future supplies of
medicinal plants. An indication of this is a great reduction in the illegal harvesting of medicinal
plants in forests close to the project villages, as noted by the project team.
Progress on growing the medicinal plants in the nurseries has been mixed. Warburgia has
been a success, with good germination and growth; along with Syzygium, it has already
been planted out into the farms. On the other hand, problems were encountered in
obtaining viable seed of Hallea and Zanthoxylum. Cuttings were also tried for these
species, but with only limited success. Vernonia grew well in the nurseries, but its
seedlings have not been taken for planting by the communities, probably because it is
already common and generally available. In any case, it is considered a relatively weak
anti-malarial by these communities. There appears to be some competition between
pines and eucalyptus versus medicinal plants when farmers select species to plant on their
farms. Pines and eucalyptus have been encouraged by the National Forestry Authority
and are widely believed locally to have good financial prospects.
The project team has written a handbook on propagation of Hallea, Syzygium and Warburgia.
MEDICINAL PLANTS IN CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT
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Case study 3
Case study 3: Community-based cultivation
of commercially used medicinal plants and
their integration in home healthcare in Bunza
village, Mpigi District (Uganda)
An elderly man sharing his expertise on
medicinal plants during a field inventory
in Bunza village, Uganda (Case study 3).
Photo Dennis Kamoga.
Organisation responsible for the project: Joint Ethnobotanical Research and
Advocacy (JERA) is a non-governmental organisation dedicated to the development of
indigenous knowledge for sustainable utilization of plant resources.
Project team: Dennis Kamoga, Frank Olwari, Cyprian Osinde, Scovia Adikin, Nsereko
Patience
Period of grant support: September 2007-August 2008.
Geographical context
Psorospermum febrifugum, a severely
endangered species much in demand as a
medicinal plant, Bunza, Uganda (Case
study 3). Photo Dennis Kamoga.
The project is set in Bunza, a village in Kalamba Sub-County, Mpigi District, Central Uganda.
Lying at an altitude of 1182-1341 m close to Lake Victoria, the land here is hilly, with flattopped hills interrupted by broad swamps with papyrus. Temperatures are fairly high and the
rainfall reliable (mean annual rainfall 1513 mm). There are two rainy seasons per year. The
natural vegetation is lowland tropical forest, athough much of the land is cultivated or under
scrub today, and the area of forest has been reduced to 720 km2 (this figure is the area of
land in Mpigi District lying within Forest Reserves or Community Forests). Most of the local
people – mainly ethnically Baganda – are subsistence farmers. The Baganda have strong
cultural attachment to certain plants and animals, some of which have symbolic significance
to the society as a whole, such as the bark-cloth tree Ficus natalensis or the small tree
Draceana fragrans (used for land demarcation), or serve as totems for clans. The land is
mainly under customary tenure, but some is privately owned, termed mailo land.
Medicinal plants issues
The project seeks to ensure future supplies of medicinal plants for the benefits of
healthcare and livelihoods. Bunza is an impoverished community with low earnings and
poor access to healthcare services such as clinics. The people rely mainly on medicinal
plants to meet their healthcare needs, especially for common minor complaints and to
treat malaria. Some medicinal plants have become commercialized and traded to
Kampala, about 30 km away, with the result that some have been over-harvested and are
now locally endangered. An example is the small tree Psorospermum febrifugum, the trunk
and root bark of which has gained a reputation for effectiveness in treating skin
infections and for body nourishment. Today’s market price in Kampala for dried
Psorospermum bark is 5000-10,000 Uganda Shs (US$ 3-6) kg -1 – providing an opportunity
for collectors to make good money in the local context. Another example is Albizia
coriaria, the trunk bark of which is the active ingredient in many locally produced
ointments used for skin infections. Albizia coriaria became increasingly the target of
destructive exploitation as it replaced the dwindling Psorospermum febrifugum. Now is an
opportune time to find practical ways to conserve these plants in the wild, together
with their habitats, combined with steps to ensure sustainable supplies to meet the
people’s needs.
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Project aims, activities and achievements
The purpose of the project is to conserve and promote sustainable access
to medicinal plants in Bunza for the benefits of local healthcare and
livelihoods. The following are the main areas of activity:
● Research into the use of plants in home healthcare and thereby
determine local priorities. The method of prioritisation chosen was an
initial listing of diseases and medical conditions, and then of the plants
used to treat them. These plants were then ranked in order of
importance using pairwise sorting (a standard ethnobotanical
procedure74).
● Training community members in the management of wild medicinal
plants, for example sustainable harvesting techniques.
● Development of a village nursery for medicinal plants, including
training for the community on the collection of seed from wild plants
and the raising of seedlings.
● Training members of the community to plant out seedlings from the nursery into
their farms or back into the wild in order to enrich wild populations.
● Production of a technical manual on the propagation, cultivation and use of selected
medicinal plants.
Community members at Bunza,
Uganda, planting seeds in their nursery
(Case study 3). Photo Dennis Kamoga.
Joint Ethnobotanical Research and Advocacy intends to maintain close working
relationships with local government authorities and agency representatives such as
forestry officers, hoping that that they will become stimulated to incorporate medicinal
plants into their regular programmes of work.
The project has increased local awareness about the conservation of medicinal plants,
helped the community to form a medicinal plants committee and supported the
establishment of a nursery for growing medicinal plants.
The project started by identifying people within the community with a special interest in
medicinal plants. Three-quarters of them proved to be women, a gender bias that
reflects their greater involvement in healthcare in the home. On the institutional side, a
village committee, the Bunza Medicinal Plants Committee, has been formed and is in the
process of drafting a constitution. There are three traditional health practitioners on the
committee (two male, one female), which also includes the chair of the local council. The
committee has expressed a special interest in the cultivation of medicinal plants to
generate income, and the project team intends to work with the committee and traders
to achieve a good market price for their produce.
Discussions have been held with the district office of the Department of Natural
Resources (DNR), which operates a number of plant nurseries in the district. This has
resulted in an understanding that the nursery established by the project at Bunza will
serve in the future as the entry point for DNR to the village. When this happens, and
armed with a handbook on the use of plants in local home healthcare, JERA and the
DNR will be in a stronger position to approach the district Department of Health to
discuss how the nursery and booklet can best serve the district as a whole for the
improvement of primary healthcare.
The results of the survey of plants used for home healthcare at Bunza were combined
with the results of an earlier survey of national conservation priorities (a ranking of
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medicinal plants based on a market survey
in Kampala). From this consolidated list,
eleven species were selected for further
attention by the project: Albizia coriaria,
Aspilia africana, Clerodendron rotundifolium,
Garcinia buchananii, Justicia betonica,
Pseudarthria hookeri, Psorospermum
febrifugum, Rhus vulgaris, Tetradenia riparia,
Punica granatum (pomegranate) and
Zanthoxylum chalybeum. Propagation and
cultivation of these species was then
attempted in the nursery. This was
successful in the case of the first nine
species as listed above, and these have
now been planted out into home gardens
or into the wild. Zanthoxylum has proved
difficult as its seeds remain viable for only
a short time and tend to split into two
within a few days of drying. It is clearly a
candidate for systematic research.
Landscape at Maya near Bunza (Case
study 3) showing the hilly agricultural
countryside and a swamp. The dark
coloured trees (mid-distance on right)
are a remnant patch of tropical forest
preserved at a traditional burial ground
(now a Christian graveyard). Photo AH
A decision was made to integrate the medicinal plant nursery with a eucalyptus nursery,
which should increase the chances of it being financially viable. A further advantage is the
pooling of skills on nursery techniques. A local citizen has kindly donated half a
kilogramme of eucalyptus seed to the project, which it is hoped will result in the raising
of several thousand seedlings for sale. Eucalyptus is a fast growing species that can
provide fuelwood and poles for local construction. Its increased availability as a result of
the project should have the additional benefit of reducing the indiscriminate cutting of
trees for domestic use, as this is currently degrading the local environment.
Training has been provided to the community on a variety of topics, including the
sustainable harvesting of medicinal plants, the treatment of harvested plant materials, the
selection of mother plants to supply seed for nursery planting, the correct time for
collecting seed, the storage and pre-treatment of seed or other propagules prior to
planting, the selection of sites for nurseries, the propagation of plants in nurseries (by
seed or vegetative means), and nursery management (preparation of nursery beds and
growing media; decision-making on watering, root pruning, hardening-off, etc).
Prospects
The technical manual has now been written and is awaiting publication. It includes
information on the propagation, cultivation and use of the 11 species identified as
priorities. The manual draws extensively on the community’s knowledge, based on the
premise that sustainable development is best founded on the culture and practices of
the community. Herbal processing has been identified as a future topic for training.
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Case study 4
Case study 4: Building capacity for
community-based conservation of
medicinal plants (Kenya)
Organisation responsible for the project: The National Museums of Kenya (NMK)
has been established for over 100 years ago and has contributed greatly to the
understanding of the cultural and natural heritage of Kenya. Working with various
partners, NMK has made significant contributions to documenting knowledge about
medicinal plants and fostering appreciation of this knowledge in the wider society, and to
the management and use of medicinal plants. The present project was based in the
Kenya Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge (KENRIK), part of the Centre for
Biodiversity of NMK. The mission of KENRIK is to ‘identify, record and disseminate
indigenous knowledge for use in conservation, education and development programmes with a
view to preserving culture and promoting use of natural resources’.
Project team and members of Nyandera
Green Valley Conservation Group, Kenya
(Case study 4A). From left to right:
Mrs Naomi Hamilton; Dr John Otuoma
(Kenya Forestry Research Institute);
Ms Penina Ochieng, Mr Peter Oyolo and
Mr Samwel Otieno (all of NGVCG);
Ms Peris Kariuki (National Museums of
Kenya). Photo AH.
Project team: Peris Kariuki, Patrick Maundu, Staline Kibet, Phanuel Oballa, Ndua Chege
and Peris Kamau.
Period of grant support: February 2006-June 2007.
The project has developed from other work on medicinal plants undertaken by NMK
and supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). Part of this
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work was in the Luo-Suba region and aimed at enhancing the capacity for the
sustainable use and conservation of medicinal plants. Since 2003, NMK has acted as the
coordinating institution for Kenya in a ‘Network on Medicinal Plants and Traditional
Medicine in East Africa’.
Geographical context and medicinal plant issues
Nursery run by Nyeri Traditional Health
Practitoners Association, Nyeri, Kenya
(Case study 4B). The large leafed plant is
Cordia africana.
Photo AH.
28
The field activities of the project were conducted in three parts of Kenya, described
separately below. These places are geographically separate and culturally varied,
representing contrasting conditions for the analysis of best practice in conservation of
medicinal plants. Kenya is a tropical country with a varied climate and natural vegetation
from tropical forest to semi-desert. However, little forest now remains, now covering
less than 2% of the total land area; most of that which survives is now in public hands
(managed by the Forestry and/or Wildlife Service). Forests are a major source of
medicinal plants in Kenya, so that forest preservation and improved forest management
are matters of central concern with medicinal plants.
The main thrusts of efforts to improve the conservation status of medicinal plants in
Kenya have been attempts at improved forest management and initiatives to cultivate
species in commercial demand. Since 2005, official government policy has favoured the
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participatory management of forests, involving agreements on the use and management
of forests drawn up between local communities and the Forest or Wildlife Service. These
are early days and a lot more effort is needed to determine how such agreements can
best be formulated with respect to medicinal plants. As for cultivation, only a few species
(for example, Aloe spp., Artemisia annua, Prunus africana) are cultivated on any scale. A
major limitation in developing cultivation for slow-growing species is that wild stocks are
generally still available – and this is the cheaper option, although in practice this often
involves illegal collection.
Project site (4A): Bondo and Kisumu East Districts, Nyanza Province: These
neighbouring districts, lying at 1140-1350 m close to Lake Victoria, enjoy a reasonably
high rainfall (1630 mm at Maseno) and equitable temperature (20-300 C). The principal
productive activities are agriculture and fishing. Traditional medicine is extremely popular
among the local Luo community and there is booming trade, with buyers of medicinal
plants coming from all over Kenya to make purchases in Kibuye Market (Kisumu City).
Some species of medicinal plants are becoming scarce, related to commercial overharvesting, forest loss and agricultural spread. The trees Erythrina abyssinica and Kigelia
africana have a particular problem. Although popular medicinal plants, they are little
planted because of cultural beliefs and taboos.
Project site (4B): Nyeri District, Central Province: The traditional inhabitants are the
Agikuyu, most of whom (thanks to early exposure to modern education and
Christianity) show little interest in maintaining their cultural practices such as traditional
medicine. Nyeri is a productive and intensively farmed district, with much of the land
under private ownership. There has been widespread planting of exotic trees, with
natural forest surviving on Mt Kenya and the Aberdare Range. Many species of medicinal
plants have become depleted as forest has been lost and this, together with cultural
forces, has resulted in a marked erosion in traditional knowledge. Traditional wild greens
(nutritionally significant in Africa) – such as Amaranthus and Urtica massaica in the Nyeri
area – are little used today, except by communities living adjacent to forests. However,
the wild plant Strychnos henningsii (muteta) is a common delicacy in bone soup in hotels.
Project site (4C): Mbeere District, Eastern Province: This district is predominantly
occupied by the Mbeere community. It is a drier area than Nyeri, liable to droughts and
famines and more on the margins of national social and economic development75. The
natural vegetation ranges from broadleaved wooded savanna with Acacia and Combretum
– in relatively wet areas – to thorn scrub with Acacia and Commiphora in drier areas.
Indigenous foods are still commonly eaten and traditional medicine widely practiced;
consequently the local residents display a detailed and perceptive knowledge and
understanding of their environment. Their main concern regarding medicinal plants is a
growing scarcity of some species, the causes of which include a decline in natural habitat
with the expansion of cultivation, the over-harvesting of some species and competition
from invasive plants. Some species are over-harvested because of demands for them as
medicinals (e.g. Aloe spp. and Osyris lanceolata), while others are over-harvested for other
purposes, such as charcoal manufacture or woodcarving.
Project aims, activities and achievements
The purposes of the project were to build the capacity for community-based
conservation of medicinal plants through activities at local, national and regional levels. A
six-person Project Advisory Group (PAG) has overseen the project, its members drawn
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from NMK, the Kenya Forestry Research
Institute (KEFRI), and the Department of
Culture. The PAG selected the three field
localities for the project based on
competitive tendering. The main tools for
capacity building at community level have
been seminars, training sessions,
community exchange visits, support to the
communities to document their
knowledge, and support for nurseries.
Fruits of Strychnos spinosa, a medicinal
tree in Kianjiru Forest Reserve, Mbeere,
Kenya (Case study 4C).
Photo AH.
4A. Bondo-Kisumu East: Two groups
were supported in Nyanza Province –
Nyandera Green Valley Conservation
Group (Bondo District) and Miguye
Conservation Group (Kisumu East).
Activities with the Nyandera group
(membership 150) have revolved around an
existing multi-purpose tree nursery,
boosted under the project with medicinal
plants, especially local species that are
becoming rare. The Miguye group,
comprising herbalists and traditional birth
attendants (membership 28), has set aside a
50-hectare area of species-rich scrub
specifically for the conservation of
medicinal plants. The project team has
assisted the group to prepare a legal
agreement on the status and management
of the reserve, including a specification that
its resources must be used sustainably. Ten
members of the Miguye group have planted about 50 species of medicinal plants around
their homesteads to provide handy sources of supply and to reduce pressure on the wild
populations. The project has facilitated exchanges between the Nyandera and Miguye
groups, located some 10 km apart, to share their experiences on medicinal plants.
4B. Nyeri: The project at Nyeri was implemented by the Nyeri Traditional Health
Practitioners Association (NYETPA), a district association of traditional healers, registered
in 2004 and based in Nyeri Town (the headquarters of Central Province). As an example
of its service, NYETPA offered a free medical clinic in 2004 for people suffering from
opportunistic infections associated with HIV/AIDS (at celebrations marking African
Traditional Medicine Day – on 31 August). Members of NYETPA have been involved in
drafting Kenya’s National Policy on Traditional Medicine and Medicinal Plants59. Capacity
building for NYETPA under the project has taken the form of training sessions on the
conservation, processing and marketing of medicinal plants, and assistance with the
establishment of a two-acre nursery and botanical garden at Nyeri Cultural Centre, Nyeri
Town (a public facility). Medicinal trees planted in the garden have included Albizia
gummifera, Croton megalocarpus, Prunus africana and Warburgia ugandensis. Seedlings
produced in the nursery have been planted out at the homesteads of members of
NYETPA and in public places. NYETPA has held monthly meetings for its members to
exchange knowledge on medicinal plants, including about their medicinal use.
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4C. Mbeere: Two groups were supported by the project at Mbeere – Endangered
Species of Kianjiru Forest (ENSOMEP) and Kwamachembe Womens Self-help Group.
More than 40 members of these groups have been provided with training on the
collection and propagation of seeds, nursery management, and techniques of sustainable
wild harvesting or East African sandalwood (Osyris lanceolata). Each group was supported
with nursery equipment and a water tank. Medicinal species raised by ENSOMEP and
planted on members’ farms have included Dalbergia lactea, D. melanoxylon, Olea europaea
and Warburgia ugandensis. The Kwamachembe group has been a pioneer in propagating
East African sandalwood from cuttings – this is a semi-parasitic tree in high commercial
demand.
The achievements of the project have included:
● Over 200 community members trained on approaches to the conservation of
medicinal plants.
● Five medicinal plant nurseries initiated and/or strengthened.
● Medicinal plants documented in three regions of Kenya.
● Medicinal plants re-introduced into farms in three regions.
● Local health traditions revitalised in the three regions.
● Public awareness of the project enhanced through a project poster and a display at
the Nyandera and Nyeri sites.
Prospects
The project supported a regional meeting in Nairobi in September 2006 to consider
national reports on the status of community-based conservation of medicinal plants in
Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The meeting provided the opportunity to start the
preparation of a larger regional project, funds for which are currently being sought. Steps
taken in Kenya in preparation for this project have included prioritization of species for
home healthcare by the Nyandera and Kwamachembe groups (herbal home healthcare
is expected to be a major focus of the intended project) and preparation of
management plans for medicinal plants in Kianjiru Forest Reserve and in the medicinal
plants conservation area at Miguye. It is intended to develop three provincial-level
Medicinal Plants Conservation Parks under the new project (for a description of this
concept, see Case study 12). These parks will provide various services, including
information, education, research and nurseries. Negotiations are in hand to establish
these at Kisumu Regional Museum, Nyeri Cultural Centre and Embu Cultural Centre.
These provincial centres and associated community-level activities will be supported in
their development by the establishment of a national information centre on medicinal
plants at KENRIK.
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Case study 5
Looking down on Miandam Town,
Pakistan (Case study 5).
Photo AH.
Case study 5: Promotion of sustainable
harvest of medicinal plants at Miandam,
Swat (Pakistan)
Organisation responsible for the project: WWF-Pakistan, part of the worldwide
WWF network, was established in 1970 with the mission of saving wildlife species and
their habitats, and the promotion of nature conservation and environmental protection
for sustainable development. It is the largest non-governmental conservation organisation
in the country. WWF-Pakistan first became involved in ethnobotany and communitybased approaches in 1997 especially through activities at Ayubia National Park.
Project team: Ashiq Ahmad Khan (until February 2008), Syed Kamran Hussain and
Shabana Haider (all WWF-Pakistan).
Period of grant support: June 2006-May 2008.
Geographical context
Miandam, a valley in the Hindu Kush mountains of northern Pakistan, is located in the
northern part of the district of Swat, part of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP).
Well known as a summer resort, the valley ranges in elevation from 1200 to 3660 m and
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contains 11 villages and 15 hamlets with a total population of about 20,000. The lower
slopes of the Miandam valley are extensively farmed, while forest especially of pine (Pinus
wallichiana) becomes prominent at higher altitudes. Forest at Miandam is the property of
a number of private landowners, with the Provincial Forest Department of NWFP
maintaining some responsibility for management. Revenue from timber sales is split
between the owners and the Forest Department. Although forests at Miandam can
potentially provide a sustainable source of many goods and services, they are suffering
today from degradation, mainly due to timber harvesting. Overgrazing by domestic stock
is a contributory factor. It is estimated that the volume of illegal harvest exceeds that of
the legal harvest (which amounted to 2.6 million cubic feet in 2007). Miandam is
considered to be a prime site for Himalayan medicinal plants in Pakistan with forest their
main habitat. There are no regulations controlling the collection of medicinal plants, some
of which have become scarce due to commercial over-harvesting combined with high
grazing pressure.
Medicinal plant issues
Many people at Miandam, especially women and children, suffer from ill health related to
poverty, lack of knowledge and poor hygiene. In earlier times, people at Miandam relied
principally on herbal remedies to prevent and cure their illnesses (with 179 locally
growing species of plants used), but such practices have declined in recent years due to
a shortage of some of the species, cultural change and a lack of institutional support for
the development of herbal medicine. Western medical facilities are seriously deficient
with only one primary healthcare centre in this valley of 20,000 people. This centre
suffers from shortages of staff (no doctor, just one medical officer and two technicians),
equipment and medicines. The nearest hospital is 56 km away in Saidu Sharif (the capital
of Swat), but this is not realistically accessible to the poorer inhabitants of Miandam.
Two groups of people at Miandam are involved in the commercial collection of wild
medicinal plants - poorer local residents and migrant pastoralists. The latter are believed
to be responsible for 75% of the harvest. The main species collected are Adiantum
venustum, Berberis lycium, Bergenia ciliata,
Bistorta ampilexicaulis, Geranium
wallichianum, Morchella esculenta, Paeonia
emodi, Podophyllum emodi, Valeriana wallichii
and Viola biflora. The number of local
residents involved in this work is
estimated at 3000, providing them with an
estimated average of 25% of their income.
Among the local residents, 60% of the
collectors are boys and girls (12-16 years
old), 30% are men and 10% older women
(over 40 years old). According to research
undertaken by the project, the collectors
at Miandam are poorly organised,
untrained in the art of sustainable
collection (often uprooting whole plants
unnecessarily) and not fully aware of the
best ways to store the collected material.
They have little knowledge of the market.
Women with samples of wild-collected
medicinal plants (including Viola biflora,
Paeonia emodi, Skimmia laureola and
Valeriana jatamansi), Miandam, Pakistan.
Photo Shabana Haider.
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The nomads responsible for the bulk of collection of medicinal
plants at Miandam pass through the valley annually, bringing more
than 40,000 goats which browse their way through the forests and
higher pastures, seriously impeding the regeneration of trees. The
owners of the pastures exact a tax known as Qalang from the
nomads in exchange for the use of their pastures, amounting to
around US$ 85-120 annually, which from the nomads’ perspective is
more than offset by the income they gain from the sale of
medicinal plants, estimated at US$ 450. It is reported that the
owners have little awareness of the scale of collection of medicinal
plants by the nomads.
Project aims, activities and achievements
Demonstration garden of medicinal
plants, Miandam, Pakistan (Case study 5).
Photo Shabana Haider.
A range of activities have been undertaken in support of the
project’s purpose, which is to build capacity at Miandam for the conservation of
medicinal plants. An initial project step was the holding of a consultation meeting
involving all sectors of the community, including forest owners, medicinal plant
collectors, representatives of local non-governmental organisations and local
government officials. All present agreed to give their full cooperation and support to
the establishment of Miandam as a demonstration site for the sustainable use of
medicinal plants. Two local project groups were formed, the Miandam Development
Organisation (for men) and Miandam Women’s Organisation for Development and
Conservation of Medicinal Plants.
The project has held two training workshops for a total of 45 local commercial
collectors of medicinal plants. Subjects covered included techniques of sustainable
collection, post-harvest treatment, storage and marketing. Two demonstration nurseries
have been established to promote the cultivation of medicinal plants by local farmers
and these now contain 78 species. Achievements at the nurseries have included
multiplication of bulbs of saffron (Crocus sativa) from 2000 to 5000 and propagation of
local yew trees (Taxus fuana76 ) from cuttings and without the use of rooting hormones.
Apart from serving as demonstration sites, these nurseries are regarded as ex situ
germplasm stores for threatened species. They have been used for research by students
of botany from several universities.
Most activities to raise awareness about medicinal plants have been aimed at schools,
known by WWF-Pakistan from previous experience to be the best targets for such
activities in communities similar to those at Miandam. There are seven schools in the
valley, making it very difficult to reach the entire student population directly. Instead,
the project has concentrated on teachers, with the aim of making them more
environmentally aware and motivated. In turn, the teachers have been encouraged to
equip their students with clear visions about a bright future for the environment, and
with the knowledge and skills for them to participate meaningfully in processes aimed
at conservation and sustainable development. Two training workshops have been
organised for the teachers. An achievement of the project has been the establishment
of a Nature Club in every school in the valley, each with an average of 14 members.
Nature Club members are now participating in various activities related to plant
conservation, including celebrating various events, documenting indigenous knowledge
about medicinal plants, and organising quizzes in schools on knowledge of nature.
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Various research activities have been undertaken by the project. One of these was a
study of the impact of the nomadic grazers on medicinal plants, taking advantage of a
ban on the use of their land imposed by some of the forest owners. This research
revealed a huge difference between the areas open to the nomads and those closed to
them, the number of species of medicinal plants being much higher in the latter (78
species, compared to 33) and with much higher population densities (reduced by 90% in
the open area). Species absent from the open areas included Paeonia emodi and
Podophyllum emodi.
Prospects
WWF-Pakistan intends to maintain its commitment to the development of Miandam as
a demonstration site for the sustainable use of medicinal plants. Awareness-raising is
seen as especially crucial and to this end two strategies for continuing the work have
been developed by the project team. One of these is a general Awareness and
Communication Strategy aimed at all stakeholders at Miandam, including permanent
residents, seasonal visitors, schools teachers, students, religious leaders and the local
government. The other is a Women’s Participation Strategy.
A consultancy has been established to trial the sustainable harvesting of medicinal plants
in five forest compartments belonging to private forest owners. The arrangement is for
the consultancy to pay the royalty (Qalang) traditionally paid by the nomadic grazers,
develop a plan for sustainable harvesting, and engage the local residents in collecting the
medicinal plants according to the plan. The local residents will be paid 10% above the
going market rates.
Itinerant traders in morels Morchella,
Bulashar valley, Pakistan (Case study 5).
Photo AH.
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Case study 6
Some of the 80 amchis who attended a
Participatory Workshop on Strategic Policy
Development for Medicinal Plants
Conservation, Ley, Ladakh, India (Case
study 6). Some members of LSTM are
seated at front left.
Photo Tsewang Gonbo.
Case study 6: Development of a
methodology on medicinal plant
conservation to strengthen amchi medicine
in Ladakh (India)
Organisation responsible for project: Ladakh Society for Traditional Medicines
(LSTM) was founded in 2000 by a group of Ladakhis concerned about the problems
facing Tibetan medicine, also known as Sowa Rigpa or amchi medicine, in contemporary
Ladakh (an amchi is a healer and physician following the Tibetan medical tradition).
Working at first as the local implementing partner of Nomad Research and International
(Nomad RSI, France), LSTM has progressively increased its autonomy in terms of
decision-making and project management, becoming registered as an Indian NGO in
2002. LSTM is today an autonomous entity, designing, implementing and evaluating its
own activities, while maintaining a close partnership with Nomad RSI.
Project team: Tsewang Gonbo, Thupstan Chosazng and other members of Ladakh
Society for Traditional Medicines (LSTM), working closely with Mohammed Abbas
(Forest Range Officer, Forest Department) and Fanny Jamet and Calum Blaikie
(NOMAD RSI).
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Period of grant support: September 2005 – February 2007.
LSTM believes that Sowa Rigpa (Tibetan medicine) is vital to the health status of Ladakh,
representing an important part of the social fabric and cultural heritage of the region.
LSTM’s mission is to revitalise the Sowa Rigpa medical system through a range of
activities focusing on education, capacity building and medicinal plant conservation.
Building on in-depth research, the revitalisation programme aims to address the
problems facing Sowa Rigpa according to the social dynamics of contemporary Ladakhi
society. The present programme phase, concentrating on conservation of medicinal
plants, follows an earlier programme phase that included mounting a four-year full-time
training course in Sowa Rigpa. Many of the 15 apprentice amchi who graduated from this
course come from remote villages, in which they have since established medical clinics.
These newly qualified amchi have proved useful local contact points for the present
project, which is specifically concerned with supplies of medicinal plants.
Geographical context
Ladakh is a trans-Himalayan region in Jammu and Kashmir State in northwest India with
a unique environmental and cultural heritage. Located between 2900 and 7200 metres
above sea level, Ladakh is characterized by extreme conditions, including severe cold in
winter and high solar radiation in summer. Annual rainfall is very low, making the area a
high-altitude cold desert. These conditions are highly challenging for the growth of
plants, for agricultural production and for the balance of healthcare. Sowa Rigpa remains
extremely important for the health and wellbeing of the Ladakhi people and is
particularly valued in the many remote rural areas where access to western treatment is
problematic and often impossible during the winter months.
Medicinal plant issues
Many of the region’s medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) are under threat due to
increased commercial harvesting, unsustainable collection, overgrazing by livestock and
ineffective management systems. Unskilled
outside collectors sometimes take MAPs
in the wrong seasons or misidentify the
plants. Road construction, increasing
trekking and damage by vehicles are other
causes of environmental degradation. As
many Himalayan MAPs are slow-growing
perennial herbs with roots or rhizomes
the parts collected, and grow in very
limited areas, they are particularly
vulnerable to these pressures.
Sapi, where the first community group in
Ladakh has been formed to manage wild
medicinal plants (Case study 6).
Photo Tsewang Gonbo.
Project aim, activities and
achievements
The eventual aim of LSTM’s conservation
programme is to ensure that supplies of
medicinal plants are available for local
healthcare, especially through effective
management of wild populations, but also
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through cultivation. The present project was a pilot phase, designed to lay the foundation
for larger-scale efforts. Its specific purposes were to:
● Build the capacities of key local partners regarding the conservation and sustainable
management of MAPs.
● Organise awareness campaigns on MAPs at village level, develop partnerships and lay
the foundations for future collaborative and effective actions.
● Gather information on MAP distribution, abundance, collection practices, use and
trade.
● Prioritize species and areas for in situ conservation and ex situ cultivation.
● Produce and distribute materials for raising awareness of MAP conservation and
cultivation in Ladakh.
● Organise information sharing, training and field activities on MAP issues.
One of the principal activities has been visits by a team from LSTM to villages selected
because of their fame in Ladakh as hotspots for medicinal plants. Many of the 20 villages
so visited have been in the Zanskar valley. An average of 175 people (including from
neighbouring communities) has attended each meeting. The purposes of these visits
were to gather information about medicinal plants, raise awareness about the need to
conserve medicinal plants and help empower the communities for better management
of the plants. Local amchi and other knowledgeable people (such as shepherds) were
interviewed about their knowledge of the local distribution, abundance, harvesting and
cultivation of medicinal plants. This information was later entered into LSTM’s database,
authenticated by voucher specimens. For their part, LSTM provided information to the
villagers on the growing pressures on medicinal plants, the reasons why they should be
conserved and on practical ways in which the villagers could act.
Rhodiola (roseroot) in Ladakh, India – an
important medicinal plant (Case study 6).
Photo: Tsewang Gonbo.
One example of a community visit shows how these worked to raise awareness. On a
visit to the village of Kanji, the project team included an expert Ladakhi healer (Amchi
Gyurmet Namgyal), who ran a clinic for the community during the visit to provide
treatments and to increase interest in the project. Many villagers availed themselves of
this service. The main event during the
visit was an evening workshop for the
whole community, which included activities
carried out in sub-groups, in which men,
women and children (separately) listed and
ranked local medicinal plants according to
their knowledge (the total number of
species named was 80). Sketch maps were
drawn showing the sites where the
medicinal plants occur. Some educational
and Ladakhi movies were shown at the
start of the meeting to attract attendance
and lighten the atmosphere.
This workshop was not intended as a oneoff event. Rather, it is planned as the first
of a series of activities to be carried out in
the village over a period of time, hopefully
leading to the development of practical
measures to enhance the conservation of
medicinal plants.
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The project was subject to a formal evaluation carried in October-December 2006 and
was judged to have met all its objectives.
The main results of the project include:
● Improved capacities for working with MAPs by LSTM, amchis and communities.
● One seminar with 80 participants and 21 awareness campaigns held in 20 villages
across Ladakh, raising local awareness of the importance of MAPs for Sowa Rigpa
and drawing attention to their increasing scarcity, as well as empowering
communities to better manage their natural resources.
● Species prioritization criteria developed to establish important species for
protection and cultivation in the target areas.
● 500 posters on MAPs distributed to amchis, schools and public buildings across
Ladakh, aiding identification of plants and raising awareness.
● A special issue of the Trans-Himalayan Amchi Medical Education Newsletter (THAME)
produced and distributed across Ladakh and to other parts of the Himalayas. This
issue was concerned specifically with MAPs. The newsletter aims to provide detailed
information for practitioners of Sowa Rigpa.
Progress at the village level has varied according to local conditions. One of the first
villages to be visited was Sapi in Kargil District, a site well known to amchi in Ladakh for
its medicinal plants. The work at Sapi has proved exceptionally fruitful, the villagers soon
deciding to create their own Medicinal Plants Conservation Committee (MPCC) to
ensure sustainability in the harvesting of wild medicinal plants – this is the first such
management group established in Ladakh. Sapi is a mixed community of Muslims and
Buddhists and the committee has been established with equal representation from each
religion and also with gender equity.
Members of the MPCC at Sapi decided that they would monitor and advise on the
collection of medicinal plants by outsiders (whether amchi or commercial collectors),
from whom a fee (100 rupees) would be requested for village development. LSTM held a
follow-up training session at Sapi in July 2006, partly for the MPCC and partly for the
general community.
Prospects
The next steps in LSTM’s ongoing programme include:
● Further training for the Medicinal Plants Conservation Committee at Sapi.
● Continue to build the general capacities of the project team and key stakeholders
(including practical skills for in situ conservation and cultivation).
● Continue awareness-raising activities and follow them up with activities to
implement community-based conservation in ‘hot-spot’ areas (formation of MAP
management committees; in situ conservation activities; small-scale cultivation;
improvement of exchange networks).
● Complete a detailed database about Ladakh’s MAPs and disseminate the data to
partners and others through the publication of a bilingual book.
● Conduct regional workshops and training sessions to enhance skills and knowledge
related to the conservation of medicinal plants, and encourage exchanges and
cooperation in specific hot-spot zones.
● Improve communication and collaboration with other organisations working on
similar projects in the Himalayas.
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Case study 7
Case study 7: Capacity-building for linking
medicinal plants conservation and sustainable
livelihoods in Western Himalayas,
Uttarakhand (India)
Organisation responsible for the project: Applied Environmental Research
Foundation (AERF) is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) founded in 1994 and
based at Pune (India). Most earlier work by AERF has been in the Western Ghats, though
with some involvement in the eastern Himalayas at Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.
AERF’s expertise is working with communities for the linked purposes of conservation
of biological diversity and improved rural livelihoods based on natural resources.
Project team: Archana Godbole, Jayant Sarnaik and Tapajit Bhattacharya.
Period of grant support: July 2006-May 2007.
Geographical context including medicinal plants issues
Uttarakhand declared itself The Herbal State in 2003 demonstrating the high official
status accorded here to medicinal plants. Medicinal plants are found at all altitudes, from
the sub-tropics up to the alpine zone. At higher altitudes, which are of particular
concern to the project, high value medicinal plants are especially concentrated in
pastures known as bugiyals, found between the tree-line and the glaciers. Bugiyals are also
prime grazing grounds for domestic stock. Agriculture is the principal economic activity,
but the topography is very rugged and only limited space is available to cultivate crops.
The average farm size is very small at less than one acre. Many types of crops are
grown, including wheat, Amaranthus and potatoes. The average per capita in 2001 income
was US$ 160.
Commercial medicinal plants have been widely over-harvested in Uttarakhand so that
many today have become hard to find. In response, the government has promoted
cultivation of medicinal plants and banned the collection of 28 of the most seriously
endangered species, including Aconitum heterophyllum, Cordyceps sinensis, Dactyloriza
hatagirea, Nardostachys grandiflora (N. jatamansi), Podophyllum emodi (P. hexandrum) and
Swertia chirayita. Government-backed co-operatives known as Bheshaj Sangh and the
Herbal Research and Development Institute are responsible for prescribing areas and
species allowed for collection, and for encouraging cultivation.
Project aims, activities and achievements
The goals of the project were relatively modest, given that funding was only available for
one year and that this part of the Himalayas is new to AERF. Activities included the
identification of people and organisations involved with medicinal plants, awareness
raising about the need for conservation and sustainable use of medicinal plants, the
provision of information on medicinal plants to communities, a stakeholders’ workshop,
and the building of village-level capacity for sustainable harvesting. On the awareness
front, a coloured poster of some major species of Himalayan medicinal plants has been
printed and distributed, and two booklets in Hindi on Himalayan medicinal plants and
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relevant government regulations have been prepared and distributed to more than 20
villages in Chamoli.
On the basis of secondary data, it was assessed that two districts in Uttarakhand (Paudi
and Chamoli) are especially important for the collection and cultivation of medicinal
plants. Based on this finding and with the help of local NGOs, awareness-generating
meetings were held in both districts. Information received at these meetings confirmed
the key position of Chamoli, which was then selected for subsequent field activities. In
the case of Paudi, two meetings were organised, attended by people from 10 villages. It
was clear at these meetings that the local people are interested in medicinal plants, but
it was also found that about 80% of the local men have migrated to urban areas to seek
employment and that most commercial collection of medicinal plants in Paudi is by
Nepali immigrants rather than local people (a finding subsequently substantiated by local
NGOs). It was decided that, with these complications, Paudi would not be included in
the immediate field plans of the project.
Ali bugiyal, a high altitude meadow in
Chamoli District, India – the habitat of
many rare and endangered species of
Himalayan medicinal plants (Case study 7).
Photo Archana Godbole.
The next step was to carry out Rapid Livelihood Analyses (RLA) in 21 villages in
Chamoli. These analyses were designed to give a quick picture of the status of medicinal
plants within the district and to reveal how activities relating to medicinal plants fit into
the lives of different sections of the community. The RLA techniques used included semistructured interviews, village resource mapping, transect walks and focus group
meetings74, the latter especially with Mahila Mangal Dals, which are women’s groups
active in forest conservation in Chamoli.
The survey identified two groups of local people as having an exceptional interest in
medicinal plants, including knowledge of their availability, conservation status, uses and
correct times for harvesting. They are shepherds in more remote villages, accustomed to
taking their flocks to the bugiyals for summer grazing from May to September, and the
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Bhotia community – nomadic herders involved in long-distance annual movements
including periods of summer residence at high altitude. With regards to gender, it is men
rather than women who are largely responsible for the commercial collection of wild
medicinal plants. The survey revealed that there is much illegal harvesting of medicinal
plants, although (perhaps not surprisingly) little was learnt in detail about precisely what
is happening. Apart from illegally harvested species, medicinal plants are being collected
from protected areas, such as the Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary, from where they are
carried over the border into China. Over the last 20 years, there has been an upsurge in
outsiders visiting Uttarakhand, especially from Nepal, to collect medicinal plants for sale.
Within Chamoli, AERF decided to concentrate its more detailed activities in two smaller
administrative areas, Ghat and Dewal, where interest in medicinal plants is particularly
high. One of these activities was a stakeholders’ workshop held in April 2007 at
Nandprayag, a small town accessible to various villages having a strong interest in medicinal
plants. The purpose of this workshop was to bring together different players involved with
medicinal plants, identify and discuss related conservation and livelihood issues, and seek
solutions especially through collaborative programmes. In the end, 49 participants
representing 14 stakeholder groups attended, including collectors, local community groups,
companies, research institutions and government line agencies. Unfortunately, traders were
reluctant to attend, but otherwise the workshop was judged a success.
Participants from the villages of Balan
and Himni at a training session on
medicinal plants, Chamoli District, India
(Case study 7). Photo Archana Godbole.
42
Two villages close to Nandprayag (Ghese and Ramni) have embraced cultivation of a few
species of medicinal plants, such as kuth (Saussurea costus) and kutki (Picrorhiza kurrooa).
Information from these villages and other sources has revealed serious constraints on
the cultivation of medicinal plants. They include difficulties relating to the small size of
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land holdings, problems with combating
pests and with marketing. The small farm
size means that there is an added risk to
livelihoods from growing medicinal plants
for sale (rather than growing food crops
for subsistence, or annual cash crops such
as potatoes). Medicinal plants tend to take
several years to reach maturity, meaning
that there is a long time-lapse before any
possibility of financial return. Additionally,
no government subsidies are available to
support farmers with less than 2.5
hectares of land under medicinal plants
cultivation. With regards to marketing, the
villagers have little knowledge of the
markets, or skills to negotiate effectively
with traders. They report problems in
obtaining permits to transport their
produce. It was found that women in these communities have generally little interest in
cultivating medicinal plants due to the problems described above, but are more
interested in nursery raising and the processing of products, both of which have the
potential to provide more immediate income.
Women processing harvested medicinal
plants in Himni village, Chamoli, India
(Case study 7).
Photo Archana Godbole.
Four training workshops were held in Chamoli, each attended by people from a number
of neighbouring villages. The aims of the workshops were to increase the knowledge and
skills of the communities in relation to medicinal plants. A training module was prepared
for use at the workshops. The development of management plans for medicinal plants
was discussed, including issues of tenure and access, the size of annual harvesting quotas,
parts or sizes of plants to be harvested, methods of monitoring, and how to periodically
re-evaluate the plans. On the awareness side, information was provided at the
workshops on the identification of medicinal plants and on district level institutions
relevant to development based on medicinal plants.
The project has allowed a crosschecking of popular ideas about the medicinal plant
sector in a particular part of Uttarakhand, where it has increased awareness among the
communities and other stakeholders of the importance of conservation and sustainable
use of medicinal plants. It has resulted in increased local knowledge, including
identification of species and better understanding of the markets.
Prospects
Looking forward, the project has highlighted more precise areas in which facilitation
from an agency such as AERF would be useful. Fortunately, following the project, AERF
has been able to secure funds from the Indian National Medicinal Plants Board, which
has allowed the work to continue. AERF is now in the process of establishing two
medicinal plants resource centres in Chamoli to provide one-stop services at the block
level for people interested in medicinal plants. AERF is working towards the
development of a comprehensive long-term proposal for the conservation of medicinal
plants in the western Himalayas.
MEDICINAL PLANTS IN CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT
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Case study 8
Case study 8: Community-based
conservation and sustainable utilization of
potential medicinal plants in Rasuwa (Nepal)
Organisation responsible for the project: The work is led by the Ethnobotanical
Society of Nepal (ESON), a national non-governmental organisation (NGO) devoted to
botanical aspects of conservation and sustainable development. ESON regards the work
described here as the first stage in a long-term commitment to the people and plants of
Rasuwa. ESON has worked closely on this project with two district level NGOs,
Manekor Society Nepal and FECOFUN-Rasuwa. Manekor is an NGO dedicated to the
well-being and development of Rasuwa’s Tamang people who make up 65% of the
population. FECOFUN-Rasuwa is the district branch of a national NGO which coordinates more than 30,000 Community Forest User Groups in Nepal.
Project team: Professor Krishna K. Shrestha, Mr Ram C. Poudel, Dr Narendra N.
Tiwari, Mrs Ila Shrestha and Ms Sangeeta Rajbhandary (all of ESON), Mr Kamal
Humagain and Ms Saroj Yadav (MSc students), Mr Kaisang N. Tamang (President, Manekor
Society Nepal), Mr Binod Poudel (President, FECOFUN-Rasuwa), and Ms Kabita Ghale
(Social Mobilizer, Tatopani village, Chilime, Rasuwa District).
Periods of grant support: September 2006-September 2007 (1st phase); June 2008May 2009 (2nd phase).
View from Tatopani village, Chilimi, Nepal
(Case study 8). Medicinal plants are found in
both the forest and the sub-alpine meadows
above. Photo AH.
44
Geographical context
Rasuwa is a district in Central Nepal (900-7410 m), bordered to the north by Tibet.
Dhunche is the district headquarters. About half of Rasuwa is covered by Langtang
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National Park established in 1976. Langtang is well known to trekkers (10,000-20,000
tourists visit annually) and pilgrims, more than 50,000 of whom annually walk up to the
holy lake of Gosainkunda at 4400 m. Most of the Tamang are engaged in small-scale
farming and pastoralism, and the average household income is extremely low.
Rasuwa falls mostly into the Temperate and Alpine zones of the Himalayas, the
vegetation including various types of coniferous and broad-leafed forest, as well as high
altitude pasture. The flora is rich, with over 1000 species of vascular plants recorded
from within and around Langtang National Park, including 16 endemics77. Forests outside
the park fall either under the authority of Community Forest User Groups, each with an
assigned area of forest and required to follow an Operation Plan as agreed with the
Forest Department, or else are National Forests directly under the Forest Department.
Medicinal plant issues
There is high dependency on traditional medicine in Rasuwa, especially by people living
at high altitude. Commercial collection of medicinal plants is a major activity, providing
the sole source of income for many. Species harvested to sell include those given in
Table 1 and also Acorus calamus (Bojho), Asparagus racemosus (Kurilo), Bergenia ciliata
(Pakhanved), Delphinium himalayai (Nirmasi), Fritillaria cirrhosa (Kakoli), various species of
lichens (Jhyau), Paris polyphylla (Satuwa), Podophyllum hexandrum (Laghupatra), Taxus
wallichiana (Lauth salla) and Zanthoxylum armatum (Timmur). Most plant materials are
traded to Kathmandu and then pass on to India, but some move northwards illegally
into Tibet. Prices paid to collectors are very low, even for good quality material. No care
is taken in collecting plants for sale, related to the open-access nature of these
resources. There is a complete lack of management, apart from blanket bans on the
collection of certain species or on collection within the national park, neither of which
is particularly effective. The only species of medicinal plant cultivated on any scale is
Chiraito although still only very little, encouraged by the park authorities in the buffer
zone of the national park.
R
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Latin name
Swertia chirayita
Nardostachys grandiflora
Aconitum spicatum
Neopicrorhiza scrophulariiflora
Rheum australe
Valeriana jatamansi
Dactylorhiza hatagirea
Aconitum bisma
Rhododendron anthopogon
Rubia manjith
Local name
Chiraito
Jatamansi
Bikh, Bish
Kutki
Padamchal
Sugandhabal
Paanch aunle
Nirmasi
Sunpati
Majitho
Part used
Entire plant
Rhizome, leaves
Root
Rhizome
Rhizome
Rhizome
Rhizome
Root
Flowers
Root
Elevation (m)
1500-2500
3000-5300
2500-4300
3500-4500
3200-4200
1300-3300
2800-4000
3000-4500
3300-5100
1200-3200
T
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
D
+
+
A
3
2
4
3
2
2
5
4
1
2
Table 1.Top ten medicinal plants at Rasuwa, Nepal, as prioritised by the communities
involved in Case study 8. R = rank order; T = traded; D = in domestic use;
A = abundance (1 = abundant, 5 = extremely rare).
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Project aims, activities and achievements
The aim of the project is to build capacity among the
Tamang community for the sustainable use and
conservation of medicinal plants. The project has been
active on many fronts, always taking a participatory
approach. Initial steps included a literature review and an
assessment of local and national organisations relevant to
the project. Agreements were signed with Manekor Society
Nepal and FECOFUN-Rasuwa, once they had been
identified as key partners for the project. Both these NGOs
are accustomed to working in remote villages and are well
respected by the communities.
The project team in Rasuwa, Nepal (Case
study 8). Left to right: (back row)
Mr Ram C. Poudel, Ms Sangeeta
Rahbhandary, Mr Kaisang Tamang
(Manekor Society Nepal), Professor
Krishna K. Shrestha, Dr Narendra N.
Tiwari, Mrs Ila Shrestha; (front row)
Mr Pinod Poundel (FECOFUN-Rasuwa),
Mr Kamal Humagain, Ms Saroj Yadav,
Mr Yagya Rokaya (Manekor Society Nepal).
Photo ESON.
An inception workshop was held at Dhunche in November
2006, organised jointly by ESON, Manekor and FECOFUNRasuwa. A wide range of stakeholders attended, including the Chief District Officer,
Local Development Officer, District Forest Officer, Acting Warden of Langtang National
Park, Nepal Police Officer, and representatives of NGOs, CFUGs and herbal traders. The
workshop proved very useful for gaining local acceptance of the project and forging
collaborative partnerships. The Forest Department agreed to work with ESON to
update the Operation Plans of Community Forests so as to incorporate medicinal
plants, with a target of two Operation Plans per year. Two sites were identified as field
areas for the project, one inside Langtang National Park and the other elsewhere. In
practice, most of the work of the project has been outside the park, where there are
fewer legal obstacles to achieving sustainable use of medicinal plants. Chilime Village
Development Committee (VDC) was selected as the out-of-park site, based on its
substantial involvement in the commercial collection of medicinal plants. Finally, it was
decided that a Plant Information Centre should be established at Dhunche to supply the
public with information on medicinal plants.
An immediate follow-up meeting was held at Chilime attended by 35 members (18 male,
17 female) representing all 16 CFUGs in the VDC. Participants discussed the challenges
that they face with respect to medicinal plants and prepared a one-year project plan. All
agreed that improved management of medicinal plants within the forests was needed,
along with increasing the stocks of medicinal plants through cultivation and enrichment
planting. Another meeting of six of the CFUGs soon followed, attended by more than 40
forest users. These six CFUGs, which are clearly very committed to making progress,
decided to form a joint Medicinal Plants Management and Conservation Committee.
Since then, with organisational help from Ms Kabita Ghale (Social Mobilizer, a local
member of the project team), the committee has been meeting monthly to exchange
information on medicinal plants. Medicinal plants have been prioritised according to the
community perspective (Table 1) and local traders have been invited to, and have
attended, the meetings to develop cooperation and provide the latest information on
the market prices for the herbs.
Legally, the improved management of medicinal plants requires specific management
measures for these plants to be included in the Operation Plans for Community Forests.
Currently, Operation Plans at Rasuwa do not cover medicinal plants. Steps needed to
achieve this legal requirement include agreement by the relevant CFUG to revise its
Operation Plan, an inventory of the medicinal plants within the Community Forest,
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agreement on specific management measures (such as collecting areas, collecting areas
and the division of tasks and benefits within the community) and finally sign-off by the
District Forest Officer. An additional challenge at Rasuwa is that the current Operation
Plans only poorly reflect the actual physical boundaries of the Community Forests and
the species of trees that they contain.
The project team decided to take a particular Community Forest to trial these
processes and Kaltache Community Forest belonging to a CFUG in Tatopani village,
Chilime VDC, was chosen. After a half-day workshop at Tatopani, the project team
worked with the CFUG for a week in the forest undertaking research and training (1218 May 2007). A short list of the main commercial species of medicinal plants was made,
the patches where these species were concentrated identified, and counts made of the
abundance of the species in the patches. A rotational harvesting plan was agreed and
sign-off of the revised Operation Plan achieved in September 2007. A complication at
Chilime is that members of different CFUGs sometimes collect in each other’s areas.
This matter was discussed with the villagers and, in response, a VDC-level CFUG was
formed in 12 March 2007, covering all 16 CFUGs in Chilime with the purpose of
enhancing coordination.
Cultivation of medicinal plants is not new to Rasuwa, but is only carried out on a very
small scale. Considering it inadvisable for villagers to replace food crops with medicinal
plants in their tiny landholdings, the project team has suggested that medicinal plants
should be grown on wasteland and marginal land, such as on the banks between the
terraced fields. Cultivation has been promoted of chiraito (Swertia chirayita) in particular,
for which there is some local expertise in
nursery development and cultivation, and
with local seed sources available
(considered desirable, since the plants will
be adapted to the local conditions). The
project has provided support for the
development of nurseries and distributed
chiraito seeds to farmers in five villages. The
response has been encouraging. Some
farmers, who have benefited from this
initiative, have inspired their neighbours to
try out chiraito cultivation for themselves.
Aconitum growing in Rasuwa, Nepal
(Case study 8).
Photo Kamal Humagain.
The project has addressed the problem of
low prices paid to collectors by
undertaking surveys of market prices in
Kathmandu and Nepalgunj (a major
trading post on the Indian border) and
feeding back information to farmers,
collectors and traders at Rasuwa. This has
encouraged some collectors and farmers
to bargain for better prices and for
everyone concerned to take a closer
interest in product grading.
The project has undertaken an inventory
of medicinal plants in the Cholangpati-
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Gosainkunda area of Langtang National Park, but
otherwise has mounted only limited activities in the park.
Collection of medicinal plants in the park is prohibited,
although allowed in its buffer zone for domestic purposes;
in reality there is considerable illegal commercial
collection of medicinal plants. These matters were
discussed at a meeting held by the project in May 2007,
attended by representatives of three Buffer Zone
Management Councils. It is arguable that improved
management of medicinal plants within the park will only
be achieved if an agreement is reached between the park
and the people, allowing some commercial collection of
medicinal plants within designated parts of the buffer
zone, linked to agreements not to collect elsewhere.
Medicinal plants collectors return from
the forest, Chilime, Nepal (Case study 8).
Photo Ram C. Poudel.
Free herbal healthcare camps and an associated
awareness campaign were organised on 25-29 August
2007 to coincide with a popular religious pilgrimage within the park. The aims were to
support the pilgrims and to raise awareness about the values of preserving medicinal
plants and knowledge about them. Two camps were established at Cholangpati (3500
m) and Gosaikunda (4400 m) along the trekking route used by the pilgrims, the project
team working in collaboration with the Gosaikunda Management Committee, the
Nepalese army, and local branches of the Scouts and Nepalese Red Cross. Gosaikunda
is famous for its medicinal plants, although with many pilgrims collecting them during
their pilgrimage, they have now become scarce near the paths. The campaign included
handing out pamphlets and the placing of posters and banners along the trekking route
explaining various ailments (such as altitude sickness) and the plants that can be used
to treat them. Almost 1000 pilgrims were treated at the health camps during the
pilgrimage, the impression being that they were receptive to the messages of the
campaign.
The project has managed to make considerable advances in promoting the
conservation of medicinal plants at Rasuwa. An evaluation workshop was held at
Thambuchet on 6 September 2007 attended by representatives of all 16 local CFUGs
in Chilime. All concerned were very keen for the project to continue and indeed
expand. Fortunately, it proved possible to proceed with a second one-year project
phase (June 2008-May 2009) through receipt of an additional Allachy Award. This
project is concentrating on expanding activities from Chilime VDC to neighbouring
VDCs at Gatlang and Thuman, in each of which a community forest has been selected
for revision of its Operation Plan. The Plant Information Centre will also be opened in
Dhunche as this was not achieved in the first project phase.
Prospects
ESON has a long-term commitment to conservation and sustainable development based
on medicinal plants in Rasuwa. This project has demonstrated possible ways to conserve
Himalayan medicinal plants in strong commercial demand. Since this addresses a major
regional problem, Plantlife has applied to the Darwin Initiative (a UK-based funding
scheme) to enable the work to continue.
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Case study 9
Case study 9: Development of
a strategy for participatory
conservation of medicinal plants
in the Darjeeling and Sikkim
Himalayas (India)
Organisation responsible for the project: Ashoka Trust for
Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) is a charitable
trust founded in 1996 to meet the related challenges of
environmental degradation and economic development in India. It is
currently focusing on conservation and sustainable management of
biodiversity, concentrating on the two biodiversity hotspots of
Western Ghats and eastern Himalayas. ATREE’s overall programme
in the eastern Himalayas has five major objectives: (a) assessment
and monitoring of biodiversity, (b) development of concepts and tools for participatory
management of biological resources, (c) enhancement of conservation education, (d)
development of human and social capital for conservation, and (e) improvement of policy
and governance for conservation. ATREE is building a database on medicinal plants.
Survey site for medicinal plants, Sikkim,
India (Case study 9).
Photo ATREE.
Project team: The principal investigator of this project was Dr Upakar Rai of ATREE,
supported by Mr Anand Gajmer and Dr Santosh Chettri.
Period of grant support: March 2006-February 2008.
Geographical context
Darjeeling and Sikkim Himalayas in the eastern Himalayas cover a very wide altitudinal
range from 150 to 8548 m and exhibit an extremely diverse topography from rugged
snow-capped rugged mountains in the north to flat alluvial plains in the south. Accordingly,
the climate, vegetation and flora are extremely varied. The climate at low altitudes is warm
and humid during the summer and moderately cool during the winter. High altitudes
(including Thangu, Tsongmo Lachen and Sandakphu) are typically snow-covered during the
winter. The high rainfall with an annual average of 4000 mm falls mostly between June and
September associated with the southwest monsoon. There are three main vegetation
zones, a Tropical Zone (150-1500 m) characterized by semi-evergreen and broadleaved
deciduous forest, a Temperate Zone (500-3900 m) with coniferous and rhododendron
forests, and an Alpine Zone (3900-5500 m) with coarse meadow and stunted shrubs.
Corresponding to these different vegetation zones, the flora of Darjeeling and Sikkim is
extremely diverse, carrying 25.7% of all India’s species of flowering plants in an area only
0.22% of the total. The 5000 species present include 550 species of orchids (out of a
national total of 1200), 36 species of Rhododendron (out of 80), 58 species of bamboo
(out of 100) and 25 species of Hedychium (out of 60). The state is impressively rich in
agro-biodiversity, with 573 species of crops and wild relatives, including of cereals, pulses
and oilseeds. 425 species of medicinal plants have been documented as being used by 20
local tribal groups78, 79. Some of the most extensively used species of medicinal plants are
Aconitum spp., Ephedra girardiana, Nardostachys jatamansi, Picrorhiza kurrooa, Podophyllum
emodi (P. hexandrum), Swertia chirayita and Taxus baccata.
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The population density varies according to climatic condition and
elevation. Almost 80% of the people live in rural areas, mostly being
farmers, daily wage workers or labourers in tea gardens. Pastoralism
becomes significant at higher altitudes. The main ethnic groups are
Nepalese, Bhutia, Lepcha, Limbu and Sherpas. The Lepcha people, who
have been settled here for the longest time, have a very extensive
knowledge of medicinal plants – and the other ethnic groups have
learnt much of their own knowledge of medicinal plants from them.
North Sikkim, which is inhabited mainly by Bhutias (Lachenpa and
Lachungpa), has a unique administrative system (Zumsa) with a
government headed by an elected official (Pipon).
Medicinal plant issues
Habitat of Picrorhiza kurrooa.
Chopta Valley, Sikkim, India (Case study
9). Photo ATREE.
Forty species of medicinal plants in Darjeeling and Sikkim have been listed as threatened
following IUCN criteria78. Once abundant, the natural populations of these plants have
either been completely destroyed or have become confined to small pockets in
inaccessible places. Conservation measures are urgently needed. Commercial overharvesting is the principal cause of endangerment78, with destructive grazing by wild and
domestic stock and harvesting of the medicinal plants for local use being additional
factors. Official records for 1990-1991 give volumes of trade for Aconitum heterophyllum,
Nardostachys grandiflora (N. jatamansi), Picrorhiza kurrooa and Swertia chirayita as nearly 50
tons annually. Little or no effort is being made to develop cultivation, an increase in
which it is believed would reduce the pressure on the wild plants. Despite a number of
ethnobotanical studies78-82, very little detailed information is available on the distribution,
abundance and population status of the threatened species, as considered necessary to
prepare proper conservation plans.
Project aims, activities and achievements
The highly valued medicinal plant
Picrorhiza kurrooa (kutki), Chopta Valley,
Sikkim, India (Case study 9).
Photo ATREE.
The project is concerned with generating information on the in situ status of eight species
of threatened medicinal plants (Aconitum palmatum, Dactylorhiza hatagirea, Mahonia
napaulensis, Nardostachys grandiflora, Panax pseudoginseng, Picrorhiza kurrooa, Swertia chirayita
and Valeriana hardwickii) and standardisation of propagation protocols for six of these
species (all except Dactylorhiza and Valeriana).
The project started with a literature survey, the listing of localities for
medicinal plants recorded on herbarium specimens, and assembling
available data on use and trade. This preliminary work allowed
selection of places for field studies. There then followed a
reconnaissance survey conducted with the assistance of
knowledgeable local people (five to ten individuals at each potential
site), which allowed the more precise demarcation of areas for
ground sampling. Each area so demarked contained at least one of the
chosen species. One metre square quadrats were then laid out along
transects within the demarked areas, and the abundance, density and
reproductive status of each of the targeted species recorded.
Propagation trials were conducted in a nursery at Upper Chatakpur
in Darjeelingat an altitude of 2700 m. Germination trials were
undertaken on seeds of Aconitum, Mahonia, Panax, Picrorhiza and
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Swertia, with seeds sown in February-March 2007 and subsequent checks on germination
and seedling survival. Two different treatments were tried for Swertia seeds – seedbed
burning prior to sowing and wetting the seeds with cowdung (a commonly used nursery
technique in this region). Experiments on vegetative reproduction were carried out on
Mahonia, Nardostachys and Picrorhiza.
The main results of the field survey are shown in Box 3. Dactylorhiza is clearly a very
rare plant, but some of the other species are still quite abundant (for example, Swertia
and Valeriana). With regard to the germination trials, the percentage of seeds that
germinated proved to be highly varied, ranging from a minimum of 0% (Picrorhiza), to
25-50% for Aconitum, Panax and Mahonia, and with varying percentages for Swertia
depending on the treatment (80% – burning; 15% – cowdung). The average germination
time for Aconitum, Mahonia and Panax was 31-37 days, but much longer for Swertia (80
days, regardless of the treatment). Clonal trials on Nardostachys (involving separation of
daughter plantlets from the mother stock) showed high survivability (81%), while
survivability was somewhat lower for cuttings (treated with rooting hormone) of
Picrorhiza (67%) and Mahonia (38%).
Box 3. Occurrence of some principal species of medicinal plants,
Darjeeling and Sikkim Himalayas, India (Case study 9).
Aconitum palmatum is found in open scrub in the sub-alpine zone (density 16,22230,667 individuals per hectare – found at five sites).
Dactylorhiza hatagirea was not recorded on the transects.
Mahonia napaulensis is a temperate zone species (2900-3500 m) abundant in open
degraded forest (density 800-2200 individuals per hectare – found at six sites).
Nardostachys grandiflora grows above 4200 m in open alpine pasture grazed by
cattle (density 52,000-70,889 individuals per hectare – found at four sites).
Panax pseudoginseng is a sub-alpine species (2900-3500 m). There are two varieties
(angustifolia and binnatifidus), the former growing at very variable density (488977,778 individuals per hectare – found at four sites) and the latter always scarce
(2444-4000 individuals per hectare – found at three sites).
Picrorhiza kurrooa is found in open alpine pasture above 4200 m at high densities
(78,889-202,222 individuals per hectare – found at two sites), with a tendency
towards clumping (related to its rhizomatous habit). It is abundant on sandy soils
under Rhododendron.
Swertia chirayita is a temperate zone plant (2900-3500 m) with good populations
where it occurs (17,00-23,800 individuals per hectare – found at three sites). It is
most abundant on soils exposed by burning. Immature individuals were more
abundant than reproductive plants at all sites.
Valeriana hardwickii shows good populations in open forests of the temperate zone
(2900-3500 m) (density 2000-5000 individuals per hectare – found at three sites).
Prospects
The project is considered by ATREE as a necessary first step needed to achieve in situ
conservation and cultivation of these species. Full standardization of the propagation
protocols is underway.
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Ludian, Yunnan, China (Case study 10).
Much of the valley is devoted to
cultivation of medicinal plants, such as
Gentiana (foreground). The two
Medicinal Plants Conservation Areas
which the community has established are
in the forests on the surrounding hills.
Photo AH.
Case study 10: The development of
methodologies for conservation of
medicinal plants based on field-level
application at Ludian, Yunnan (China)
Organisation responsible for the project: This project is run by the Applied
Ethnobotany Research Group of the Laboratory of Ethnobotany, Kunming Institute of
Botany (KIB), Chinese Academy of Sciences. KIB is a global pioneer in community-based
approaches to conservation and sustainable development, having been active in this field
since 1987, especially in Yunnan Province. The team formed to implement the project
included Professor Pei Shengji and Mrs Yang Lixin of KIB, Dr Huai Huyin of Yangzhou
University and, once the project started on the ground, local community members,
including Mr He Yun (Mayor of Ludian) and Mr Yang Shengguang (a local Naxi doctor).
An inventory of medicinal plants at Ludian had been previously undertaken by Dr Wang
Yuhua, a student of Professor Pei, and was updated by the project team. Dr Huai Huyin
is an expert on medicinal plants in Yunnan and Mrs Yang is fluent in Naxi, the main local
language at Ludian, which has greatly facilitated project progress. Mrs Yang Lixin has been
visiting the project site in pursuit of project activities at intervals of about two months.
Apart from the Allachy Award from Plantlife, the project has benefited from a grant from
The Nature Conservancy, a US-based international conservation agency assisting the
government of Yulong County in community development related to the establishment
of Laojun Mountain National Park.
Project team: Professor Pei Shengji and Mrs Yang Lixin (Kunming Institute of Botany);
Dr Huai Huyin (Yangzhou University)
Period of grant support: June 2006 – May 2008.
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Geographical context
Ludian is an Important Plant Area for medicinal plants in the Chinese Himalayas. Located
within the northern buffer zone of Laojun National Park, altitudes range from 2000 to
3000 m and its area cover 107km2. It was selected as a suitable site for field
implementation of medicinal plant conservation following a planning exercise to identify
Important Plant Areas for medicinal plants in the Himalayas (see Case study 11) and a
follow-up ground survey. Ludian is a community of 6000 people, living in 29 villages and
hamlets within Yulong County, Lijiang City, Yunnan Province. The landscape is
mountainous, 60% being covered by forest and with agricultural fields in the valleys and
on the lower slopes. Both coniferous forest (mainly Pinus armandii and P. yunnanensis) and
species-rich broad-leaved forest are represented. There was destructive logging during
the Cultural Revolution (1966-1975) from which much of the forest is still recovering.
The agricultural land at Ludian is state-owned, but under private management. Thee
forests are also state owned, but are managed either directly by the state, as community
forests under the villages, or divided into small plots leased to individual households on
49-year terms.
The local people, 90% of whom belong to the Naxi minority, have a rich tradition of
medicinal plants. Ludian has been a source of supply for cultivated medicinal plants for
over 200 years, and more than 363 species are currently used in local folk medicine.
Surveys undertaken in 2007 in two sample villages at Ludian revealed that 13% of the
people rely exclusively on herbal medicine, 26% use western medicine and 61% use a
mixture of both. Of the plant species used by local healers, 60% are collected from the
wild, 30% grown in home gardens and 10% purchased in markets.
Ludian is known in Yunnan as the ‘Home of Medicinal Plants’. Material from Ludian is
held to be especially ‘authentic’ and of high quality – termed Dao Di medicinal material
according to Chinese practice. This perception raises external demand for medicinal
plants from Ludian, whether cultivated or collected from the wild.
Most households are engaged in farming with 90% of the farmers cultivating medicinal
plants to sell and this provides 10-70% of household income. Contrasting with the large
number of species used in local medicine, only about ten species are cultivated
commercially on any scale, among them Aconitum stapfianum, Eutrema yunnanense,
Gentiana rigescens, Paris polyphylla var. yunnanensis, Saussurea (Auklandia) costus (=S. lappa),
Platycodon grandiflorum, Ligusticum sinense, Atractylodes macrocephala, Dipscacus asper and
Angelica sinensis. An unusual high priced local crop is the fungus Morel (Morchella).
Medicinal plant issues
Many species of wild medicinal plants have become reduced in abundance at Ludian
due to loss of their forest habitat. Additionally, some species are under threat from
commercial collection, especially high value species such as Anisodus acutangulus,
Fritillaria cirrhosa, Heracleum candicans, Notopterygium franchetii, Gastrodia elata, Paris
polyphylla var. yunnanensis and Taxus wallichiana. Commercial pressure on wild
medicinal plants has been increasing over recent years as medical industries have
expanded in China as part of general economic development. Under-employment has
also contributed, notably with local people searching for new sources of income
following a banning of commercial logging in 1998 after severe flooding along the
Yangtze River. At the start of this project, there were no local measures in place at
MEDICINAL PLANTS IN CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT
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Ludian to regulate the collection of wild
medicinal plants – this is the usual
situation in China. Conservation and
sustainable harvesting of wild medicinal
plants are needed at Ludian to maintain
local health services based on herbal
remedies and to retain local sources of
germplasm from which crops can be
developed when new species become
popular in the market.
A Yi lady (centre) sells medicinal plants to
a trader in Ludian, China (Case study 10).
Photo Pei Shengji.
Many people at Ludian depend on local
doctors following the Naxi medical
tradition. Unlike some other indigenous
medical traditions in China, Naxi medicine
is not recognised officially, which creates
problems in its application and
development. There are related issues of
conservng traditional medical knowledge.
On the livelihoods front, 99% of the
medicinal plants produced at Ludian are
sold to outside traders, who have been
allowed to operate here since 1998
following market liberalisation. Currently,
farmers and collectors at Ludian receive
low prices for their produce, lacking the benefit of collective bargaining and being
ignorant of market prices.
Project aims, activities and achievements
The main purpose of the project is to explore methods for the practical conservation of
medicinal plants, taking into consideration people’s related interests in healthcare,
earning an income and maintaining cultural traditions. Initial discussions revealed a low
level of knowledge or concern within the general community about the conservation of
medicinal plants. However, several individuals proved to be exceptions, especially local
herbal doctors and the then village headman (Mr He Yun). On the basis of their common
concern, this nucleus decided to form the Ludian Medicinal Plants Conservation
Association to instigate practical activities promoting conservation. This is the first such
conservation group in China. The association was registered at the local governmental
level in February 2007 and a constitution agreed in March 2007. Mr Yang Shengguang, a
herbal doctor, was elected as the first chairman of the association, which currently has
40 members. Since its foundation, the association has played a major role in guiding and
delivering the project.
The two major concerns expressed by members of the association were the
increasing rarity of some wild medicinal plants and that few younger people were
interested in becoming herbal doctors. Awareness-raising and education in Naxi
medicine were seen as important initial activities, and also creating conditions to
push the government into taking the conservation of medicinal plants more seriously.
Dian Nan and Dian Bei were selected as pilot villages for project activities, the
former being relatively prosperous and having eight herbal doctors, in contrast to a
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single herbal doctor at Dian Bei (Mr He
Chong Shan, a very knowledgeable
community botanist).
The project has supported the
development of herbal gardens to serve
as convenient sources of herbs for local
treatments, sources of germplasm for
commercial cultivation and educational
resources for the community. So far, 30
herbal home gardens and two ‘wild
cultivation’ sites (medicinal plants planted
within natural vegetation) have been
established or further developed. One of
the ‘wild cultivation’ sites is situated in
Dian Bei close to the village water
source, conveniently situated to raise
awareness about medicinal plants when
villagers celebrate the Spring Festival. The
average number of medicinal plants per
home garden has increased from less than
ten to over 30. Some particularly
interested individuals are cultivating some
locally endangered plant species (not
necessarily medicinal) to safeguard against
their complete local extinction. Three training workshops involving a total of 60
villagers have been held making use of these demonstration gardens. The subjects of
these workshops have included the development of home herbal gardens, the
sustainable harvesting of wild medicinal plants and Naxi traditional medicine.
Considerable interest in medicinal plants and Naxi medicinal culture has been
expressed by local youth.
The medicinal plant garden of Mr He
Chong Shan (left), a very knowledgeable
Naxi herbalist, Dian Bei village, Ludian,
China (Case study 10).
Photo Pei Shengji.
Following the Dialogue meeting between China, India and the UK (see Case study 13),
the idea was raised of establishing special sites for the conservation of medicinal plants
at Ludian, termed Medicinal Plants Conservation Areas (MPCAs). Discussions were held
with the Ludian Medicinal Plants Conservation Association and with other members of the
pilot villages. The result was a decision to establish two MPCAs on community forest
land, one at each of Dian Nan and Dian Bei.
The MPCAs have been established in the richest local sites for medicinal plants, one
extending over 330 hectares and the other 300 hectares. The legal status of the MPCAs
was agreed at Ludian local government level and confirmed later by Yulong County in
November 2007. A Ludian MPCA Management Committee has been established,
comprising a representative of the Ludian Medicinal Plants Conservation Association, the
headmen of the two village headmen and two elected community members. This
committee is responsible for deciding which plants may be collected from the MPCAs –
for local medical use or to use as planting materials – and how the benefits from such
collection are distributed. Two community members have been hired as full-time
workers at each site, initially paid from project funds. Regulations governing the
management of the MPCAs have been agreed between the association, the Ludian
government and the local forest station (Box 4).
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Box 4: Summary of regulations governing Medicinal Plants
Conservation Areas at Ludian (Case study 10).
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Management and monitoring is the joint responsibility of the Ludian
Medicinal Plants Conservation Association, Ludian MPCA Management
Committee and Ludian Township Forest Station.
The Ludian MPCA Management Committee is responsible for the direct
management of the MPCAs, including conservation, sustainable harvesting
following traditional methods and ensuring the guaranteeing of community
benefits. The Ludian Medicinal Plants Conservation Association has an
overseeing and wider coordination role.
The harvesting of rare, endangered and endemic medicinal plants is
prohibited (a list is provided – this includes Eucommia ulmoides, Taxus
yunnanensis, etc). A fine of 500 Yuan will be imposed for violations.
Logging, grazing and cutting firewood are prohibited.
Fire is prohibited in the MPCAs. A fine of 50 Yuan will be imposed for
those starting fires or failing to assist in their control.
Prospects
The project team and community group intend to try to increase the financial benefits
received locally from medicinal plants. At present, collectors and farmers of wild
medicinal plants at Ludian receive only a tenth of the prices paid in the major regional
market for medicinal plants at Dali. Planned activities are to help the farmers and
collectors form a marketing cooperative to increase their bargaining power and enhance
their access to market information through facilitating access to the internet, on which
prevailing market prices for medicinal plants in China are posted. It is hoped improved
market prices can help to ensure the financial sustainability of the MPCAs. In this
context, the MPCAs will be promoted as an integral part of the culture and economy of
Ludian, including as sources of germplasm for developing new crops.
On the wider political front, the government appreciates this project as being well aligned
with two of its developmental priorities for northwest Yunnan – conservation of
biodiversity and support for minority cultures. Following earlier contacts, a meeting was
held in May 2008 at Lijiang City Nationality Technical College (within the same prefecture as
Ludian) to raise awareness about the project and consider establishment of an Association
of Naxi Traditional Medicine, a Naxi herbal garden and a Naxi hospital. College staff, senior
government officials and traditional doctors attended the meeting. The college currently
teaches some Naxi medicine in its courses on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), but the
lack of official recognition for Naxi medicine is problematic for developing this further. The
main results of the meeting were agreement to form the Association of Naxi Traditional
Medicine, to be hosted by the college, and to establish the herbal garden, also at the
College. The Association, which will cover all local medical traditions and not just Naxi, will
promote the official recognition of minority medical traditions in this part of China.
The concept of the MPCA was well received at this meeting. Discussions are currently
being held with government officials and The Nature Conservancy conservation agency
to expand the number of MPCAs into other parts of the buffer zone of Laojun
Mountain National Park and also into the Meili Tibetan area to the north. A total of ten
new MPCAs is being considered at Laojun, one per buffer zone village. The main ethnic
minorities here are the Li Su and Naxi.
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8. Experience-sharing case studies
8. Experience-sharing case studies
Introduction
Three of the Allachy Awards have allowed the sharing of experiences in conservation of
medicinal plants between countries. One project (Case study 12) was initiated by the
Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions in Bangalore and the other two
by Plantlife. Case study 11 involved five Himalayan countries, Case study 12 involved all
the countries in which community-based projects have been mounted (Case studies 110) plus Bhutan and Tanzania, and Case study 13 concerned China, India and the UK.
Box 5: List of experience-sharing case studies.
CS11
CS12
CS13
The Himalayas: Important Plant Areas for medicinal plants
India: International course on medicinal plants conservation
China/India/UK: Dialogue on conservation of Himalayan medicinal plants
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Case study 11
Participants at the regional workshop on
Important Plant Areas for medicinal plants
in the Himalayas enjoy a visit to
Kathmandu, Nepal (Case study 11).
Photo AH.
Case study 11: Identification and
conservation of Important Plant Areas for
medicinal plants in the Himalayas
Organisations and individuals responsible: A regional workshop held in
Kathmandu in 2006 was jointly organised by ESON and Plantlife. National Reports
were presented at this conference for the following Himalayan countries83-85:
Bhutan – Yeshey Dorji and Mr A Karma Rinzin (Ministry of Agriculture)
China – Professor Pei Shengji and Mrs Yang Lixin (Chinese Academy of Sciences) and
Dr Huai Huyin (Yangzhou University)
India – Pragya, with presentations at the Regional Workshop by Dr Visvarup
Chakravarti and Ms Manali Baruah
Nepal – Dr K.K. Shrestha, Ms S. Rajbhandary, Mr R.C. Poudel and Dr N.B. Tiwari
(Ethnobotanical Society of Nepal
Pakistan – Mr Ashiq Ahmad Khan (WWF-Pakistan) and Dr Hassan Sher (Government
Postgraduate Jahanzeb College)
Period of grant support: January to December 2006.
Important Plant Areas
Important Plant Areas (IPAs) are defined as the most important places in the world for
wild plant diversity that can be managed as specific sites86, 87. Their identification and
conservation have been promoted as a contribution to Target 5 of the Global Strategy
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Case study 11
for Plant Conservation (see Page 6). A site has the potential to be recognised as an IPA
if it meets one or more of the following criteria: (1) presence of threatened species of
global or regional concern; (2) exceptional botanical richness for its biogeographic zone;
and (3) presence of threatened habitats. Recognising IPAs on the basis of medicinal
plants uses only part of the total dataset potentially available, which encompasses all
plants. On the other hand, in the case of the Himalayas, this dataset is probably of better
quality than many other possible data subsets, because of the strong regional interest in
medicinal plants.
The project is based on National Reports discussing the identification and conservation
of IPAs for medicinal plants in each Himalayan country. These National Reports contain
baseline information on medicinal plants, overviews of current conservation initiatives,
and assessments of the contribution of existing information on medicinal plants to the
identification of IPAs. These National Reports were presented at a regional workshop
held on 19-22 September 2006 in Kathmandu in Nepal, at which some additional
organisations from Nepal also gave presentations.
Objectives of the project
●
●
●
●
●
Collate baseline information on medicinal plants, their habitats and their threats
across the Himalayas.
Provide an overview of existing initiatives on the conservation of Himalayan
medicinal plants.
Assess the contribution of existing information on medicinal plants to the
identification of IPAs in the Himalayas.
Assess recommendations for future progress in medicinal plant conservation at IPAs
in the Himalaya, including through regional collaboration.
Contribute to the development of a new regional project on the conservation of
Himalayan medicinal plants.
Results: Identification of IPAs for medicinal plants
IPAs are places of significance for the conservation of global plant diversity, normally
recognised at the national level. The experts from all five participating countries agreed
that it is possible to recognise special areas for conservation of medicinal plants in the
Himalayas at the national scale, and 53 such areas were recognised. However, they all
stressed that these IPAs should be seen as provisional given the severe shortage of data
reported for all countries. Recognition of these national-level IPAs was generally heavily
dependent on the use of criterion 1 (‘presence of threatened species’), in practice
relying especially on records of the distribution of popular and widely distributed
species threatened by commercial trade. The recorded distributions of these species are
likely to be highly influenced by the history of botanical collecting.
All experts noted that important areas for medicinal plants (less formally defined than as
above) exist at several geographical scales (see Table 2). They can be recognised from the
very large scale right down to small patches of forest or field. Larger scales are
appropriate for large-scale planning, for example, by international conservation NGOs
deciding where to commit their resources. However, it is the smaller scales that are
most relevant to achieving practical conservation progress on the ground, since they
relate to the activities of individuals and organisations in the field.
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Geographic scale
Pakistan
India
Nepal
Bhutan
Scale 1 (largest)
China
6 very large IPAs
(corresponding to
existing
Critical Regions)
Scale 2
15 IPAs often based 16 IPA Complexes
on river valleys or
(based on river
ridges
basins or mountain
ranges)
Scale 3
6 IPAs, based on
valleys
1 to several ‘core
tracts’ of less than
40 km2 within each
of the above
54 sites within the
complexes (equivalent to districts)
Scale 4 (smallest,
suitable for direct
field-level
management)
(Community based
conservation should
focus on smaller
sites within the
above)
Smaller sites within
the core tracts,
appropriate for
community
management
230 micro-IPAs
within the sites
(appropriate for
community
management)
10 IPAs
3 sites, each representing about 100
households
Smaller sites for
practical field
management (to
be located later)
Land managed by
individual households, including
home gardens, forest
patches & wild
cultivation sites
Table 2. Spatial units recognised as significant for the conservation of medicinal plants
in the Himalayas (Case study 11). The table was constructed on the basis of National
Reports from five countries and subsequent discussions at a regional workshop. The
units for the different countries are arranged according to their approximate spatial
equivalence. Terminology for the units follows that used in the National Reports.
All those attending the regional workshop agreed that the community-level is the critical
level for conservation of Himalayan medicinal plants. Participatory research involving
communities and scientists is needed to determine the key local places for medicinal
plants, where efforts at improving their management should be concentrated. There was
general agreement that, in the Himalayas, traditional doctors, religious leaders and elders
in indigenous groups can often play key roles in encouraging and guiding communities on
how best to conserve their medicinal plants.
Workshop activities at the IPA
regional meeting at Kathmandu,
Nepal (Case study 11).
Photo AH.
Prospects
One of the challenges facing the conservation of medicinal plants in the Himalayas is
impending climate change, which (it has been calculated) will here be on an exceptionally
large scale. The ranges of many species must move or the species will perish.
This reality needs to be recognised in planning the geography of conservation,
for example, suggesting that protected areas should cover wide altitudinal
ranges and be connected to one another by corridors. Even more importantly,
impending climate change raises the urgency of creating conditions favourable
for plant conservation across the whole landscape. Since there are people
almost everywhere in the Himalayas, this means that efforts to involve
communities in conservation should be pursed as a matter of urgency.
Finally, it was stressed at the regional workshop that all the Himalayan nations
face similar challenges in achieving conservation and sustainable use of
medicinal plants, so there is much to be gained from sharing case studies and
suggestions on best practice. Joint initiatives are needed to tackle crossborder issues such as rampant unsustainable trade in medicinal plants.
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Case study 12
Case study 12: International training and
capacity building on medicinal plants
conservation and sustainable utilisation –
based on Indian experience
Organisation responsible for the project: The Foundation for Revitalisation of
Local Health Traditions (FRLHT) is a charitable society founded in 1993. Based in
Bangalore, it is recognised as a National Centre of Excellence for medicinal plants and
traditional knowledge. FRLHT believes that revitalisation of the medical heritage of India
holds two promises – self-reliance in primary health care for millions of households and
the continuing capacity to make original contributions to the world of medicine. FRLHT
has identified three focus areas for its work: conserving natural resources used by Indian
Systems of Medicine (ISM), demonstrating the contemporary relevance of the theory
and practice of ISM, and revitalisation of the social processes responsible for the passing
on and sharing of traditional healthcare knowledge.
Project team: Mr Giridhar A. Kinhal (Course Coordinator), Mrs G.B. Deepa (Assistant
Course Coordinator) and many other members of FRLHT.
Period of grant support: January 2006 – December 2006 (course held on 4-18
October 2006).
FRLHT’s methodologies for conservation of medicinal plants
FRLHT’s achievements in conservation of medicinal plants are probably unrivalled by any
other institution worldwide. Only an outline of the main building blocks of FRLHT’s
approach is possible here:
Forest Gene Banks. These form the physical heart of FRLHT’s approach to the in situ
conservation of medicinal plants. Most have two elements, Medicinal Plants
Conservation Areas (MPCAs), which are core areas of natural (or near-natural) forest
Headquarters of the Foundation for
Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions
(FRLHT), Bangalore, India (Case study 12).
Photo AH.
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Staff of FRLHT use drama to
demonstrate how to establish a home
herbal garden during the medicinal
plants course in India (Case study 12).
Photo AH.
managed for the conservation of medicinal plants, and
Buffer Zones or Medicinal Plants Development Areas,
which are areas of forest lying close to the MPCAs and
which are dedicated to the production of medicinal plants
for community benefit. The MPCAs are generally
established within forest reserves, and only with the
consent of the local people. Each MPCA has a
management committee that includes local people with a
special interest in medicinal plants (e.g. local folk healers).
Based on conservation biology and ease of management,
FRLHT has calculated that 200-500 hectares is an ideal
size for an MPCA, though, based on ground realities, those
established actually range between 80 and 400 hectares. A
network of MPCAs is now spreading throughout India
from an initial nucleus of 34 in the three southern states of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil
Nadu. The MPCA network is designed to cover all major types of natural vegetation
and include a large proportion of India’s medicinal flora (about 40% of India’s 19,400
plant species are regarded as medicinal).
Medicinal Plants Conservation Parks (MPCPs): These are centres dedicated to
community development based on medicinal plants. Eighteen have already been
established in the three southern states of India, mostly managed by non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) that have good links to communities. The services offered
typically include information (herbaria, seed collections, information on local herbal use),
garden displays of medicinal plants, nurseries for the supply of seedlings, and educational
and training programmes. Outreach activities include encouragement for villagers to
develop enterprises based on medicinal plants.
Home Herbal Gardens (HHGs): This programme encourages the establishment of
backdoor herb gardens to supply materials for the safe treatment of common medical
conditions. It is targeted especially at housewives. 150,000 HHGs have been established
so far in the three southern Indian states, 95% of them by economically very poor
people. It is calculated that an HHG results in an average annual saving of 1600 Rupees
($36) per family (healthcare costs plus other expenses, such as travel to clinics and lost
income), a considerable sum in the local context. An HHG costs about 180 Rupees ($4)
to establish. A typical HHG contains about 15 species chosen for their medicinal, cultural
and ecological appropriateness, including being straightforward and safe to use. Based on
community choice, about five of the species are typically selected for their nutritional or
veterinary properties, rather than for curing human disease. The HHGs provide for
preventive, promotive and curative aspects of healthcare.
Central Support Services of FRLHT: These include research into plant taxonomy
and identification, threat assessments for species, a herbarium and raw drug collection,
and a comprehensive database on medicinal plants.
Project aims, activities and achievements
The purposes of mounting the course were to build an international network for
conservation of medicinal plants, mainstream medicinal plant conservation within the
concerned countries, and to share experiences on methodologies. The expectation was
that, by the end of the course, participants would be knowledgeable about the
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theoretical foundations of various aspects of the subject – from the Indian perspectiveand be able to judge their applicability to their own countries.
The project consisted of a two-week training course on conservation of medicinal
plants. The 24 participants included nine from East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda),
five from India and ten from other Asian countries (China, Nepal, Pakistan). Their
backgrounds included forest management, non-governmental organisations (NGOs),
government officers, research and academia.
The project included an eight-month period of preparation resulting in a comprehensive
package of educational exercises (lectures, group discussions, field visits, periods of
reflection, and so on) and materials, with many printed papers provided. Each lecture
included time for discussion and was followed by well-structured group exercises
facilitated by trained helpers. Yogic exercises were included in the course to build
confidence in traditional knowledge and practices related to healthcare. Participants
were requested to provide their feedback and their thoughts on the course on a daily
basis, allowing modifications to be made to the planned programme where practicable.
The process chosen for the development of the course was participatory and inclusive,
involving a series of in-house meetings within FRLHT to establish the course design,
structure and pedagogy, deal with administration and logistics, and select appropriate
experts and facilitators. Outside experts were requested to contribute to aspects of the
course, including Dr Pushpangadan (on intellectual property rights and benefit sharing)
and Mr G Raju (on community-owned enterprises based on medicinal plants).
The first week of the course was based in Bangalore, with two excursions to nearby
sites. The second week was devoted mainly to a tour of the three southern states of
India, especially Tamil Nadu. A wide variety of sites were visited, including villages, forests,
Ayurvedic hospitals and herbal industries.
An evaluation was made by email following the course, and this showed that the course
was highly appreciated by the participants.
Participants at FRLHT’s course on
medicinal plants observe an outdoor
botany class at Nadukuppam High
School, Tamil Nadu, India (Case study 12).
Photo AH.
Follow-up and prospects
A number of practical developments have followed
from the course, including continuing exchanges of
ideas between some of the participants, the stimulus
for the Dialogue meeting later held in China (see
Case study 13 below), and serious consideration
given to the introduction of MPCAs in Nepal and
MPCPs in Kenya. Teams from FRLHT have visited
Kenya (July 2008) and Uganda (September 2008) to
continue the exchanges.
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Case study 13
Case study 13: China/India/UK Dialogue on
conservation of Himalayan medicinal plants
Organisations and individuals responsible for the project: The project consisted
of a workshop held at the Kunming Institute of Botany (KIB), Chinese Academy of
Sciences from 24-27 April 2007, organised jointly by Professor Pei Shengji (KIB) and Dr
A.C. Hamilton (Plantlife International). Participants in the Dialogue included Dr G.S.
Goraya and Dr G.A. Kinhal (both of FRLHT, India), Jonathan Rudge and Dr A.C.
Hamilton (Plantlife International) and the following from China: Ms Chen Cui (Alpine
Economic Plant Institute, Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences), Dr Huai Huyin
(Yangzhou University), Mr He Yun (Vice-Head, Ludian Community), Mrs Huang Caizhi
(Social Development Section, Yunnan Science and Technology Department), Mr Jiang
Shiwei (Wanglang Nature Reserve, Sichuan), Dr Li Dezhu (Director, KIB), Mr Liu
Huachun (Yunnan Xitao Green Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd), Professor Pei Shengji (KIB), Dr
Wang Yuhua (Division Head, KIB), Mrs Wang Yun (High Technology Section, Development
and Reformation Committee of Yunnan), Mr Wang Zhaojie (Yunnan Science and
Technology Department), Mrs Yang Lixin (KIB), Professor Yang Yongping (Vice-Director,
KIB), Dr Yang Yuming (The Nature Conservancy), Dr Zhong Mingchuan (Yunnan
Provincial Forestry Department, Dr Zhou Dequn (The Nature Conservancy) and Ms
Zhou Min (Yunnan Phytopharmaceutical Co Ltd).
Period of grant support: January-May 2007.
Aims
●
●
●
●
Bring together organisations involved in conservation of Himalayan medicinal plants
to learn from each other.
Exchange information approaches, methods and experiences on conservation of
Himalayan medicinal plants.
Explore avenues of potential future collaboration.
Establish regional strategies on conservation of Himalayan medicinal plants.
Comparisons between China and India
The experts attending the meeting were able to make informed comparisons between
China and India relating to the conservation of Himalayan medicinal plants. The two
countries are similar in terms of their vast areas and strong interests in traditional
medicine and medicinal plants.
It was agreed that, in both countries, folk healers are the local people most
knowledgeable about medicinal plants and the social group most concerned about their
conservation. They provide the foundation of primary healthcare in rural areas in both
countries. It was concluded that it is essential to engage the folk healers in efforts aimed
at conservation of medicinal plants, if these are to stand any chance of success. It was
further noted that local health traditions are being rapidly eroded in both countries and
that there is an urgent need to document this knowledge for the benefit of future
generations (with due regard paid to the protection of intellectual property rights).
Traditional doctor associations have proved very useful for supporting local efforts
aimed at medicinal plant conservation and for lobbying for official recognition of local
medical traditions. There are many such associations in India, but few in China (the De
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Quing Amchi Association founded in Yunnan in 2006 is said to be the first association for
traditional doctors practising Tibetan Medicine in China). The Ludian Medicinal Plants
Conservation Association, which the project at Ludian has supported in its foundation (see
Case study 10 above), is the first community group established in modern times in
China for conservation of medicinal plants; most of its members are traditional doctors.
The conservation of medicinal plants and the development of traditional medicine will
benefit greatly if official recognition is afforded to traditional systems of medicine. In
both countries, some traditional systems of medicine are officially recognised and others
not. For example, Ayurveda, but not Tibetan Medicine, is recognised in India, while, in
China, official recognition is accorded to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Tibetan
medicine, Uigur medicine, Dai medicine and some others, but not to Naxi or Li Su
medicine. This is relevant to KIB’s project at Ludian (see Case study 10).
Generally, herbal industries in both countries are insensitive to conservation, although
they sometimes adopt green slogans for promotional purposes with little basis in fact.
Certification of herbal products is considered to be viable in both countries only when
sales are to ethical western markets willing to pay the extra dollars required. One way
to increase the involvement of industry in conservation would be to include a
requirement for traceability on the Product Specification Sheets associated with Good
Manufacturing Practice (GMP) or the Authentication Certifications associated with TCM.
The organisation of growers or collectors of medicinal plants into associations could be
a grassroots way of achieving greater sustainability, the deal between suppliers and
industry being an assured supply of high quality medicinal plants in exchange for assured
(and preferably high) prices.
India has a National Medicinal Plants Board which co-ordinates matters relating to
medicinal plants, including conservation and sustainable use. There is no equivalent
body in China, where TCM authorities concentrate more or less exclusively on the
quality of TCM products.
Participants at the China/India/UK
Dialogue on conservation of Himalayan
medicinal plants (Case study 13).
On resource management, there are some
similarities between China and India in
policies relating to the management of
Himalayan medicinal plants. In both cases,
very substantial areas of land are under
the control of state forestry agencies, for
example 24% of India’s land surface, or
assigned to protected areas, including 20%
of China’s forested land. Logging in natural
forests has been prohibited in China since
1998/9 with an extensive programme of
forest restoration, while logging is banned
in India above an altitude of 1000 m. Local
communities have extensive usifruct rights
in state forests in India, including for
medicinal plants, based on the submission
and approval of management plans. Forests
in China are all state owned, but subject to
various management regimes – directly
state managed, managed by local
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communities or leased to individual
households (under the individual
responsibility policy). One of the main
tasks required to improve the management
of medicinal plants in both countries is to
identify and promote the most effective
forms of agreement between forestry
authorities and local communities, relating
to the use and management of medicinal
plants in forested areas.
Dr G.S. Goraya (centre right) and Dr
G.A. Kinhal of FRLHT share a lighter
moment during the Dialogue meeting
with Professor Yang Yongping, ViceDirector, Kunming Institute of Botany,
China (Case study 13).
Photo AH.
It was agreed that the conservation of
medicinal plants in the Himalayas of both
China and India should be pursued
primarily through in situ activities. Only in
this way will it be possible to maintain
much of the genetic diversity of the plants
and ensure that they remain widely
available to support local healthcare and
livelihoods. New surveys are urgently
needed to establish the current
conservation status of the most important
commercial species as existing
assessments are mostly out-of-date. Further studies on different geographical scales –
from the local forest patch to the regional – are needed to identify the most important
plant areas for medicinal plants in the Himalayas, so that priority can be given to
improving their management. It was further agreed that industry should be encouraged
to augment supplies of medicinal plants through promoting their cultivation.
Areas identified for enhanced co-operation between China and India
It was suggested that China and India could usefully share information relevant to the
conservation of medicinal plants, especially in relation to community-based approaches.
Priority fields for information exchange include: (1) methods for conserving the genetic
diversity of medicinal plants, including through the establishment of networks of
community reserves; (2) methods for sustainable harvesting; (3) methods for
documenting and revitalizing local health traditions; (4) techniques of propagation and
cultivation for key species; and (5) methods for interacting with communities through
project approaches (including for building local capacities).
There is substantial cross-border trade, mostly unregulated, between China and India, as
there is between these and other countries in the Himalayas. Collaborative research
between China, India and the other countries is needed to better understand this trade,
and to provide a firm foundation for the development of collaborative policies.
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9. Testing a sustainability standard Case study 14
9. Testing a sustainability standard
Case study 14: Field consultation of the
International Standard for Sustainable Wild
Collection of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants
(ISSC-MAP) (India)
Organisation responsible for the project: The work was organised by the
Foundation for the Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions (FRLHT) in Bangalore – for
description, see Case study 12 above.
Project team: From the Peace Institute: Mr Manoj Kumar Misra (external consultant).
From FRLHT: Mr G.A. Kinhal, Mr Jagannatha Rao, Mr Indersha, Mr Suresh and Mr Arthur.
The consultation was undertaken in a participatory way with members of Task Teams at
Savandurga and Agumbe.
Period of grant support: March 2006 – June 2007.
Background: Development of the international standard
This project tested the applicability and practicality to India of a new international standard
for the sustainable harvesting of wild medicinal and aromatic plants (ISSC-MAP) (Box 6).
The development of the standard has been guided by a steering group from the Medicinal
Plants Specialist Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the
German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN, Bundesamt für Naturschutz), WWF
Germany and TRAFFIC. This test in India was made too late to influence the first edition of
the standard, published in January 2007, but may be taken into account in future versions.
Savandurga Forest Reserve, Karnataka,
India (Case study 14). There are many
bare granite outcrops within the reserve.
Photo AH.
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Box 6: Summary of the principles and criteria of the International
Standard for Sustainable Wild Collection of Medicinal and Aromatic
Plants (ISSC-MAP) (Case study 14)88.
Principle 1: Wild MAP populations should be maintained. There are three
criteria, stipulating regular monitoring of the populations of the targeted MAPs
and of the impacts of collection. The conservation status of the species must be
regularly reviewed.
Principle 2: Negative environmental impacts should be prevented. The two
criteria cover protection of especially sensitive species and habitats, and a
requirement that management activities carried out for MAPs should not adversely
influence the diversity and ecological functioning of the ecosystem as a whole.
Principle 3: MAP management and collection should be carried out
under legitimate tenure arrangements, and comply with laws,
regulations and agreements. Two criteria on these points.
Principle 4: Customary rights should be respected. One of the two criteria
refers to benefit sharing through agreements with local communities.
Principle 5: MAP collection should be based on adaptive, practical,
participatory and transparent management arrangements. There are
five criteria, the key one being a requirement for a species/area management
plan, which sets out adaptive, practical management processes and good
collection practices. The remaining criteria cover monitoring, documentation
(necessary anyway if certification is intended) and a stipulation that management
should be transparent and participative.
Principle 6: Wild collection should support quality, financial and labour
requirements of the market without sacrificing sustainability of the
resource. The six criteria refer to market requirements (including avoiding the
excessive harvesting of material that cannot be sold), traceability, financial
viability, training and capacity-building, and worker safety and compensation.
The perceived need for this standard arose during a project which started in 2003 to
revise Guidelines on the Conservation of Medicinal Plants, originally published by the World
Health Organisation (WHO), IUCN and WWF in 199389. The standard is regarded as
potentially useful for guiding the management of wild MAPs, including setting standards
for certification. Companies or trade associations might wish to refer to the standard in
setting their own Voluntary Codes of Practice.
Background: Management of medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) at the test sites
The test was carried out at two of the Medicinal Plants Development Areas (MPDAs)
that FRLHT has been promoting in India for sustainable production of MAPs (Case
study 12). They are Savandurga and Agumbe (Karnataka State). Both MPDAs lie within
forest reserves managed by the Forest Department and both are already subject to Joint
Forest Management (JFM). JFM is an arrangement in India whereby local communities
have been granted the rights of use of certain forest products. FRLHT’s efforts to
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improve forest management at these sites with respect to MAPs has therefore built on
existing structures and procedures.
According to FRLHT’s ideas, sustainability for MAPs is conceived as related to both
ecology and livelihoods, with the quality of the product a further consideration. Aspects
of livelihood sustainability include sustainable trade, sustainable income and security of
healthcare. On the quality front, FRLHT points out that good quality material can be
more medically effective and have a higher selling price than an equivalent quantity of
indifferent material. It is a very common problem in India (and indeed around the world)
for collectors to harvest sub-standard (e.g. under-size or immature) produce, even when
they know that this is not sustainable. This is because collectors nearly always work on
their own accounts and think that, if they don’t harvest the plants, someone else will.
Efforts to improve the management of MAPs at the two sites have benefited from
applied research carried out since 2003 by FRLHT in collaboration with the
Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, UK90, 91. The approach taken,
combining participatory methods with scientific rigour, involves monitoring the recovery
and regeneration of selected species within permanent sample plots. Three types of
treatment have been compared: habitual harvesting (‘business as usual’), no harvesting,
and improved harvesting (i.e. more sustainable). Improved harvesting methods were
chosen by the Task Teams based on local knowledge. As an example, a method of
harvesting which might be considered more sustainable could involve collecting only
parts of tubers, leaving the rest in the ground to re-grow, rather than removing the
whole lot.
A Task Team has been carrying out this research at each site. These report to their local
Village Forest Committees (VFCs, established for JFM). The Task Teams are composed of
villagers with a special interest in medicinal plants, such as folk healers, collectors,
members of women’s self-help groups, local traders in medicinal plants, and teachers. The
landowner (the Forest Department) is represented. The Forest Department and the
VFCs have granted the Task Teams a degree of devolved authority to manage the
medicinal plants in the MPDAs.
Members of the Task Team at Savandurga,
India, with a sign explaining methods of
sustainable harvesting for four species of
medicinal plants (Case study 14).
Photo AH.
Project aim, activities and achievements
The aim was to test the applicability of the sustainability standard at the two sample
sites, particularly with reference to the ability of local communities to understand its
principles and criteria, and translate them into practical reality. The assessment was
carried out by an independent expert (Mr M.K. Misra) in April 2007, principally through
village interviews and discussions. Earlier introductory visits by Mr Misra prepared the
ground. The conclusions reached have benefited from responses to a simple
questionnaire distributed to senior officials.
The consultation found that the local people at both sites had little understanding of the
concept of sustainability prior to the efforts of FRLHT. There was also general ignorance
about the legal status of most species, except for a few which had been banned from
wild harvest. On marketing, it was agreed that the receipt of market information ahead
of sales would be very useful for the local people.
Problems were reported in involving local traders in efforts to improve the management
of MAPs, although at Savandurga, a local trader did eventually become interested, once
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he realised he could obtain higher prices for the fruits of Limonia if harvested according
to sustainability guidelines. At Agumbe, a trader revealed that he had supported the
work through advising his labour force to collect MAPs according to sustainable
harvesting prescriptions. The example quoted involves fruits (Garcinia), just as at
Savandurga. It may be that sustainability will be much easier to achieve with fruits than
with bark or roots. In somewhat contradiction to the positive remarks of the Agumbe
trader, women at Agumbe revealed that “labourers from outside the village were destroying
their valuable resources”.
Overall, the evaluation concluded that the Task Team at Savandurga would be able to
undertake a species-specific testing of the sustainability standard, having considerable
knowledge of some aspects of MAPs – such as what, where, when and how to collect,
although they seemed less certain about monitoring. On the other hand, it was also
concluded that the Task Team at Savandurga would be unlikely to invest much time and
other resources into actually achieving greater sustainability for MAPs unless
circumstances change. Task Team members considered that they have insufficient
authority over the forest to be sure of receiving financial rewards for any efforts that
they make. The evaluation concluded that the Forest Department too is unlikely to make
much effort to improve the management of medicinal plants, being short of time and
committed individuals.
Demonstration of how to harvest the
roots of the medicinal climber Decalepis
hamiltonii in an improved way (leaving
some of the root in the ground to regrow),
Savandurga, India (Case study 14).
Photo AH.
Except for one Forest Guard, local people at Agumbe had no idea about IUCN
categorisations for threatened species (as used in Red Data Books), so there were
doubts about how to apply Principle 1 of the sustainability standard. After discussion, it
was agreed that an alternative practical way to meet Principle 1 might be to build a local
consensus about the endangerment of species, with a listing into three categories –
those not to be collected, those that can be collected but carefully, and those that can
be freely harvested. This does not, of course, take account of the wider conservation
status of the species (considering its whole range), but only the local situation.
The overall conclusion from this consultation is that the sustainability standard is a well
thought-out document and (after explanation) is understandable by all types of
stakeholders at the level of Principles.
Prospects
There were questions about the practicality of some of the criteria and indicators in the
Indian context, especially relating to expense. To quote: “The amount of money generated
by the sale of these naturally occurring raw materials or by charging a cess (tax) will not be
enough for the programmes mentioned in the document”. Another major issue identified is
the question of who will be responsible for pursuing the sustainability standard at
particular sites. Neither the Forest Department nor the local communities would have
pursued sustainability for medicinal plants at Savandurga or Agumbe (let alone
considered the sustainability standard), if they had been left to their own devises. NGOs
such as FRLHT might sometimes be able to help, but “the main responsibility towards
conservation should be of the herbal industry since it is the industry which is using the
bioresources on a commercial scale”. According to the evaluation report, industry is only
likely to act for reasons of financial advantage. Therefore it was concluded that there
should be exploration of the fiscal measures needed to push industry towards greater
involvement in MAP sustainability.
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PART 3: Commentary 10. Basis of the analysis
PART 3: Commentary
10. Basis of the analysis
This commentary reflects on lessons learnt from the case studies (numbered from CS1 to
CS14). We realise that community development is a long-term process and that the field
projects, as supported by Allachy Awards, have been short-term events. However, these
periods of support generally represent time-slices in longer projects or are the initial
stages of new projects intended to continue. Considering the range of phases in project
development represented, we detect considerable similarities in the approaches and
methods that the projects have adopted. Because of this, we feel that our case studies,
taken together, represent a reasonable sample of experiences in community-based
conservation of medicinal plants, allowing this analysis and preliminary conclusions on
‘lessons learnt’.
We recognise three fundamental elements for improving the conservation status of
medicinal plants: (1) community groups that put conservation measures into effect; (2)
favourable enabling environments; and (3) project teams as catalysts (Figure 2). In an
ideal world, the enabling environment would be adequately structured and empowered
to foster conservation without the need for an external stimulus. However, our world is
far from ideal. In the case of our case studies, the catalysts have mostly been nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), and in three instances research institutes (CS4,
CS9, CS10). Other types of organisation could certainly take this role, such as specialist
task forces established within government departments of forestry, culture or health.
Religious organisations would seem ideally placed to work at this intersection between
human welfare and environmental care.
Community group
interested in
medicinal plants
Project team
Enabling environment
Figure 2. Three fundamental elements in medicinal plant conservation.
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10. Basis of the analysis
The suggestions on principles, activities and conditions mentioned here are organised into
four sections based on the three elements shown in Figure 2, adding one more – on
modes of interaction between the project team and the community group. While
presenting these general conclusions, we are aware that they will not hold in all cases, and
also that many projects will concentrate on only a few of these points. We recommend a
modest approach, starting small and thinking carefully about how the project can best
evolve as it proceeds. In any case, a fundamental principle in community-based
conservation is to approach each site, social group or person as unique92.
For the purpose of discussion, we have used a social model that assumes three levels in
socio-political organisation: (1) the community, (2) the district and (3) the state. The
community is taken as the level of social organisation relevant to the direct field
management of medicinal plants, and the district to be associated with the local
headquarters of government agencies, such as forestry departments, and often
dominated by people of particular ethnic or cultural type (and thus with certain
established ways of relating to medicinal plants). In the real world, each place will have
its own peculiarities in the way that society is organised and in the specific institutions
relevant to the conservation of medicinal plants.
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11. Suggestions for project teams
11. Suggestions for project teams
All the projects used the concept of the project team, normally with a core element of
a small number of highly motivated and educated people. Some members of most teams
had a particular expertise in ethnobotany. In some cases, frequent contacts with the
communities were made by younger members of the teams, with more senior members
providing overall guidance and heavyweight assistance when negotiating with officials. It
can be advantageous for some members of project teams to be of the same ethnicity as
members of the communities (as was the case with many of the case studies), since they
are then more likely to be knowledgeable about local customs and to have an intuitive
understanding of how members of the community think.
Project teams should come well prepared with knowledge about the districts and
communities with which they will work. Sources of information can include
publications, grey literature (government reports etc), discussions with experts and, when
resources allow, original research. Useful types of research can include the availability and
viability of medicinal plants (CS9), livelihood analysis (CS7), stakeholder analysis (CS7,
CS8, CS10) and commercial trade in medicinal plants (CS3).
A helpful activity can be a district stakeholder meeting (CS5, CS7,CS8) to determine
how the project can best contribute to district development, identify key district
partners for project involvement and suggest communities suitable for field activities.
Criteria for selecting communities may include strong involvement with medicinal plants,
the estimated likelihood that the benefits of the project will continue once it closes and
the usefulness of sites for demonstration purposes.
Medicinal plant conservation is based on a local interest in medicinal plants. Therefore,
identification of the institutions that support knowledge about medicinal plants
will be an important task for project teams. Some of these institutions will be
community-based, for example the family and collecting groups, but others will be
represented at district level. These may include religious organisations (CS6), ethnic
associations (CS8) and community forest groups (CS8). At Tooro (CS1), a district
network for organic agriculture has been critical for project delivery.
The project in Kenya (CS4) established a formal advisory group composed of experts
from a variety of disciplines (conservation, forestry, health, culture), meeting twice a year to
keep the project on track and provide a valuable link between policy and the field. Many
projects have benefitted from good relationships with a range of experts (in
government agencies and NGOs, also academics), who have been able to offer assistance as
occasion demands. Conservation of medicinal plants is a multi-disciplinary challenge involving
botany, ecology, sociology and economics in which project teams may be able to deal with
many matters directly themselves, but will certainly benefit from help at other times.
Because of the great demands placed on project teams, especially field workers, it is useful if
attention in projects is given to capacity building within the project team (CS6).
Project teams should normally include local community members, as was the practice
with several of our case studies (e.g. CS2, CS8, CS10). Care must be paid in their selection
to ensure that the individuals concerned are well received by the communities and not just
serving their own interests. In CS8 and CS10, much of the continuing work in the
communities was undertaken by local team members, backed up by regular supporting
visits by professional team members – an arrangement which seems to have worked well.
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11. Suggestions for project teams
Most project teams have regarded awareness-raising to be an important task and
community groups can also see this as a priority (CS10). The need for awareness-raising
may seem surprising when many members of communities are in almost daily contact
with medicinal plants, but the fact is that people have many things to think about as they
go about their daily lives and perhaps it is a normal human trait to accept the existing
state of affairs as ‘the way things are’ without thinking too much about how they might
be improved. The case study of Ladakh (CS6) reported that villagers had not thought
much about links between medicinal plants and their supply, even though they have high
dependence on them medically. There was little understanding of the concept of
sustainability among local people in Karnataka, despite their membership of Forest
Community Groups and having a strong interest in medicinal plants (CS14).
The case studies have used a variety of techniques for awareness-raising about
medicinal plants. The projects at Nyeri (CS4B), Ladakh (CS6) and Rasuwa (CS8)
mounted herbal medical camps to treat sick people (connected with a religious
pilgrimage at CS8). At Miandam (CS5), schools were identified as the key arena for
awareness-raising and a schools’ programme was developed. Medicinal plant gardens
for demonstration and training purposes have been established at Tooro (CS1) and
Ludian (CS10).
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12. Interactions between project teams and communities
12. Interactions between project
teams and communities
Project teams should be able to bring several qualities to their work, among them
commitment to particular communities, including for the longer term, although it
is recognized that there are many uncertainties about future funding, especially for
NGOs. Setbacks, as will inevitably happen, should be faced resolutely, as they have been
in our case studies with drought (CS2) and civil unrest (CS1, CS4, CS5, CS8). If project
teams join in ordinary village life when they visit communities, then this will help to
build trust (CS5), an essential ingredient in community-based projects.
Joint research by community members and
a member of the project team (Mr Kaisang
N.Tamang of Manekor Society Nepal – on
the right) (Case study 8). They are
undertaking desktop research, compiling
lists of medicinal plants collected by the
community for sale and making sketch
maps showing where they occur.
Photo AH.
Project success depends on raising the capacities for conservation within communities.
A basic task for project teams, as recognised in several case studies, is the capacitybuilding of community groups, these being seen as composed of local people with
a special interest in medicinal plants. Such groups are perceived as instrumental for
pushing forward development based on medicinal plants within their communities.
The existence of suitable, already established, groups is very helpful for accelerating
progress. Their primary concerns may not necessarily be medicinal plants. In our case
studies, the primary interests of established groups have included agriculture (CS1),
tree planting (CS4A), healthcare (CS4B), women’s affairs (CS4C) and forest
management (CS8).
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12. Interactions between project teams and communities
Where project teams have helped form new community groups (CS2, CS3, CS5,
CS10), these have been composed of people with a central interest in medicinal plants.
Attention has been paid to how their membership is constituted so that they are
perceived as serving the whole community. In southern India (CS12, CS14), community
groups (termed Task Forces) were formed prior to the present programme under the
umbrella of existing Village Forest Committees. Their members include traditional
doctors, representatives of women’s groups, local forestry staff and local traders in herbs
(who proved to be little interested). Several projects have taken pains to ensure a good
representation of men and women. In the case of Miandam (CS5), separate groups were
established for each gender; in such cases, conservation success will depend on how well
these groups can negotiate with one another to ensure a fair distribution of duties and
benefits with respect to medicinal plants. In Ladakh (CS6), care was taken to ensure a
fair representation of different religions, to avoid divisiveness along this line.
Local healers have proved very important members of new community groups (for
example at CS5, CS10, CS12) and also women (CS3) – because of their home carer
role. In the China/India/UK Dialogue (CS13), its was concluded that the inclusion of folk
healers in community groups is critical to success. So far, migrant herders have not been
included in any of the groups, as they eventually should be in the western Himalayas
(CS5, CS6).
Joint research by project teams and community groups is an excellent way to identify
key issues and devise practical solutions for their resolution. It allows the bringing
together of knowledge and skills from both the scientific and customary domains.
Project teams need to be cautious about imposing their own priorities on
communities, which may be orientated more towards species and habitats than
developmental concerns93.
A variety of participatory research and ethnobotanical techniques can be used74, 94.
Subjects of research can include the identification of priority sites and species for
conservation, the development of improved ways of managing wild medicinal plants, the
promotion of cultivation, the use of herbal medicines for home healthcare, and the
improvement of community income when medicinal plants are sold. Exchange visits are
a useful tool for exchanging lessons between communities (CS2).
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13. Suggestions for community groups
13. Suggestions for community groups
Whatever their origins, community groups will require wider recognition within their
communities if they are to succeed. In some cases official recognition will be needed
(CS10). Another early job is to identify local priorities with respect to medicinal
plants. These are most likely to be framed initially in terms of providing healthcare,
income generation for the community or support for cultural traditions, and only
secondarily in terms of species or habitats.
A key subject to address is how to strengthen the management of wild medicinal
plants. This will require the establishment of a community group or groups to take care
of the designated areas. The best social arrangements will vary according to the location.
The community group with which the project team initially interacted at Miguye (CS4A)
is itself taking charge of a self-declared 50-acre medicinal plants conservation area. On
the other hand, it was thought best to establish a separate sub-committee to manage
the two new medicinal plant conservation areas at Ludian (CS10). The Ludian Medicinal
Plants Conservation Association (which deals with all matters relating to medicinal
plants, not just these reserves) is represented on this sub-committee. When
communities are collecting on each other’s lands, then an umbrella group is needed to
bring all concerned together to agree on their various rights and responsibilities (CS8).
With our case studies, the motivations behind the commitments of community
members to join the management teams of conservation areas have included their
concern for maintaining both healthcare and income (CS4A, CS6, CS8, CS10).
The ability of community groups to improve the management of wild medicinal plants
will depend on their recognised authority over the land or at least over its medicinal
resources. There is thus a close connection to land tenure and resource rights.
There is often a lack of clarity about these matters in the sorts of places where the case
study projects are sited. Several of these projects have obtained (CS8, CS10) or are
seeking (CS4A) legal recognition of their rights over the resources. In the case of
Rasuwa (CS8), these rights have been assigned within the broader framework of a joint
forest management agreement. Similar arrangements will be needed at Sango Bay (CS2)
and Mbeere (CS4C), once agreements have been reached on the rights and duties of the
communities in the forest reserves with respect to medicinal plants.
Priority areas and species for improved management need to be identified. Several
different geographical scales may be relevant to developing the management system, with
management prescriptions becoming increasingly precise as the scale decreases. The first
step is to establish the boundaries of the medicinal plants conservation area as a whole.
At Ludian (CS10), this was achieved through the two villages concerned each selecting
that part of its community forest with the best representation of medicinal plants. These
areas are quite large at 300 and 330 hectares; in such cases, it is likely that medicinal
plants will be concentrated in smaller patches. At Rasuwa (CS8), about six such smaller
patches were recognised within the Community Forest for which a trial management
plan was developed, and these patches were then subject to more detailed attention.
Although this stage was not reached with any of the case studies, community groups will
eventually need to develop monitoring systems based on even smaller areas. One
suggestion is to establish a number of fixed points within a medicinal plants conservation
area, which the management team can visit annually to jointly assess the state of the
species and their habitats.
Farmer growing chiraito (Swertia chirayita)
on the banks between his terraced fields,
Chilime, Nepal (Case study 8).
Photo Ram Poudel.
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13. Suggestions for community groups
There are many reasons why populations of wild plants may rise and fall – reasons that
will often be not or barely understood. Because of this, an adaptive approach should be
taken to the management of wild medicinal plants, based on periodic monitoring, reflection
on the results of this monitoring (and using any other information available), agreement by
the management team on the prescriptions needed to maintain or enhance the
populations of plants, and then public pronouncement and enforcement of the
prescriptions (Figure 3)95. Management tools can include rotational harvesting, collection
quotas, specifications for methods of harvesting96, steps to encourage regeneration or
regrowth, and enrichment planting (envisaged at CS3 & CS4C). Named collectors can be
given specific collection rights at specific places to avoid competitive collection.
Inventory and any
additional information
A community group involved in the
conservation of medicinal plants –
Kwamachembe Womens Self-help Group,
Mbeere, Kenya (Case study 4C). The
group is receiving equipment and
materials provided by the project.
Photo: Peris Kariuki
78
Monitoring
by community
Figure 3. Stages in adaptive management.
MEDICINAL PLANTS IN CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT
Reflections and agreement on
management prescriptions
Management prescriptions (made
known to the community)
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13. Suggestions for community groups
When communities are collecting medicinal plants from government land, for example in
protected areas or forest reserves (such as in CS2, CS4C, CS8), then agreements will
be needed between the communities and government agencies on the rights and
responsibilities of the communities in the reserves. Specific agreements on medicinal plants
can be incorporated as special sections within general agreements on joint forest
management (JFM). JFM is already common in India and Nepal (CS8, CS13) and is being
developed in East Africa. There is much to be said for incorporating medicinal plants into
JFM agreements, given the high value that communities usually accord these resources. Their
high status has the potential to enhance community interest in the conservation of the
forest as a whole. Project teams can help communities negotiate terms of agreement on
medicinal plants with forestry departments, as happened at Rasuwa (CS8).
If cultivation is considered (as with most of our case studies), then there are questions about
how nurseries are to be established and which species to plant. From experience in Kenya
(CS4), it has been suggested that nurseries are best placed under communal management,
perhaps associated with schools or churches, although at Rasuwa (CS8), good progress was
made with private nurseries. Nurseries at the community level can sometimes be usefully linked
to resource centres at the district level, as at Tooro (CS1) and in southern India (CS12).
Growing medicinal plants alone may not always be economically viable and some of the case
studies have moved towards mixed nurseries, including such sellable commodities as the
seedlings of fuelwood and fruit trees (CS3, CS4A, CS4C). Species to grow in nurseries should
have been previously identified as local priorities, but other medicinal species can be offered,
such as those determined as conservation priorities through research in urban markets. Such
species might be taken up by local entrepreneurs willing to take a risk in the interest of
potential profit. Seedlings from nurseries should generally be sold (rather than distributed freeof-charge), because it is known that they will then be given greater care and anyway nurseries
should aim at financial self-sufficiency.
Cultivation techniques should have been already established for medicinal plants that are
distributed to the public (CS8). Several of the case study projects initiated research into the
propagation and cultivation of species, where this information was not locally known (CS2,
CS3, CS4B, CS9). Research on domestication should take account of local knowledge
about the species – traditional doctors, in particular, often grow a variety of medicinal plants
in their backyards24, 39, 97 and may be aware of especially promising local varieties. Where
possible, seeds or other propagation materials for nursery trials should be obtained from
local sources, as an aid to the conservation of genetic diversity and because these plants will
likely be adapted to local conditions.
Cultivation protocols developed by projects should be relevant to the environments where
the plants will be grown and to the people who will grow them. A major consideration can be a
severe shortage of agricultural land, as at the localities of many of our case studies. In East
Africa, it has been recommended that medicinal plants should be integrated into farming
systems, for instance inter-planted among food crops or grown in multi-layered home gardens
(CS1, CS4). According to theories of organic agriculture, the growing of a diversity of plants may
generate benefits across species, for instance some medicinal species may help to protect food
crops against disease. In the Himalayas, the use of marginal land such as on field margins has
been recommended for the planting of medicinal plants. This avoids the displacement of food
crops, which could present an unacceptable risk to livelihood security (CS8).
FRLHT in Bangalore, which is very experienced in the field of home herbal healthcare,
has developed a protocol for introducing herbal gardens into homesteads (CS12).
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13. Suggestions for community groups
Recommended actions within each community include: (1) a listing of diseases and medical
conditions currently treated with herbal medicines; (2) the establishment of local criteria for
prioritising these diseases and conditions (for example, effectiveness of treatments, prevention
of loss of income, and so on); (3) prioritisation of the diseases and conditions, and listing the
species used for their treatments; (4) a community workshop to prioritise the species for
each disease or condition, to include the participation of local healers, western-trained
doctors and other experts; (5) desk research on the species to compare with information
already available – resulting in a shortlist of about 15 species to recommend to the
communities; and (6) training trainers from NGOs to deliver the herbal package. This is quite
similar to the approach followed at Tooro (CS1), though Tooro used a greater number of
species (32), with only half selected on the basis of local knowledge and the rest
‘internationally known’ herbs such as garlic and rosemary.
At Bunza (CS3), local people prefer to use fresh medicinal materials, which can result in the
harvesting of medicinal plants several times a day. Much of the material is wasted. The
existence of such practices demonstrates that project teams and community groups need to
take an interest in the details of how plants are collected and used, rather than just making
lists of medicinal species. In the Bunza case, the project team provided training in more
efficient methods of preparing and storing herbal concoctions.
Lack of good market information is a major constraint for communities in maximising
their income (e.g. CS3, CS5, CS7). A start has been made at Rasuwa (CS8) to tackle this
problem by undertaking a survey of traders in Kathmandu to identify those prepared to pay
better prices. This project has also tried to improve terms of trade between communities
and roadhead traders by encouraging discussions between them so that communities are
more aware of market requirements, including proper cleaning and sorting of materials,
which should help them obtain better prices. The community group and project team at
Ludian (CS10) are planning to help local producers form a cooperative to improve their
market information through assisting with access to the internet, on which current market
prices for Chinese herbs are posted. In Uganda, JERA (CS3) has tried to develop improved
linkages between producers at Bunza and traditional doctors in Kampala, based on the
mutually beneficial formula of assured supplies of good quality produce for fair prices.
There is still a long way to go in improving sales prices for communities. One approach is
value addition. Even simple steps are often needed – collecting the right species, cleaning,
drying, grading and storage. JERA has helped a number of communities near Bunza (CS3)
develop primary processing for medicinal plants, including pulverisation to prepare powders
from raw materials and even manufacture of some finished products. The project team at
Chamoli (CS7) has identified some potential opportunities for communities, being aware
that some species growing in abundance at Chamoli have value in Indian markets, but are
not currently being commercially collected by the Chamoli people. Certification as a way of
obtaining market advantage is probably not usually a viable option when selling to local
markets in East Africa and the Himalayas (CS14), but might work when sales are directed
towards ethically minded consumers in Europe or the USA. The often prohibitively high
costs of certification can be reduced to more realistic levels if local certification companies
emerge, as has recently happened with organic certification in Uganda.
Community groups should engage in activities to ensure that traditional knowledge about
medicinal plants is remembered and appreciated within their communities. Methodologies
can include the establishment of cultural centres (CS8), the development of medicinal plant
gardens (CS1, CS10) and schools’ programmes based on local ethnobotany (CS5).
80
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14. Suggestions for the enabling environment
14. Suggestions for the enabling
environment
Governments can create more favourable conditions for the conservation of medicinal
plants if their policies are supportive of indigenous groups and minorities. They can
do so through recognising that the “knowledge and experiences (of such people) are
valuable, interesting, important, and relevant to outsiders, scientists, and government
workers – and that it has a wider significance than to just their own village”3. Such
acknowledgement of the value of traditional knowledge has not always been achieved. In
the past, it has “tended to be shunned, denigrated and seen as inauthentic by health
officials and foresters”3. This problem is not confined to East Africa and Himalayan
countries. From the late 19th century, ‘scientific’ foresters in Britain accorded the same low
value to traditional knowledge of forest management, only correcting this stance towards
the end of the 20th century, by which time most traditional knowledge had been lost98.
Medicinal Plants Conservation Park,
Gramodaya, India (Case study 12). The
ladies are buying seedlings of medicinal
plants to take back to their villages.
Participants in the international
conservation course in the background.
Photo AH.
Several of the countries of the case studies have national organisations serving as
centres of information on medicinal plants. They include government-connected
research institutes, such as the National Museums of Kenya (CS4) and the Kunming
Institute of Botany in China (CS10), and well established NGOs like FRLHT in India
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14. Suggestions for the enabling environment
(CS12, CS14). These organisations have demonstrated their abilities to stimulate
conservation and development based on medicinal plants, and should be properly
supported. There is potential for other types of organisation to become similarly engaged,
such as national women’s groups, religious organisations and ethnic associations.
Organisations offering services on medicinal plants should have policies on
information sharing about medicinal plants that are consistent with the ‘access
and benefit sharing’ requirements of the Convention on Biological Diversity99, 100. From
the perspective of community-based conservation, the key consideration is that
information on medicinal plants useful for community development is available to the
communities. Of course, it is necessarily to take safeguards against theft of intellectual
property. However, much of the information useful for communities will be about
medicinal plants commonly used at household level or which are commonly traded. In
most cases, these will be well known medicinal species, with information about them
already published in the scientific literature. Concerns about theft of intellectual
property should accordingly be reduced.
Community development based on medicinal plants is a cross-disciplinary business, not
adequately covered by any one government ministry. Consideration should be given to
the establishment of one-stop resource centres for medicinal plants at the
district level, similar to the Medicinal Plants Conservation Parks that FRLHT has been
encouraging in India (CS12). There are already plans to develop such centres in Kenya
perhaps under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and Social Services. Many
botanical gardens are in a good position to take on this role (CS1)101.
Conservation departments should note a key finding of the Himalayan Important Plant
Area (IPA) project (CS11) that important areas for medicinal plants can be
recognised on several geographical scales36. We have concentrated on the smaller of
these scales here, as relevant to community conservation. On the larger scale, patterns
in the distribution of medicinal plants should be identified and taken into account in the
development of protected area networks. The principal objective should be to capture
a good sample of the total genetic diversity of medicinal species, considering not only
conditions today but also anticipated environmental change. On this basis, the
Himalayan IPA project (CS11) recommended that protected areas in the Himalayas
should ideally be sited to give a good west-east coverage along the axis of the range,
each should have a wide altitudinal range, and they should be connected to one
another by ecological corridors.
Forests are very important sources of medicinal plants both in East Africa and the
Himalayas. Governments in all the countries of our case studies have moved towards
greater recognition of community involvement in forest management over recent
years. However, there is still little experience within forestry departments about how best
to achieve this with respect to medicinal plants. It would be useful if the research
branches of forestry departments could establish standard operating procedures
which local forestry officers and park officials102 can then use, providing step-by-step
guidance for developing practical arrangements with their local communities. Forest
policy in China is unique in devolving much of the responsibility for forest management
down to the level of the individual household, rather than the community, as is normal in
most countries103. This unusual approach may prove helpful for improving the
conservation status of many medicinal plants, once forest owners realise the possibilities
that they offer for nurturing good populations of valuable medicinal plants.
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14. Suggestions for the enabling environment
In the case of agriculture, there is an urgent need to develop protocols for the
propagation and cultivation of important medicinal plants and make this information
known to communities. Another area where more effort is required is in improving the
availability of good quality planting materials, often a stumbling block in
developing community cultivation.
With respect to health policies, most of the countries of the case studies have
granted increased recognition to traditional medicine over recent years, but there
remain some gaps, as with Tibetan medicine in India and Nepal, and Naxi and Li Su
medicine in China (CS10). The development of national healthcare systems drawing on
all available medical expertise will be a complex and taxing business requiring many
years of work38, 103, 104.
The case studies have revealed a low level of interest among local traders in helping
develop improved systems of management for medicinal plants, although with glimmers
of hope at Bunza (CS3) and Rasuwa (CS8). Probably little can be expected from the
great majority of herbal and pharmaceutical companies acting on their own initiative and
government will have to enact tougher regulations in favour of sustainability for
much progress to be made (CS14).
On the cultural side, policies should try and tackle the problem of rapidly eroding
traditional knowledge of medicinal plants10, 38, 73, 105. Such knowledge is best preserved
through its practical application, but documentation is also urgently needed. The
experience in Kenya (CS4) is that communities can effectively document their
indigenous knowledge, once they have been provided with the tools to do so.
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References
Plantlife International, the wild plant
conservation charity, is a charitable
company limited by guarantee (Registered
in England, Charity Number 1059559,
Company Number 3166339). Plantlife’s
goal is to halt the loss of wild plant
diversity. We identify and conserve sites of
exceptional botanical importance, rescue
wild plants from the brink of extinction
and ensure that common plants don’t
become rare in the wild. We achieve this
by facilitating conservation work across
the globe, influencing policy and legislation
and collaborating widely to promote wild
plant conservation. Plantlife International
is the lead organisation for Target 5 of the
Global Strategy for Plant Conservation.
We also provide the secretariat for Planta
Europa, the pan-European network of over
70 organisations working for plant
conservation. HRH The Prince of Wales is
our Patron.
Published 2008 by Plantlife International
© Plantlife International November 2008
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-904749-15-8
Citation: Hamilton, A.C. (editor) (2008).
Medicinal plants in conservation and
development: case studies and lessons learnt.
Plantlife International, Salisbury, UK.
Photos by Alan Hamilton (AH) unless
otherwise indicated.
Sub-editing and proofreading by Sue Nottingham.
Disclaimer: The designations of geographical
entities in this publication do not imply the
expression of any opinion whatsoever on the
part of Plantlife International concerning the
legal status of any country, territory or area, or
of its authorities, or concerning the
delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
Acknowledgements
An international advisory group was formed
for the programme and has provided
invaluable help, including specific suggestions
for proposals submitted to Plantlife for
funding through Allachy Awards. The names of
members of the advisory group are listed on
the title page. Plantlife International is
immensely dedicated to all of them for their
unstinting support.
Plantlife acknowledges with gratitude the
foresight of Jane Smart in starting the Plant
Conservation and Livelihoods Programme.
Jane was the first Chief Executive of Plantlife
and is now Head of the Species Programme
of the International Union for Conservation
of Nature (IUCN). Another driving force
behind the programme was the late Richard
Sandbrook, a former Board member of
Plantlife and a visionary environmentalist.
Many thanks to Mark Nesbitt of the Royal
Botanic Gardens, Kew for undertaking
literature searches on Plantlife's behalf.
Plantlife is indebted to those who have
financially supported the programme, notably
the Allachy Trust, the Rufford Maurice Laing
Foundation, the Gurney Charitable Trust, the
Tanner Trust and Dr William Hamilton.
Partner organisations of Plantlife in this
programme would like to express their
acknowledgements as follows:
The Applied Environmental Research
Foundation (AERF) wishes to acknowledge the
support of the G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan
Ecology and Development (GBPIHED), the
High Altitude Plant Physiology Research
Centre (HAPPRC), HNB Garhwal University,
and Ankur (an NGO which promotes the
cultivation of medicinal plants in Uttarakhand).
The assistance of Dr R.K. Maikhuri, Dr A.R.
Nautiyal and Mr Sudarshan Singh Kathait was
instrumental in achieving the project’s success.
The Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and
the Environment (ATREE) sincerely
acknowledges the co-operation of the Forest
Department of Sikkim and the Forest
Department of West Bengal for granting
permission for their work. The Botanical Survey
of India Himalayan Circle (Gangtok), Lloyd
Botanical Garden Herbarium and the
Herbarium at North Bengal University were
immensely helpful in undertaking a preliminary
screening of the habitats of the targeted
species. Mr Bijoy Gurung, Director of the State
Medicinal Plants Board (Government of Sikkim),
provided various types of help and is sincerely
acknowledged.
The Ethnobotanical Society of Nepal (ESON)
thanks the District Forest Office, Langtang
National Park and Buffer Zone Council of
Rasuwa. Thanks are also due to Mr Kaisang N.
Tamang (President, Manekor Society Nepal), Mr
Binod Poudel (President, Federation of
Community Forest User Groups Nepal, Rasuwa
Branch) and Ms Kabita Ghale (Social Mobilizer)
for their very active support and close
cooperation.
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Centre for Development (CCD, Madurai),
Pichandikulam Forests, Auroville and Arya
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plants cultivation and conservation. They also
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Cover photo: A small part of the medicinal plant market at Dali,Yunnan, China. Photo AH.
MEDICINAL PLANTS IN CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT
MEDICINAL PLANTS IN CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT
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Contact information
Applied Environmental Research
Foundation (AERF), C-10 Natya Chitra
Co-op Society (Kalagram), Bhusari Colony,
Pune 411029, India.
www.aerfindia.org.
Email: [email protected]
Kunming Institute of Botany
(Applied Ethnobotany Research
Group), Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Heilongtan, Kunming 650204, Yunnan,
People’s Republic of China.
www.kib.ac.cn
Ashoka Trust for Research in
Ecology and the Environment
(ATREE), Eastern Himalayas Programme,
E2, Golden Heights, Gandhi Road,
Darjeeling 734 101, West Bengal, India.
www.atree.org
Ladakh Society for Traditional
Medicines (LSTM), P.O Box 97, Leh,
Ladakh, Jamu and Kashmir, India,
Tel +91 1982251 537.
Email: [email protected]
Ethnobotanical Society of Nepal
(ESON), 107 Guchcha Marg, New Road,
GPO 5220, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Tel +977 16213406.
www.eson.org.np
Foundation for Revitalisation of
Local Health Traditions (FRLHT),
74/2 Jarakabande Kaval, Post Attur,
Via Yelahanka, Bangalore 560064, India.
www.frlht
NOMAD Recherche et Soutien
Internatonal, 11 rue Lantiez, 75017
Paris , France.
www.nomadrsi.org
Uganda Group of the African
Network of Ethnobiology
(UGANEB), P.O. Box 16453
Wandegeya, Uganda
World Wide Fund for Nature
(WWF-Pakistan), Ferozepur Road,
Lahore- 54600, P.O. Box 5180, Pakistan.
Tel: +92 42 111 993725.
www.wwfpak.org
Yangzhou University (College of
Bioscience and Biotechnology),
Yangzhou 225009, Jiang Su Province,
People’s Republic of China
Further information on the case studies is
available on Plantlife’s website:
www.plantlife.org.uk
Plantlife International,
14 Rollestone Street, Salisbury,
Wiltshire SP1 1DX, UK.
Tel +44 (0)1722 342730. Fax: +44 (0)1722
329035. www.plantlife.org.uk.
Email: [email protected]
Plantlife International - The Wild Plant Conservation Charity
14 Rollestone Street, Salisbury Wiltshire SP1 1DX.
Telephone +44 (0)1722 342730 Fax +44 (01722 329 035
[email protected] www.plantlife.org.uk
Plantlife International -The Wild Plant Conservation Charity is a charitable company limited by guarantee.
Registered charity Number: 1059559. Registered Company Number: 3166339 © 2008
MEDICINAL PLANTS IN CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT
ISBN: 978-1-904749-15-8
Design: www.rjpdesign.co.uk
Print: www.crownlitho.co.uk
Joint Ethnobotanical Research and
Advocacy (JERA), P.O Box 27901,
Kampala, Uganda.
Tel +256-712212006/+256-712747798.
Email: [email protected]
National Museums of Kenya,
P.O. Box 40658-00100, Nairobi, Kenya
Tel +254 20 3742131.
Fax + 254 20 3741424 .
www.museums.or.ke.
Email: [email protected]
Tooro Botanical Gardens,
P.O. Box 840, Fort Portal, Uganda