Medicinal plant conservation

Medicinal plant conservation strategies need to be understood and planned for based on an understanding of indigenous knowledge and practices. Many drugs contain herbal ingredients, and it has been said that 70–80% of the world's population relies on some form of non-conventional medicine and around 25–40% of all prescription drugs contain active ingredients derived from plants in the United States alone. Many countries rely on these medicinal plants for the health and well-being of their populations, but market demand has led to increased pressure on the natural resources that contribute to the production of some of these plants. The most serious proximate threats when extracting medicinal plants are generally habitat loss, habitat degradation, and overharvesting. Developing markets for natural products, particularly those harvested from the wild, can trigger a demand that cannot be met by available or legal supplies and demands a conservation initiative. This ensures that local populations are not exploited, causing more damage to their resources. Populations are often taken advantage of for their resources and knowledge, which can often be for financial gain. Conservation of medicinal plants from a biocultural perspective not only implies conservation of biodiversity but also places equal emphasis on the conservation of cultural diversity.

Around the globe

Asia represents one of the most important centers of knowledge regarding the use of plant species for treating various diseases. Kunwar states that it has been estimated that the Himalayan region harbors over 10,000 species of medicinal and aromatic plants, supporting the livelihoods of about 600 million people living in the area. In Nepal they use a traditional healing system called Ayurveda, which is influenced by Buddhism and Hinduism’s central ideas of balance in life. High-altitude medicinal plants provide quality products, and this is why they are often the first choice of local users as immediate therapy and by pharmaceutical companies as precious ingredients. Regarding profits made in the communities, up to 50% of Nepal’s rural households’ income is derived from the commercial collection of medicinal and aromatic plants.

KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa The Mnoqobokazi community has high unemployment rates and a high reliance on subsistence agriculture and wild produce. Socioeconomic factors such as low education levels and lack of access to Western health care have been cited as important reasons for reliance on indigenous medicine in South Africa. Both villagers and healers in the area would cultivate one or more species because they could only be found far away, were frequently used, had to be fresh when used, or were planted as protection against witchcraft. Also, ten people from Mnqobokazi, mainly women, harvested plants commercially for conservation. An interview with a conservation officer at the Wetland Park claimed that harvesting of medicinal plants was not a problem in that area as it was further north. In other parts of South Africa, the most frequently used medicinal plants are slow-growing forest trees, where the bark and underground parts are mainly utilized. Because there is high demand for such resources, the trees are becoming endangered, and much of the collection is unrestricted. Regulations are now being placed on some of the resources that were originally exploited, and many schools and research facilities are working together to find new ways to foster these trees and still obtain what is needed from them by proposing substituting the bark or underground parts with leaves of the same plant.

Samoa has greatly influenced Western medicine in finding a cure for HIV/AIDS. New research shows that the isolation of prostratin, found in the bark of the Samoan mamala tree, Homalanthus nutans, has shown extreme potency against HIV-1. Both the National Cancer Institute and Brigham Young University have guaranteed to return a significant portion of any royalties to the Samoan people. Paul Alan Cox, an American ethnobotanist, raised money based on awareness of environmental degradation due to logging to protect the 30,000-acre (120 km²) lowland forest of Falealupo village on the island of Savai'i. The Swedish Society for the Conservation of Nature established three new indigenously controlled preserves. Controlled preserves cause controversy because, in traditional Polynesian societies, land, including the natural plant and animal populations it occupied, was viewed as sacred and an ancestral inheritance. Western approaches to conservation on indigenous land and within an indigenous community must collaborate and understand indigenous knowledge systems to conserve cultural identity. Paul Cox stated that, “the loss of these indigenous knowledge systems may yet prove to be one of the greatest tragedies of our age”. The U.S. National Park Service officials, the American Samoan Government, and the traditional chiefs (matai) and orators of the villages of Tafua agreed to lease their lands for 50 years to the U.S. National Park Service to protect American Samoa’s rain forests. The Tafua rain forest received funding from the Swedish International Development Authority, which was used to secure water supply, improve roads, and assist in the development of village-based environmental tourism in Tafua. Cox explains, “all parties to these agreements agree that any development of tourism must be village initiatives, rather than foreign initiatives, and must be carefully planned and controlled so that the Samoan culture in these areas is not jeopardized”.

Further reading

• Hawkins, B. (2008) Plants for life: Medicinal plant conservation and botanic gardens Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) ISBN 1-905164-21-1 Search this book on .

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