Medicinal Plant Conservation Through the United Nations Environment Program Goes to Press, the Process of Renewing the Membership (UNEP)
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MEDICINAL Medicinal Plant PLANT SPECIALIST GROUP Conservation Silphion Volume 8 Newsletter of the Medicinal Plant Specialist Group of the IUCN Species Survival Commission Chaired by Danna J. Leaman Chair’s note. 2 Taxon File A project of indigenous communities in Namibia Fairwell to a pathmaker, Chusa Gines – to cultivate Harpagophytum procumbens – Danna Leaman . 3 F.F. Kumba, J.Z.U. Kaurivi & H. Katjivena . 24 Certification and sustainability Conferences and Meetings Certification and benefit-sharing mechanisms in Coming up – Natalie Hofbauer . 27 the field of non-wood forest products – an overview – Sven Walter . 3 Recent Events Strategies to promote sustainable and ethical raw Report of the CAMP Workshop in Nepal – material sourcing in the botanicals industry: Nirmal Bhattarai, Madhav Karki & Vinay results from an industry survey – Tandon. 28 Sarah A. Laird & Alan R. Pierce . 9 International workshop on endangered medicinal plant species in Himachal Pradesh – Hemant Regional File K. Badola. 30 The role of east and southeast Europe in the Symposium “Industrial leadership for the preser- medicinal and aromatic plants’ trade – vation of medicinal and aromatic plants – Dagmar Lange . 14 Michael McGuffin . 31 Hawkers of health: Johannesburg’s street traders of traditional medicine, South Africa – Short notice Vivienne L. Williams. 18 Investing in Nature . 32 Conservation of medicinal plants in Central MedPlant Website – Danna Leaman . 32 America and the Caribbean: a GEF project begins – Sonia Lagos-Witte . 21 Reviews and Notices of Publication . 32 List of Members . 37 ISSN 1430-95X 1 June 2002 venue for a broader regional discussion of the role of Chairs’s Note the MPSG and partners in South and South-East Asia. In Central America and the Caribbean, the TRAMIL network has just received a Medium-Sized Project MPSG membership and restructuring grant from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), As this eighth volume of Medicinal Plant Conservation through the United Nations Environment Program goes to press, the process of renewing the membership (UNEP). This project will expand the work of the of the Medicinal Plant Specialist Group (MPSG) for the TRAMIL network into medicinal plant conservation current IUCN triennium (2001–2003) continues. As I activities in the Dominican Republic, Panama, reported in Volume 7 (August 2001), we are organizing Nicaragua, and Honduras. The MPSG is considered a regional sub-groups with regional Vice-Chairs. Re- co-funder through our contribution of time and effort invitation of current members and invitation of new to the proposal and to the project. As regional Vice- members, traditionally the responsibility of the Chair, Chair, Sonia Lagos-Witte (who coordinates the GEF will be shared with the regional Vice-Chairs. I am opti- project) will be working to establish an MPSG sub- mistic that the restructuring process will help us to work group in conjunction with the implementation of the more effectively with and through our members. Our GEF project and the development of a broader regio- membership currently stands at nearly 70 individuals nal Centres of Medicinal Plant Diversity project. At worldwide. As we review MPSG membership within the upcoming VIII Latin American Botanical the regional sub-groups, we are considering the indi- Congress (Cartagena, October 2002 – see meeting vidual skills we will need to work towards our regio- announcements in this issue) Sonia and I are coordi- nal and global objectives, including the appointment nating a Round Table discussion on Conservation and of regional Red List Authorities (www.redlist.org/ Sustainable Use of Medicinal Plants. We hope to info/programme.html) and the establishment of encourage a discussion of the role of the MPSG and regional nodes for participation of the MPSG in the other groups in Latin America within this venue. new IUCN/SSC Species Information Service (www. Programme development iucn.org/themes/ssc/programs/sisindex.htm). We are also working on clearer linkages between the MPSG Last year we began to work with IDRC to develop the and other groups and institutions that will make our concept of regional Centres of Medicinal Plant own efforts stronger. Diversity (CMPD) as a programme structure for pro- jects undertaken in partnership with the IDRC regio- We are furthest along in organizing regional MPSG sub- nal medicinal plant research networks and other part- groups in South Asia and in Central America/Caribbean. ners. At present we are drafting a proposal for fund- A brief organizing meeting for the South Asia sub- ing that will support the more detailed design of group was held on 22 January 2001 in Pokhara, regional CMPD projects. Nepal, in conjunction with a medicinal plant conser- vation assessment workshop in Nepal (see the report MPSG Listserv and Website in this issue). Eight MPSG members were able to We have made some progress towards setting up an attend (Vinay Tandon, Bhishma Subedi, Nirmal MPSG members’ listserv and establishing a website. Bhattarai, S.B. Malla, S. Vedavathy, V.P.K. Nambiar, The Information Management Group within the G.S. Rawat, and Danna Leaman). This group discuss- IUCN Secretariat is now able to provide listserv sup- ed ways to encourage the participation and collabora- port to Specialist Groups, although each group must tion of members and supportive institutions from all manage its own list. Natalie Hofbauer, who coordina- countries in the region, and agreed to the appointment tes the publication of this newsletter and manages the of Vinay Tandon as regional Vice-Chair. The South MPSG membership list, has agreed to set up and Asia sub-group will be identifying members who can manage an MPSG listserv. Rolie Srivastava, who act as national focal points, and developing a regional coordinates the MedPlant website (see the report in MPSG programme. The sub-group has received some this issue), has agreed to provide listserv backup. We set-up funding from the Medicinal and Aromatic hope to have the listserv up and running soon. (MPSG Plant Programme in Asia – MAPPA (which is sup- members: Please send your up-dated contact details ported by Canada’s International Development to Natalie Hofbauer.) Research Centre – IDRC and the Ford Foundation). We have wanted to create an MPSG website for seve- The 3rd World Congress on Medicinal and Aromatic ral years, but have encountered three obstacles: fin- Plants for Human Welfare (WOCMAP-III), planned ding a host server, website design, and website for Chiang Mai, Thailand, February 2003 (see mee- management. The first obstacle has been removed – ting announcements in this volume), could provide a the IUCN is now able to host Specialist Group web- 2 Medicinal Plant Conservation 8 sites, although these sites still must be created and by a single development agency. Today, IDRC sup- managed by each group. Antoine Morin, a professor ports medicinal plant research programmes and net- of Biology at the University of Ottawa, has provided works in South Asia, Central America and the valuable advice on website structure and content, and Caribbean, the Southern Cone of South America, and we now own a website address (mpsg.org). We may in Eastern, Western, and Southern Africa. Chusa had a have overlooked the possibility that there is a talented guiding hand in all of this. Chusa was not a member webmaster within our own membership who might of MPSG, but she was a valuable partner. be willing to work on the design and take on site In 2001, Chusa was seconded by IDRC to coordinate management – please let me know! a research project on strategies for integrating small- Acknowledgements scale end-users in cassava biotechnology, based in Quito, Ecuador. This took her back to her PhD roots in I have acknowledged above a few of the MPSG mem- biotechnology and molecular genetics. She was a pas- bers and others who have contributed time and energy senger on the TAME airliner that crashed on the sum- to the work of our group over the last few months. mit of a volcano on the border of Ecuador and There are others I haven’t named, including the con- Colombia on 28 January, 2002. There were no survi- tributors to this newsletter, who regularly do the work vors. At a memorial service in Old Chelsea, Quebec, a that has placed the MPSG amongst the most produc- friend recounted Chusa’s indomitable approach to tive of the IUCN SSC Specialist Groups, both through adversity: “It took a mountain to stop her – and only their individual efforts and with the support of their because she didn’t see it coming.” home organizations. Thanks to Uwe Schippmann, Natalie Hofbauer, and the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) for the preparation, production, and mailing of Medicinal Plant Conservation. To Certification and sustainability Uwe, congratulations on the publication of Volume 2 of the Medicinal Plant Conservation Bibliography, which enables access to an enormous resource of lite- Certification and benefit-sharing rature relevant to our work. mechanisms in the field of non-wood forest products – an overview Farewell to a pathmaker, Chusa Gines Sven Walter Danna Leaman Non-wood forest products (NWFP)1 such as edible In the shifting tides of international development as- fruits and nuts, mushrooms, gums, resins, aromatic sistance, occasionally one encounters a strong swim- plants, bushmeat or honey contribute significantly to mer who cuts across the currents to open sea. Maria the satisfaction of daily subsistence needs, in particu- Jesus Gines (known to everyone as Chusa) had this lar for rural populations in developing countries. The rare capacity. As a Programme Officer, Chief Scien- total value of world trade in NWFP is estimated at tist, and Team Leader in Canada’s International De- US$11 billion (FAO 1993). The general direction of velopment Research Centre’s Biodiversity program- trade in these products is from developing to develop- me, Chusa never failed to grasp, with warmth, recog- ed countries (VANTOMME 2001).