Review of the Status, Harvest, Trade and Management of Seven Asian CITES-listed Medicinal and Aromatic Plant Species Results of the R+D Project FKZ 804 86 003 Teresa Mulliken Petra Crofton BfN – Skripten 227 2008 PC17 Inf. 10 – p. 1 PC17 Inf. 10 – p. 2 Review of the Status, Harvest, Trade and Management of Seven Asian CITES-listed Medicinal and Aromatic Plant Species Results of the R+D Project FKZ 804 86 003 Teresa Mulliken Petra Crofton PC17 Inf. 10 – p. 3 Cover picture: Himalayan yew (Taxus wallichiana), Valley of Flowers National Park, Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve. Photo: SAMIR SINHA (TRAFFIC India) 2006. Authors: Teresa Mulliken TRAFFIC International 219a Huntingdon Road Cambridge CB3 0DL UK E-mail: [email protected] Petra Crofton c/o IUCN/SSC Wildlife Trade Programme 219 a Huntingdon Road Cambridge CB3 0DL UK This publication is included in the literature database “DNL-online” (www.dnl-online.de) BfN-Skripten are not available in book trade. 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Bonn, Germany 2008 PC17 Inf. 10 – p. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements.....................................................................................................................................4 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................5 Methods ........................................................................................................................................................7 CITES Medicinal Plant Species In Asia – Treasured Past, Threatened Future? ...................................9 Species accounts Desert Cistanche Cistanche deserticola .....................................................................................................17 Elephant’s Foot Dioscorea deltoidea...........................................................................................................27 Jatamansi Nardostachys grandiflora ...........................................................................................................41 Kutki Picrorhiza kurrooa ..............................................................................................................................61 Red Sanders Pterocarpus santalinus..........................................................................................................77 Snakeroot Rauvolfia serpentina ..................................................................................................................93 Himalayan Yew Taxus wallichiana ............................................................................................................113 Annexes Annex 1: ISO country codes.....................................................................................................................137 Annex 2: ISO language codes .................................................................................................................140 Annex 3: Guide to information within tables on CITES-reported trade ....................................................141 Review of Seven Asian CITES-listed Medicinal Plant Species 3 PC17 Inf. 10 – p. 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors wish to thank the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (Bundesamt für Natur- schutz, BfN) for funding this study, and particularly Dr Uwe Schippmann for his valuable inputs and sup- port throughout the research and writing process, and Natalie Hofbauer for her assistance. Special thanks are due to the TRAFFIC and IUCN staff who led research within Asia and the USA. The breadth and depth of the information provided here is a direct reflection of their efforts: Xu Hongfa and Liu Xueyan, TRAFFIC East Asia, Samuel Lee and Luan Xiaofeng, formerly of TRAFFIC East Asia, Julia Ng Su-Chen and Noorainie Awang Anak, TRAFFIC Southeast Asia, Leigh Henry, TRAFFIC North America, Giridhar Amatya, IUCN Nepal, Mahmood Akhtar Cheema and Abdul Latif Rao, IUCN Pakistan. Thanks are also due to Pushp Jain, who led the work in India, and Dr Dagmar Lange, who led the work in Europe. Our sincere thanks are also due to the very many individuals who provided information for this study through responding to questionnaires, providing documents, participating in interviews and/or responding to queries. This study would not have been possible without the generous provision of both their time and knowledge. The authors are very grateful to the following CITES Management Authority staff for taking the time to re- view and provide their comments on drafts of the species accounts: Yuan Jiming, CITES Management Authority, State Forestry Administration, China; Uday R. Sharma, PhD, Director General, Department of Forests, Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, Nepal; Manit Jaichagun, Acting Chief, International Trade of Plants under Conventions Sub-division, CITES Management Authority of Thailand for Plants. We are also grateful to John Caldwell and Harriet Gillett of the UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring Centre for providing assistance with access to and interpretation of CITES annual report data and information from the UNEP-WCMC Threatened Plants Database. Finally, the authors’ appreciation goes to TRAFFIC International staff Steven Broad, Julie Gray, Kim Lochen and Sabri Zain for reviewing and commenting on specific sections of the report. Thanks also to Alex Douglass-Bonner, Tiina Rajamets, Frank Vargas and Jane Whitten for editorial support. 4 PC17 Inf. 10 – p. 6 INTRODUCTION Wild plant species form the foundation of healthcare practices throughout much of Asia. This is particularly true in the case of traditional medicine practices, including codified systems such as traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurveyda, Siddha, Unani and Tibetan medicines, and more localised healthcare traditions. Asia’s wild plants also form a critical component of ‘modern’ healthcare practices. Compounds such as reserpine from Snakeroot Rauvolfia serpentina and paclitaxel from Himalayan Yew Taxus wallichiana have important pharmaceutical uses in Europe, North America and more widely. Some medicinal species are also in demand for their aromatic properties, the use of the oil of Jatamansi Nardostachys grandiflora, for example, appearing in written texts dating back over a thousand years. Still others, including Red Sanders Pterocarpus santalinus, are also valued for their timber. Wild plant species also form an important component of livelihood strategies in Asia, with wild collection of medicinal and aromatic plants providing a critical source of income in many areas. This is particularly true in areas such as the high alpine regions of the Himalayas, where agricultural outputs are low and there are few other opportunities for income generation. The combined and in many cases increasing demand for Asia’s medicinal plants and the consequent in- crease in the rate of collection are having a negative impact on the wild populations of many species, to the point that some species are now considered to be threatened with extinction. National governments throughout the region have responded by establishing various systems of collection and trade controls to bring wild collection within sustainable levels. Governments, non-governmental organizations and in some cases the private sector have also begun investing in cultivation of certain species to meet demand. In order to help ensure that international trade was both sustainable and in accordance with national legisla- tion, member countries of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) have also established international trade controls for some Asian medicinal species. Earlier reviews of the status, wild collection and trade of a number of CITES-listed medicinal plant species, in- cluding those mentioned above, found that implementation of collection and trade controls was generally low, and in some cases nearly non-existent. Not surprisingly, there were also indications of continuing declines in wild populations despite these regulatory efforts. In order to support efforts to improve the management and conservation of medicinal plant species in trade, in 2004, the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (Bundesamt für Naturschutz, BfN) contracted TRAFFIC to undertake a study of the status, use, trade and trade controls for seven Asian species. Four of the seven, Elephant’s Foot Dioscorea deltoidea, Pterocarpus santa- linus, Rauvolfia serpentina and Taxus wallichiana, had already been reviewed by BfN as a contribution to the CITES Significant Trade Review process (SCHIPPMANN 2001). A further two, the Himalayan species Nar-