Making too much from medicinals?

More than 80% of the world's population uses natural medicines and in many remote or marginal areas, local people are especially dependent on natural resources for health care. However, the rising trade and increase in commercial uses of medicinal plants is leading to over-harvesting and destruction of many species (see news). Due to cultural and environmental diversity, the Himalayan region is particularly rich in diverse, traditional medical knowledge systems. Hundreds of ethnic minority groups have developed their respective traditional medical knowledge systems and, even in areas where modern medicine is now available, these systems continue to be used. However, the unique and endemic flora of this and similar regions in Latin America and Africa is now severely threatened. To conserve biodiversity but also to provide local communities with a productive enterprise, medicinal plants are increasingly playing a role in agricultural and environmental programmes. However, governments and commercial traders also have to play a role if natural medicines are to continue to flourish.

credit: A.McRobb Copywrite Trustees, RBG Kew/PNE

People and plants at risk

In India alone, it is estimated that collection and processing of medicinal plants contribute to at least 35 million workdays of employment annually to the poor and underemployed workforce, the majority of whom are tribal women. The collectors sell the raw materials to a variety of markets (village stalls to industrial city traders). However, the system is often disorganized and unequal as collectors mostly work as wage labourers for middlemen with the result that they are paid the lowest share of the market price. India is the centre of South Asia's export trade in traditional medicine (Ayurvedic, Siddha and Unani) and, taking advantage of well developed trading networks, and relaxed border controls with Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar, India is able to obtain raw materials easily. In addition there are large amounts of illegal trading of medicinal plants between India and Pakistan. Demand for medicinal plants, both within South Asia and internationally, is growing rapidly and at least US$70 billion of medicinal plant products are now traded globally each year. In many regions, there is little or no cultivation of medical herbs but sustainable herb cultivation offers communities the opportunity to create a profitable niche in a highly competitive market.

A holistic approach

Support for research on medicinal plants in Asia has been provided by IDRC since 1994 and is currently managed through the Medicinal Plants and Aromatic Plants Program in Asia (MAPPA). The program promotes collaboration through national and international networks as well as encouraging research on promising approaches to sustainable production and processing of medicinal plants. In Latin America, the Farmaya Laboratory in Guatemala has screened 700 different native plants for their medicinal value. Using the accumulated knowledge of indigenous and rural groups, the organization has already developed fifteen pharmaceutical products. The firm's activities include encouraging rural communities in the organic cultivation of medicinal plants and the production and commercialization of plant-based pharmaceuticals. In northeast Brazil, urban communities are being encouraged to set up 'living pharmacies' to supply people and health clinics with herbal remedies (See Developments Collaboration and communication in the caatinga). In Uganda, an IDRC-funded project aims to increase the cultivation of 15 of the most endangered species of trees and shrubs that are useful in treating some of the main causes of morbidity and mortality i.e. malaria, respiratory tract infection, diarrhoea etc. Researchers are working closely with practicing traditional healers, local herbalists and rural communities on plant propagation and the non-destructive harvesting of plant material. The long-term aim is to reduce national dependency on imported drugs for conditions that can be treated with local herbal remedies, thereby saving foreign exchange for the treatment of conditions, such as tuberculosis, which are not amenable to traditional medicine. South Africa intends to identify and cultivate threatened populations of wild botanical resources to ensure a continued supply of native medicinal plants for local use. Moreover, it also allows communities to take advantage of South Africa's location in the southern hemisphere to become one of the few producers of herbal raw materials at a time when demand in the north is at its peak.

Taking responsibility

With many governments finding it increasingly difficult to meet the costs of pharmaceutical-based health care, there is increased interest within many developing countries in the value and efficacy of medicinal plants and local health systems as a means of meeting current and future health needs. Herbal remedies are also becoming popular in developed countries as increasing numbers of people are seeking alternatives to Western medicine. However, it is up to governments to promote the sustainable and equitable management of medicinal plants whether they are to be gathered from the wild or cultivated for commercial purposes. For example, the Peruvian government has outlawed the export of all wild plants in a move to save the endangered cat's claw (Uncaria tomentosa), a woody vine which grows wild in the Amazon forest and is used worldwide to treat a number of maladies. Cultivated cat's claw root and bark will not be affected by the new regulations. The US Fish and Wildlife Service has banned exports of immature wild ginseng (Panax quinquefolium) roots which are becoming increasingly scarce as a result of a 40% increase in harvesting and poaching in some areas, in order to meet high Asian demand. In addition, several US Herbal Nutritional companies are working with indigenous groups to sustainably harvest botanicals and to encourage propagation as an economic solution for local people and governments that provides an alternative to the current destructive exploitation of rainforests and other biodiverse habitats.

Protection measures such as these should help to ensure a healthy future for farmers and the environment as well as for consumers.

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