May 6th, 1998
New Delhi, India - The "Tigers" of the plant kingdom are now high on the agenda
of the world's largest wildlife trade monitoring group, which concluded its
annual meeting Monday in India's Corbett National Park.
"While many people think only or Tiger bone or rhinoceros horn when they think
of unsustainable wildlife trade, there may be many 'Tigers' and 'rhinos' in the
medicinal plant kingdom," said Steven Broad, Executive Director of the TRAFFIC
Network, the wildlife-trade monitoring programme of WWF-World Wide Fund For
Nature and IUCN-The World Conservation Union.
"Many of the world's people depend on these medicinal plants for their health
dare, and in some cases the trade may already be threatening plant populations,"
Broad said.
This issue is particularly important in India and other countries where people
rely heavily on herbal medicines. The World Health Organization estimates that
up to 80 per cent of the world's population relies on medicinal plants and
animals for their primary health care needs. The demand for medicinals is also
rising in the industrialised world, where natural health remedies are becoming
increasingly popular.
In India, Ayurvedic medicine commonly utilises about 500 medicinal plant
species, such as the Himlayan plants Jatamansi and Kutki. The dried roots of
Jatamansi are widely traded and used to treat certain types of fits, convulsions
and heart palpitations.
Monitoring and assessing the medicinal trade in plants and animals has long been
one of the TRAFFIC Network's top priorities. To date, however, the Network has
focused much of its efforts on monitoring the trade in some of the most
endangered and high-profile animal species, such as Tigers and rhinos. These
species will remain a focus, but the Network agreed to also turn its expertise
to lesser known aspects of trade and particularly medicinal plants.
The TRAFFIC Network plans a series of medicinal plant projects to assess the
impact of this trade on both wild plant populations and local health care
systems. In India, this work will include a comprehensive review of Ayuerdevic
and Tibetan medicine systems. Other projects will include research and action to
assist in the conservation of plant resources used in traditional medicine in
East Asia and to support effective management of trade in South America's
medicinal plants.
In Europe, one of the world's biggest consumers of medicinal and aromatic plants
and plant parts, TRAFFIC will host the first international symposium on the
conservation of medicinal plants in the region in June. The symposium will
present the results of extensive research into this trade throughout Europe.
In-depth research is also under way or planned in other regions, such as East
and Southern Africa and North America.
More than 30 representatives from TRAFFIC India and 17 of the Network's other
offices around the globe attended the six-day meeting, 29 April - 4 May.
For more information, please contact your local TRAFFIC office or TRAFFIC
International.
Tel (44) 1223 277427;
Fax (44) 1223 277237