People and Plants Online - Current Newsletter

Newsletter Number 4
November/December 2001

New Leaflet Produced
Conservation and the sustainable use of plants

People and Plants have just produced a 16-page leaflet explaining the background and current projects, as well as listing our publications. It also highlights the important Good Wood Campaign, and looks to the future after the main programme comes to an end in 2004, with the aim of creating a global network for community-centred plant conservation. Leaflets are available from WWF-UK, Panda House.

This and other publications in both English and Spanish were on display under eye-catching 2m-tall banners, at the recent Seventh Meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice, SBSTTA, held in Montreal, Canada, 12-16 November 2001, where they attracted much interest from delegates.

Alan Hamilton and plant conservationists from many organisations were successful in Montreal in lobbying for the adoption by SBSTTA of the Global Plant Conservation Strategy, which will be considered for adoption at COP 6 in April 2002. In particular, WWF lobbied for the recognition of community-based plant conservation and the need for capacity building in in situ plant conservation and practical management that aims to balance conservation and use.

Quoting from the lobbying document:
"Noting the vital roles of communities in plant conservation, WWF emphasises the need for increased capacity for community-centred plant conservation.".........."WWF believes that work under the Global Strategy should be especially focused on in situ conservation, with the development of practical management systems balancing conservation and use."
With the hoped-for adoption of the Strategy by COP 6, WWF would have a key role in the implementation of Target 14 concerned with capacity and network building in plant conservation.

So congratulations to Alan Hamilton, WWF-UK and Paul Sanchez-Navarro from WWF International for lobbying successfully with other plant conservation colleagues.

People & Plants Publications
(see also archived Newsletters for details):

People and Plants Series titles in press at Earthscan:
The following books will be published this winter:
Campbell & Luckert (ed.): Uncovering the Hidden Harvest: valuation methods for woodland and forest resources
Laird (ed.): Biodiversity and Traditional Knowledge: equitable partnerships in practice. Appendix material now available on this website (see Series section under Publications)
Shanley et al. (ed.): Tapping the Green Market: management and certification of non-timber forest products

Soon to appear in the Working Paper series:
Projek Etnobotani Kinabalu: the making of a Dusun ethnoflora
Gary Martin, Agnes Lee Agama, John H. Beaman and Jamili Nais
Traditional resource use and management in the Hindu Kush and Himalayas
Y A Aumeeruddy-Thomas and Pei Shengji
An economic evaluation of medicinal tree cultivation: Prunus africana in Cameroon
A B Cunningham, E Ayuk, S Franzel, B Duguma and C Asanga

Project on herbal medicines
Towards sustainable sourcing of medicinal plants by the UK Herbal Medicine Industry.

This is a Plantlife project in association with WWF, UK and the Herbal Apothecary, all of whom are members of the Medicinal Plants Sustainability Forum (MPSF).

Key Advisors for the Project:
Alan Hamilton and Susanne Schmitt (WWF, UK)
James Fearnley (The Herbal Apothecary)

The use of plants in medicine constitutes the biggest use of the natural world in terms of numbers of species targeted. While some species in bulk demand are cultivated, 90% of species are collected from the wild.
Wild collection is known sometimes to result in conservation problems, for instance presenting threats to populations of some species, or degradation of habitats.
Manufacturers and wholesalers can play important roles in moving this industry towards a more sustainable footing.
Practices regarding the sourcing of medicinal plant materials vary between companies, so that a comparative approach (backed by theoretical analysis) is expected to be useful for establishing workable recommended practice guidelines.
Once available, such recommendations can be used in various ways, for example for helping to develop wider (e.g. European) recommendations (by liasing with parallel projects such as those in Germany) or for a campaign aimed at industry to encourage voluntary adoption and compliance with a code of practice.

This project was developed from recommendations at meetings of the Medicinal Plants Conservation Forum (MPSF), a UK-based group of industry, herbal associations and conservationists formed in 2000 to further the conservation of medicinal plants. Initial results will be reported at the 3rd meeting of the Medicinal Plants Sustainability Forum in WWF-UK London Offices.

We are developing some factsheets on sustainable herbal medicine and on a selection of medicinal and aromatic plant species of interest and/or concern. These factsheets will be written in non-technical style, with journalists and the interested lay-person as the target audience, and will be posted on the research website.

New Website

WWF-UK is now developing a new website which is more research-based. Plants will have a separate section, and People & Plants work will be featured there, with reciprocal links to this website.

This newsletter, which reflects just a selection of the many activities of People and Plants, was compiled by:
Martin Walters
People & Plants Editor and Web-manager

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People and Plants Co-ordinator: Alan Hamilton, WWF-UK, Panda House, Weyside Park, Catteshall Lane, Godalming, Surrey GU7 1XR, UK.
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