Newsletter 1
 February 2001

In this edition:

• People and Plants website revised
• Phase 3 of People and Plants begins January 2001
• People and Plants people
• Items to note

People and Plants website revised

This website has been refurbished! We hope you will find it even more useful than before. Our intention is to make this a prime site for those who are professionally interested in conservation and sustainable development. Our priority is to provide solid information on applied ethnbotany. We aim to make as many of our materials as possible downloadable, either as webpages or in PDF format.

WWF and UNESCO, the two international partners in People and Plants from January 2001, are very pleased that the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew will continue to host the website. Kew will become an Associate of People and Plants, devoting its energies especially to provision of information on ethnobotany. The button "Ethnobotany links" on the People and Plants website provides access to a part of the Kew website maintained as a global-level resource in economic botany. It is a continually updated and an avenue leading to many relevant bibliographies and access to the website of related institutions.

Phase 3 of People and Plants begins January 2001

The third and final phase of People and Plants begins in January 2001. We lack resources for the full programme as planned, but shall certainly begin new stages of our work in Nepal and Pakistan, anticipate being able to continue with some elements in Kenya and Uganda, and have funds to implement a Multi-regional project (see under "About us"). There will be continuing capacity-building with respect to professional ethnobotanists and institutions, with a new emphasis on ‘best practices’. The latter involves the identification and promotion of best practices, especially in relation to the themes of wood-carving, conservation of Himalayan medicinal plants, the people/protected area interface and ethnobotanical curricula.

"People and Plants" people

The success of People and Plants depends on the commitment of a small group of people dedicated to conservation and the involvement of local communities in decision-making processes relating to the environment. Two vital long-standing members of the People and Plants team associated with WWF are Tony Cunningham and Yildiz Aumeeruddy, largely responsible for the African and Himalayan components respectively. Tony was awarded the Peter Scott Award for outstanding services to conservation last year – a great honour since it is only granted to one person worldwide every three or so years. The other major international People and Plants co-ordinator is Robert Höft, now based at UNESCO, Nairobi. Gary Martin, who formerly acted as Regional Co-ordinator for Southeast Asia and started this website, has now left People and Plants to pursue his career elsewhere.

There are many people connected with particular projects or themes of WWF. Mention should be made of Lin Idrus and Agnes Lee Agama in Malaysia. They are local co-ordinators, one of whom in particular (Agnes) has taken on an extra workload over the last two years. Key personnel in Nepal and Pakistan include Yeshi Choden Lama, Suresh Ghumire, Ashiq Ahmad Khan, Abdullah Ayaz, Hazrat Jabeen and Asma Jabeen, to mention but a few. Dominic Byarugaba has acted as local co-ordinator for Uganda, while Simon Choge and Patrick Maingi have been active in the project in Kenya. The lynch-pin of People and Plants in the South Pacific is Kesaia Tabunakawai. Special mention should be made of Martin Walters, expert botanist as well as editor, responsible for over-seeing the manual series and editing some of the Working Papers.

The central programme team consists of Malcolm Hadley of UNESCO, Alan Hamilton (WWF Programme Co-ordinator), Susanne Schmitt (WWF Assistant Programme Co-ordinator) and Ros Coles (WWF Programme Support Officer). Many others have also been involved.

Items to note

Your intention is drawn to one of our publications – on Africa – which contains much useful reference material and which, we believe, may have been overlooked:

Check under Regions and themes, and then under Africa regional programme

Look under Bulletin No. 1, November, 1997. This contains an analysis of ethnobotany as practised in Africa, identifies future priorities, gives a list ethnobotanists and their contacts, and contains a bibliography.

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