The series has been extended, and will include further titles, including an introductory textbook on plant conservation, and a book about medicinal plants and conservation.

People and Plants Videos

The latest video, "CARVING A FUTURE: 10 lessons for sustainable wood-carving enterprises" is now available.
Woodcarving adds more value to wood than the timber industry, and often creates more jobs and income. Yet throughout the world, government Forest Department support to woodcarving enterprises is very limited. This is true in all manner of political circumstances. Based on extensive research, this video suggests 10 lessons which can be applied as "wise practice" for a sustainable woodcarving trade.
People and Plants International plans to bring out more videos in this series, on selected topics of relevance to the promotion of ecologically and socially sustainable plant resource management.

Tropical Rainforest Ethnic Culture Museum, Xishuangbanna, China

This new museum was inaugurated on 1st October 2003, opening formally in January 2004. It is dedicated to ethnobotany, and lies inside the splendid Tropical Botanical Garden (Chinese Academy of Sciences) in the south of Yunnan Province.
Large tracts of tropical rainforest are preserved in Xishuangbanna, and more than 10 ethnic minority nationalities live in the region, the majority being Dai. Many aspects of everyday life for these people are closely connected with the forest and its resources: including medical and health care, food, customs, literature, art, and religious beliefs.
The architecture of the Museum, with its steeply curving roofs, appropriately reflects the traditional style of Dai houses.
A display of People and Plants will take pride of place in the Museum, and will help spread the word to a wider audience, as well as placing our work in the context of local related initiatives and research. The Museum combines the functions of public education, scientific research, and cutural relic protection.
An illustrated photopage about the Museum will soon be available on this website.

International Amchi Workshop (25-29 January 2004)

This was organised by the Himalayan Amchi Association (HAA), and the last 2 days (attended by Alan Hamilton) were devoted to conservation considerations and preparation of an action plan. This is the first time that amchis (medical practitioners in the Tibetan medical tradition) have met internationally. The workshop brought together amchis from Nepal, Bhutan, India, and China, as well as an expert in Mongolian Medicine (a related medical tradition). The amchis were thus able to compare their experiences in different countries.
WWF-Nepal and the People and Plants Initiative have been working with HAA for several years, because of the potential roles of amchis in conservation of medicinal plants in the Himalayas. The amchis are the most knowledgeable people about plants in the Himalayas and have traditionally had some authority over natural resource management. HAA has been developing a list of threatened medicinal plants for Nepal, with recommendations on their management (incorporation of this positive aspect is a very progressive approach in global terms).
The workshop discussed how the amchis can work together internationally to support their profession and conserve medicinal plants. The state of recognition varies between countries; for example Tibetan medicine is the main medical tradition recognised in Bhutan, where medical services are being designed with integration of Tibetan and western medicine. Critically for the work in Nepal, Tibetan medicine is not recognised by the government in Nepal and there is no full training college in Tibetan medicine. Such recognition would help raise the status of the profession (useful for medicinal plant conservation) and help it to achieve its full potential in national healthcare delivery.
HAA wishes WWF/P&P to make representation to the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation to organise a policy workshop to highlight the views and proposals of the amchis. A number of recommendations emanated from the workshop:
(1) recognition of Tibetan medicine;
(2) development of educational systems;
(3) conservation and cultivation of medicinal plants;
(4) research and documentation.
There is also a proposal to establish a common database on medicinal plants used in the Tibetan tradition.

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The newsletter, reflecting the activities of People and Plants, is compiled by:
Martin Walters
People & Plants Editor and Web-manager