Nanwuweizi (Schisandra sphenanthera)

by Josef A. Brinckmann

Background 

Endemic to China, Schisandra sphenanthera Rehder & E.H. Wilson (Schisandraceae) is a perennial woody liana occurring in broad-leaved deciduous mountain forests and thickets (Saunders, 2000; Xia et al., 2008); using its stems to climb and twine around host trees and shrubs (Brinckmann et al., 2018). Its edible berries ‘nanwuweizi’ (南五味子), meaning ‘southern five taste fruit’, are harvested by villagers for additional household income but also for personal use in foods, beverages, and medicines. Prior to the founding of the Pingwu Shuijing Traditional Chinese Medicinal Material Planting Specialized Cooperative, established in the context of a five-year (2007-2011) funded project for sustainable management of wild medicinal plants in China’s Upper Yangtze ecoregion, S. sphenanthera was harvested destructively, the berries then sold at low prices set by visiting brokers, for vendors at the regional traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) market in Chengdu, Sichuan. At end of project (2011), some private companies and NGOs continued to support the implementation of three voluntary sustainability standards (VSSs) and the accreditation of Chinese control bodies for the inspection and certification of compliance with the requirements of those VSSs. In 2021, three companies, situated in three continents, are funding the annual inspection and certification costs associated with the three VSSs. An unanswered question to consider: When VSS certifications are export-market-oriented, not driven by the local market, would sustainable practices persist in the absence of stakeholder companies, voluntarily paying price premiums in addition to defraying the costs of inspection and certification? Another factor is an apparently growing domestic market for access to this wild genetic resource. That is, because new pharmaceutical drugs, containing standardized extracts of nanwuweizi, are being administered in Chinese hospitals for new non-traditional uses, i.e., to mitigate hepatotoxicity and nephrotoxicity.

Conservation status and role in the ecosystem

While the scope of the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Wild Plants Protection includes the protection, development and utilization of wild plants (State Council of the People's Republic of China, 1996), S. sphenanthera is classified as Data Deficient (DD) in China’s Higher Plants Red List, meaning that there are insufficient data on abundance and distribution (Ministry of Environmental Protection, 2013). Not unrelated, the distribution range of S. sphenanthera intersects habitat areas of iconic threatened mammals including the giant panda bear (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) (Swaisgood et al., 2016) and the Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) (Garshelis and Steinmetz, 2020), both classified as Vulnerable (VU) according to IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria, and the golden snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellana), classified as Endangered (EN) (Youngcheng & Richardson, 2021). Survival of wild S. sphenanthera depends, in part, on biodiverse forests and pollination by certain insects. Loss of habitat and pollinators, due to deforestation as well as destructive overharvesting has reduced the geographical range of S. sphenanthera (Du et al., 2012).

Traditional uses

The berries are eaten fresh or dried, also used to prepare juice, vinegar, and wine, as well as in medicinal preparations and soaps (Xia et al., 2008). In ethnobotanical surveys, S. sphenanthera ranked among the most widely foraged wild forest foods; e.g., by ethnic groups living in the southern Qinling Mountain and Daba Mountain region, who use the fruit as a liver tonic, the bark and pericarp as a natural pigment and spice, and the leaf as an herbal tea (Teng, et al., 2011); by villagers living in Heihe valley, Qinling Mountains (Kang, et al., 2012) and in Houzhenzi valley and Dali valley, respectively, each separated by Mount Taibai, the highest peak in the Qinling Mountain range, a biodiversity hotspot (Kang, et al., 2013); by Tibetans living in the Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Region, Zhouqu County (Kang, et al., 2014), which is situated in the northernmost region of giant panda habitat in the Minshan Mountains (Liu, et al., 2016). In the provinces of Sichuan and Gansu, nanwuweizi is also a common food, and in Shaanxi province, a preferred food, of the golden snub-nosed monkey (Ren et al., 2010). In Pingwu County, Sichuan, the author of this article observed the production of nanwuweizi food products, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, for household use but also for the emerging panda ecotourism products market. The highest density of wild giant panda bears is found in Pingwu County, which is also where wild harvesting of nanwuweizi for local consumption and commercial trade is prevalent (Brinckmann and Morgan, 2012). While used in indigenous medicines of the Qiang, Tibetan and Yi ethnic minorities (Brinckmann et al., 2018), nanwuweizi is also used in the national system of TCM, interchangeably with beiwuweizi - northern schisandra (Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill) (Chinese Pharmacopoeia Commission, 2015).

New uses

Based on pre-clinical and clinical data, Chinese authorities have granted new drug product marketing authorizations and patents for new uses. Standardized nanwuweizi extract preparations are used to increase the bioavailability of the immunosuppressant drug tacrolimus, taken to prevent organ rejection in transplant patients (Cheng et al., 2021), as well as liver injury caused by acetaminophen (Fan et al., 2015).

VSS, certification and commercial use

The three VSSs that were prioritized by the company stakeholders were the FairWild Standard, the Giant Panda Friendly Products Standard, and the Organic Wild Crop Harvesting Practice Standard. After carrying out a baseline survey in 2008 and consideration of several species, nanwuweizi was the first botanical prioritized for test implementation of an organic, fair and panda-friendly approach to sustainable wild harvesting, firstly in Daping village (Cunningham and Brinckmann, 2010). Referred to as the Daping Model (Wu, 2012), once proven feasible in Daping, the management plan was scaled out to over 20 other villages in the giant panda habitat area. At start of project, the identification of socially responsible herbal companies, and inviting them to participate as stakeholders, was an intentional strategy towards sustaining the results beyond end of project, when program funding would cease (Brinckmann and Morgan, 2012). The first company invited to participate was Traditional Medicinals (TM) (Sebastopol, California), a marketer of herbal dietary supplement products. TM then recommended inviting the Chinese extraction house, Shanghai Tian Yuan Botanicals Products Company (Shanghai, P.R. China), along with their US sales division, Draco Natural Products (DNP) (San Jose, California), an export-oriented enterprise specializing in certified organic Chinese herb extracts for the dietary supplements, functional foods, and personal care products markets. TM asked DNP to have its Shanghai extraction house procure the berries directly from the newly established Pingwu Shuijing TCM Cooperative and to produce an extract for use in a TM product. In the years following, as the annual quantities of berries that could be harvested sustainably by the cooperative increased, DNP also began to sell the extract to other companies in the US and EU. Furthermore, DNP continued to play a pivotal role as communication liaison to Chinese GO and NGO stakeholders as well as the various control bodies. The cooperative also took initiatives to expand the range of materials that could be produced according to the organic and panda friendly management plans. Specifically, the cooperative proposed offering dried root of Angelica sinensis (Oliv.) Diels (Apiaceae), dried tuber of Gastrodia elata Bl. (Orchidaceae), dried flower bud of Magnolia officinalis Rehd. et Wils. (Magnoliaceae), and dried root and rhizome of Rheum palmatum L. or Rheum officinale Baill. (Polygonaceae) (Brinckmann et al., 2018). The NGO TRAFFIC (Cambridge, UK) also continued to support the development and use of the FairWild Standard in China. TRAFFIC identified a biomedical company in the EU that would eventually become interested in supporting the FairWild inspection and certification costs (Timoshyna, 2019). An unintended consequence of this project, however, was the eventual necessity for annual audits against three separate VSSs, each requiring a different accredited control body, which added cost and complexity to the operation.

Discussion

The genesis of current international trade of wild nanwuweizi, sustainably managed by villagers living in the giant panda habitat areas, stems from an initial five-year field project of the EU-China Biodiversity Programme (ECBP), “Sustainable Management of Traditional Medicinal Plants in the High-Biodiversity Landscapes of Upper Yangtze Eco-region.” This EU-funded project was implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and managed by the NGO World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-China) in partnership with several national and provincial Chinese governmental organizations, along with participating villagers, who formed a special TCM materials cooperative, and some natural product companies from China and California (Brinckmann et al., 2018). While three VSSs were implemented, which indeed brought higher income to the communities, these VSSs are export oriented. This means that it is the product companies situated in the US and EU that require such third-party inspection and certification documentation, for their own environmental and social responsibility purposes. Fifteen years on, the costs associated with annual audits and certifications for the three VSSs are covered externally - and shared by three companies in three countries; IN 2021, (1) DNP Shanghai and TM California split the cost of the organic certification; (2) TM covered the cost of the panda friendly certification; and (3) an EU based company, that prefers to remain anonymous, covered the cost of the FairWild audit. The internal costs of VSS compliance are borne by the Pingwu Shuijing TCM Cooperative, although the higher price premium paid for their berries should, not only, cover the additional costs of standards compliance, but bring enough profit for the cooperative to make contributions into its profit-sharing fund for the harvesters. The outcomes of this project are generally viewed as a success, evidenced, in part, by awards bestowed by Chinese GOs and UN IGOs, and by the continued engagement with biodiversity conservation NGOs, namely TRAFFIC (Timoshyna, 2019) and WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature, 2019). However, it is not entirely certain that VSS compliance at the village level would persist, in this case, in the absence of continued interest and financial support of the specific companies that have committed to using this verifiably sustainably wild collected resource in their products. Companies and their consumer health products may come and go over time. However, it is also possible that sufficient incentives for conservation could remain in the absence of international customers requiring VSS certification. For example, in this case, the Chinese government has an interest in panda friendly branding and ecotourism to the region. Because the Giant Panda Friendly Products Standard has become an official government standard, the state, itself, may have an interest in requiring compliance with the standard for all natural products produced in the giant panda habitat areas.

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