Key issues

In order to ensure the effective conservation of African plants which have medicinal value, the recommendations recognize the importance of the following two issues:

(1) the destruction of natural habitat through agricultural expansion, logging, plantations, dam construction, urban associated development, etc.;
(2) the over-exploitation of particular plant species to satisfy demand e.g. Warburgia salutaris in South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.

Conservation strategy

The conservation strategy for African medicinal plants must address the problem at two levels: recommendations which have socio-economic effects must be incorporated at the policy level and recommendations for conservation methodology must be addressed at the national and local levels. The recommendations cover the following areas:

(1) international and national policy;
(2) in-situ and ex-situ conservation methods;
(3) education and research.

Policy recommendations

International and national policy

Policies made at both the international and national level will have substantial effects on the success of an overall conservation strategy through the easing of wealth inequalities between nations. International policies such as trade and tariff agreements, GATT and EEC subsidized imports all aim to make trading between wealthier and poorer nations easier: in addition, international aid and financial support by such bodies as the World Bank plays an important role. At the national level, policies affecting agricultural expansion, plantations, urban and industrial developments, education, employment, healthcare, the provision of social services and funding affect the potential success of any conservation strategy.The policy making process should:

(1) recognize the international and national price paid for habitat destruction, including the loss of medicinal plant resources and a reduced quality of healthcare;
(2) ensure that commodity prices at both the national and international levels are realistic enough to reflect the cost of resource replacement;
(3) ensure that incentives exist for the sustainable management of medicinal plant resources;
(4) encourage equitable financial partnership agreements and incentive packages to conserve biological diversity; tropical zone countries with the richest biological wealth have the poorest economic wealth with which to conserve those resources (debt swaps go some way to ameliorate this discrepancy);
(5) provide the framework for greater incentives such as security of land tenure to encourage longer term investment in sustainability;
(6) recognize the relationship between social services and dependence on natural resources as a means of generating income.

Sharing the costs

International conservation agencies, in conjunction with governments and NGOs, need to determine a mechanism whereby those benefiting from the conservation of biotic diversity also contribute towards the costs of conserving it. It is essential that this applies as much to plant genetic resources as to forest products such as timber and bark or seeds for processing pharmaceutical products. Collection of plant genetic material from developing countries without legal agreements ensuring adequate payment for those resources, is a means for “devaluing” natural source areas for this material and reducing incentives for in situ conservation.

Conservation methods

It is recommended that the conservation of medicinal plants takes place within four main areas:

(1) in-situ conservation
(2) ex-situ conservation
(3) research
(4) education and training

In-situ conservation

In order to ensure that representative wild populations of vulnerable medicinal plant species are maintained, core conservation areas or other protected habitats that will allow natural processes to continue undisturbed by human activities should be designated. As a strategy to relieve the pressure on CCAs, buffer zones may be designated around the CCA wherein pro-active rural development and resource management is encouraged. Conservation agencies are already well-acquainted with the establishment of CCAs and buffer zones, equipment and infrastructure.In order to ensure the successful establishment of in-situ conservation systems, the following points are recommended:

(1) the identification and effective protection of vegetation associations which contain a high density of vulnerable medicinal plant species in regions where commercial exploitation is taking place, especially: Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa Swaziland and Tanzania;
(2) the phasing out of harvesting of medicinal plants, cuttings or seed within CCAs; sustainable harvesting within CCAs is not recommended as there is a lack of money and manpower necessary to maintain the intensive management input which would be required to control harvesters.

Buffer zones and ex-situ conservation

Buffer zones

It is recommended that buffer zones are set up in conjunction with CCAs to support the harvesting of favoured species. In order to maintain future options for the supply of seed and cuttings, resource harvesting in buffer zones must be sustainable. In some cases this may be difficult as certain species may be especially vulnerable, for example Faurea macnaughtonii and Podocarpus falcatus, where the removal of patches of bark for local medicinal purposes initiates fungal and borer attack and stem heart rot.

Cultivation of favoured species within the buffer zone can make economic as well as conservation sense; Muir (1990) determined that sustainable management of pole harvesting in the Hlatikulu forest reserve in South Africa would cost US $ 105 000 annually, whereas to provide the equivalent amount of poles through establishment of woodlots would cost US $24 000. This could well apply to certain medicinal plants in high demand.

Customary restrictions that are a feature of traditional conservation practices need to be seen as an important guide to control measures in resource areas where medicinal plants are used. They indicate the forms of control to which the local user groups can relate. The following forms of control could therefore be implemented:

(1) seasonal restrictions for certain species;
(2) the prevention of up-rooting or ring-barking; and,
(3) the involvement of specialists rather than commercial gatherers.

Other customary practices, such as ensuring access to ancestral burial sites, also need to be taken into account as part of resource management.

Traditional medical practitioners

TMPs are very aware of the conservation status of local medicinal plant resources and can be influential in changing local opinion so as to limit over-exploitation. It is recommended that support is given to the formation of rural TMP associations and the self-sufficiency of TMPs, particularly in buffer zones. This might possibly be through local health services with the support of the WHO Traditional Medicine Programme. In particular, information should be disseminated to rural communities on appropriate cultivation methods for medicinal plants which are in local demand. Very little goes unnoticed in communally owned areas so that if problems arise regarding the depletion of valued local resources, TMP associations or community leaders are likely to be at least as effective as forest guards and could draw on conservation or forest guard support where necessary.

Conservation through commercial cultivation

It is recommended that there should be rapid development of alternative supply sources through cultivation in large enough quantities and at a low enough price to compete with prices obtained by gatherers of wild stocks. This will satisfy market demands, result in more secure jobs and provide fewer incentives to gather from the wild. If this does not occur, key species will disappear from the wild, thereby undermining the local medicinal resource base.

However, the practical difficulties associated with the cultivation of medicinal plants should not be underestimated (see above). The most vulnerable category of species, by their very nature, cannot be grown profitably due to their slow growth rates, especially as the land which is most likely to be available for medicinal plant cultivation is likely to be less productive agricultural land. A good example of this limitation is the 60 year old trial plot for Pterocarpus angolensis on the Mozambique coastal plain where growth on nutrient poor sands has been very low. Specific recommendations to promote large scale cultivation include:

(1) Investigations to be made into the practicality of using facilities which already exist in such institutions as government and agricultural departments or commercial timber companies, to develop stocks of scarce and popular medicinal plant species from cuttings. This would provide initial plant stocks to supply plants for cultivation to farmers. Initiation of pilot studies is recommended, with WWF and WHO as possible funding co-ordinators. Key sites are those where localized over-exploitation has already taken place, as on Inhaca Island (Mozambique) where TMP’s now have to travel to the mainland to collect medicinal plants as a result of depletion on the islands (A. Maite, pers.comm.). Other possibilities include Garcinia afzellii production outside urban areas in west Africa, Warburgia salutaris and Alepidea amatymbica cultivation in Zimbabwe.

(2) Investigations into the potential for adopting recommendations already made by Wondergem et al. (1989) for applying principles drawn from experience in Thailand. These include: a project for the cultivation of medicinal plants of known efficacy which has been initiated in about 1000 villages in Thailand; the production of traditional household remedies with improved formulae in the form of compressed tablets in foil; these are distributed in Thailand to drug co-operatives through a Drug and Medical Fund.

(3) Implementation of an initial learning phase that takes account of experience gained from successes and failures of implemented woodlot schemes throughout Africa. This should include canvassing local opinion on plant shortages and perceived solutions to the problem.

(4) Management of buffer zones to include the cultivation of vulnerable medicinal plant species within the CCA. Potential pilot studies include the production of Warburgia salutaris outside Kakamega forest (Kenya), HluHluwe Game Reserve (South Africa) and Malolotja Reserve (Swaziland).

(5) Pilot production project to determine the commercial viability of growing Monanthotaxis capea in Côte d’Ivoire, Garcinia klaineana in Gabon (A.M. Louis, pers. comm.) Warburgia salutaris in South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe, and Siphonochilus aethiopicus in South Africa and Swaziland.

Botanical gardens and field gene banks

One recent report on a SADCC gene bank suggested that it might be more important for the gene bank to collect information on uses and efficacy of medicinal plants than collect material for ex-situ conservation (SIDA, 1989). This is not the case, as some popular and effective medicinal plants are threatened and need to be established in field gene banks until technology is available for storage of recalcitrant seeds. The ultimate goal of the conservation process is certainly to preserve the natural habitats of vulnerable medicinal plant species and to achieve sustainable exploitation in less vulnerable areas. However, seed and gene banks of vulnerable medicinal plant species should be maintained as precaution and backup against extinction. The plants most likely to be collected for this purpose are the slow growing species where commercial cultivation is unlikely and wild populations are jeopardized. The following measures are recommended:

(1) where seed/ gene banking occurs outside the countries of origin, it should be accompanied by legal agreements to cover control and payment for the use of those resources. This means the country of origin is entitled to benefit from the utilization of the plant by foreign organisations.

(2) Collections for seed and gene banks should be undertaken in order to select for commercially beneficial properties such as fast growth and highest levels of active ingredients for pharmaceutical use. Slow growing species with specific habitat requirements are a priority in this respect. This could be carried out through Health, Agriculture and Forestry Departments in producer countries with assistance from organizations such as the Oxford Forestry Institute.

(3) Support should be given to the establishment of ex-situ populations of threatened and endangered species in more than one botanical garden under the existing framework of the IUCN Botanical Gardens Programme.

(4) Investigations should be made into the potential for the clonal production of medicinal plants with known toxicities. This would help to standardize dosage and produce a quality end product (Gentry et al., 1987).

Other recommendations

(1) The local production of pharmaceuticals: strictly controlled local production of medicines would reduce the cost of medication whilst providing alternatives to plant based medicines. The formulation of patent or pharmaceutical medicines with the same name and purpose as their herbal counterpart has already occurred as a response to shortages of certain herbal medicines such “Bangalala Pills”, “Isihlambezo” and “Special Imbiza”. Sale of bottled preparations, or single doses, by herb traders is a common feature of some traditional medicinal preparations such as aphrodisiacs in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe (or “Jamu” in Indonesia).

(2) Salvage of botanical material from prospective development sites: salvage of medicinal plants should be implemented wherever practical, either for sale or cultivation. Poor infrastructure and lack of manpower in many African countries would make this impractical. Where it is practical, however, implementation would be at a local level through liaison between developers and TMPs or plant gatherers associations.

(3) Supply from sustainably managed logging: it may be possible to supplement medicinal plant supplies where bark is discarded as a by-product of logging such as in the case of Ocotea bullata in the southern Cape (South Africa). However, cases of sustainable logging are rare and where it exists it may not provide an economically viable supply of plant medicine.

(4) Feasibility studies: supply for commercial harvesting, extraction of active ingredients and local production of pharmaceuticals should be accompanied by feasibility studies to ensure an acceptable quality and efficacy of drugs, and to avoid over-exploitation of naturally occurring populations of target species.

Education and training

The conservation of medicinal plants is by necessity a long term project requiring the development of trained staff supported by organizations and a general public that is aware of the issues at stake. Improvement in national education standards is a key factor in the conservation issue which will come about only as a result of economic development in the African nations. As well as policy decisions which would influence the levels of education available, the following recommendations are made with a view to increasing public awareness of the value of medicinal plant resources:

(1) Instituting campaigns that promote the importance of habitat and medicinal plant conservation and encouraging the cultivation of medicinal plants. Target groups would include: rural communities, government decision-makers, pharmaceutical companies such as Plantecam Medicam of France which works in the Cameroon and Inverni della Beffa of Italy which works in Madagascar.

(2) Implementation of a media campaign through national radio networks to publicize information on the scarcity of popular medicinal plants.

(3) Develop an information programme for senior-decision makers in African governments to link public health with medicinal plant conservation issues.

(4) Develop a well informed campaign targeted at companies that export African wild plant material for the production of pharmaceuticals. This would include documentation of cases where habitat destruction has occurred and rural resources have been undermined, the reasons for adopting a socially and ecologically responsible approach to wild plant harvesting and the need for pricing levels to take account of resource replacement costs. Companies should also be encouraged, as a matter of urgency, to ensure that harvesting of wild stocks takes place on a sustainable basis, or to institute the commercial production of plants from selected cultivated material.

(5) Studies and research information which identify threatened medicinal plants should be circulated through the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources (IBPGR) to regional gene banks.

(6) Information relating to adverse toxic properties in medicinal plants should be circulated particularly to TMPs and in Primary healthcare training (Akerele, 1987; Anyinam, 1987; Good, 1987; Swantz, 1984).

Research and monitoring

Research into the identification of areas of high biological diversity at the macro scale and research into the properties and usage of specific plants at the micro-scale should use the complementary skills of the TMPs and conservation biologists. Sites which are renowned for their well trained TMPs and powerful medicines and which could provide focal points for co-operative efforts include northern Pondoland and Sihangwane in South Africa and Mount Mulanje in Malawi (J. Seyani, pers. comm.). Research into medicinal plants would utilize databases such as PHARMEL and NAPRALERT. Conservation efforts and the checking of plant status could be co-ordinated where plants are being conserved for uses other than for medicinal purposes. Specific recommendations include:

(1) The initiation of a series of interactive discussions involving TMPs, commercial gatherers and market based traders to discover the perceived scarcity of species, sites of diversity, the status of popular species, the perceived problems and solutions.

(2) The initial focus should be on heavily populated regions where plant scarcities are likely to occur, yet where little is known of the extent of the problems faced by TMPs, such Rwanda and Burundi, and in high priority conservation areas such as Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania. The medicinal plant research co-ordinated through the Paris based Agence de Cooperation Culturelle et Technique (ACCT) provides an excellent model for coordinated research in francophone Africa.

(3) “Action research” projects at pilot-study level should be set up in selected countries to assess the economic viability and social acceptability of large scale production.

(4) An experienced African based coordinator should be appointed to implement damage assessments for the following: Okoubaka aubrevillei, Garcinia afzelii, Garcinia epunctata and Garcinia kola in west Africa; Warburgia salutaris in Kenya, Tanzania and Zimbabwe; Prunus africana and Pausinystalia johimbe in Cameroon and Madagascar; Griffonia simplicifolia, Voacanga thourasii and Voacanga africana, also in west Africa.

(5) A short-term survey on animal species sold as traditional medicines, such as vultures, pangolins and chimpanzees, which occur in CCAs should be initiated.

(6) Studies should be initiated through the co-operative effort between African and European scientific institutions to study the genetic diversity and population biology of Okoubaka aubervillei in west Africa, Warburgia salutaris and Curtisia dentata. This can be carried out through isozyme electrophoresis. This would help to identify the degree of genetic erosion taking place in areas of over-exploitation or habitat destruction.

(7) Research work on the storage of recalcitrant seeds is already a focus of research and its importance merely needs to be stressed here.

(8) A research project, similar to the recent IUCN study of the international bulb trade, should be instituted. This would investigate the economics of the trade in plant material from developing countries for the production of pharmaceuticals and homeopathic medicines, including volumes involved and the impact of harvesting in selected sites. The study would split into two phases; phase one to be carried out by a European-based researcher with access to UNCTAD/GATT data and pharmaceutical companies; investigations would include research into pricing structures from payment to harvesters to the cost of the final product. Phase two to be field-based, investigating the ecological and social impact of the trade in study areas such as Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, using species such as Prunus africana, Griffonia simplicifolia, and Pausinystalia johimbe.

(9) An investigation into possible legal contract agreements should be made, that could be attached to the use of plant genetic material and the intellectual property rights issue.

(10) Permanent plots should be set up in selected sites to monitor the status of Warburgia salutaris, Garcinia afzelii and Okoubaka aubrevillei populations and other indicator species.

(11) The success of cultivation as a conservation method should be monitored, possibly through a growers register which indicates the area of key species under cultivation.

(12) The price for favoured species might be monitored as a potential indicator of scarcity; if cultivation is not a viable option, and demand exceeds supply, then price will rise.