Medicine trees of the tropics

Robin Levingston and Rogelio Zamora

ROBIN LEVINGSTON, of the FAO Forestry Department, Rome, deals with afforestation. ROGELIO ZAMORA is with the Forest Research Institute, Ministry of Natural Resources, College, Laguna, the Philippines.

Medicinal plants play an important role in the lives of rural people' particularly in remote parts of developing countries with few health facilities.

"LA FORÊT DE LA LAMA" IN THE REPUBLIC OF BENIN - a source of many forest trees with medicinal uses

Tropical forests are the source of a large proportion of the world's recognized medicinal plants. It is variously estimated that there are between 200000 and 700000 species of tropical flowering plants. Such a wealth of identified species, which have been in no sense thoroughly investigated, constitutes an enormous potential source of plant-derived chemicals useful to man.

Tropical forests are disappearing at a frightening rate and man is unwittingly observing the decrease of a natural resource which has been described as a "power-house of evolution" and a major source of "wild medicine". FAO, UNEP, Unesco and IUCN have realized the implications of this steady loss and are trying to stem such destruction of forests, largely caused by shifting cultivation arising out of rural poverty and a hunger for land for subsistence farming.

Since May 1978 the World Health Organization has been making a study of medicinal plants. This study prompted the initial identification of 20000 species of medicinal plants and a more detailed investigation of a short list of 200. A great many of these plants have their origins in the world's tropical forests and their present use is largely rooted in traditional medicines which play a major part in maintaining the health and welfare of both rural and city dwellers in developing countries.

The disappearance of the natural vegetation and even its replacement with artificially established forests of exotic species are changing the ecology of the environment with a consequent disappearance or change in occurrence of many medicinally useful species, thus depriving rural communities of their benefits.

How can FAO assist in the conservation of these species? The most appropriate programmes appear to be those dealing with forest conservation and management and forestry for local community development. The former provides the rationale and systems for managing forests and the latter helps identify and promote the cultivation and use of forest-derived species, which are appropriate for establishment by rural communities because of their potential multiple use

More:

http://www.fao.org/docrep/q1460e/q1460e02.htm#medicine trees of the tropics