Review of the Status, Harvest, Trade and Management of Seven Asian CITES-listed Medicinal and Aromatic Plant Species

Wild plant species form the foundation of healthcare practices throughout much of Asia. This is particularly
true in the case of traditional medicine practices, including codified systems such as traditional Chinese
medicine, Ayurveyda, Siddha, Unani and Tibetan medicines, and more localised healthcare traditions.
Asia’s wild plants also form a critical component of ‘modern’ healthcare practices. Compounds such as
reserpine from Snakeroot Rauvolfia serpentina and paclitaxel from Himalayan Yew Taxus wallichiana
have important pharmaceutical uses in Europe, North America and more widely. Some medicinal species
are also in demand for their aromatic properties, the use of the oil of Jatamansi Nardostachys grandiflora,
for example, appearing in written texts dating back over a thousand years. Still others, including Red
Sanders Pterocarpus santalinus, are also valued for their timber.
Wild plant species also form an important component of livelihood strategies in Asia, with wild collection of
medicinal and aromatic plants providing a critical source of income in many areas. This is particularly true
in areas such as the high alpine regions of the Himalayas, where agricultural outputs are low and there
are few other opportunities for income generation.
The combined and in many cases increasing demand for Asia’s medicinal plants and the consequent increase
in the rate of collection are having a negative impact on the wild populations of many species, to
the point that some species are now considered to be threatened with extinction. National governments
throughout the region have responded by establishing various systems of collection and trade controls to
bring wild collection within sustainable levels. Governments, non-governmental organizations and in some
cases the private sector have also begun investing in cultivation of certain species to meet demand. In
order to help ensure that international trade was both sustainable and in accordance with national legislation,
member countries of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna
and Flora (CITES) have also established international trade controls for some Asian medicinal species.
Earlier reviews of the status, wild collection and trade of a number of CITES-listed medicinal plant species, including
those mentioned above, found that implementation of collection and trade controls was generally low,
and in some cases nearly non-existent. Not surprisingly, there were also indications of continuing declines in
wild populations despite these regulatory efforts. In order to support efforts to improve the management and
conservation of medicinal plant species in trade, in 2004, the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation
(Bundesamt für Naturschutz, BfN) contracted TRAFFIC to undertake a study of the status, use, trade and trade
controls for seven Asian species. Four of the seven, Elephant’s Foot Dioscorea deltoidea, Pterocarpus santalinus,
Rauvolfia serpentina and Taxus wallichiana, had already been reviewed by BfN as a contribution to the
CITES Significant Trade Review process (SCHIPPMANN 2001). A further two, the Himalayan species Nardostachys
grandiflora and Kutki Picrorhiza kurrooa, were previously reviewed by TRAFFIC under contract to
the CITES Secretariat, also as part of the CITES Significant Trade Review Process (MULLIKEN 2000). That
study also reviewed the trade in Neopicrorhiza scrophulariiflora, closely related and similar to Picrorhiza kurrooa
and also referred to and traded as Kutki. The seventh, Desert Cistanche Cistanche deserticola, was listed
in CITES Appendix II in 2000 and has not been the subject of a previous review.

More at:

http://www.bfn.de/fileadmin/MDB/documents/service/skript227.pdf