Dear readers,

Welcome to a new issue of the NWFP Update, FAO’s quarterly newsletter on NWFPs.

This month marks an important milestone in development, as the post-2015 development agenda is set to be adopted at the United Nations Summit in New York, USA. In this issue, we look at health and well-being, Goal No. 3 of the new Sustainable Development Goals, through the prism of NWFPs and forests. In our lead article, Dr. Gerry Bodeker from the University of Oxford walks us through the recent history of herbal medicine, and asserts that new scientific and technological developments hold promise to bring medicinal plants back to center stage. In our interviews, John Innes, University of British Columbia, gives us a broad overview of health and well-being in the context of forests, and Chagat Almashev, Foundation for Sustainable Development of Altai (FSDA), Russia, shares experiences on medicinal plants and their role in the Altai culture. In our regional dispatches, Dr. Zoubida Charrouf, world renowned both for her research on argan oil and her efforts to simultaneously empower women and save Morocco’s argan forest, shares recent developments on her work; Anastasiya Timoshyna, TRAFFIC, shares experiences from recent projects on implementing best practices for sustainable harvesting and trade of medicinal plants; Iris Hardewig, research & analyze, tells us the story of how Viet Nam’s indigenous “gac” fruit is entering Western markets; Sofia Zank and Natalia Hanazaki highlight new research on the links between medicinal plants, environmental health and human health in Brazil.

Readers are reminded to send contributions (including recent books, projects, workshops, articles, etc.) to: non-wood-news@fao.org.

HIGHLIGHTS

Connecting Global Priorities: Biodiversity and Human Health	Ecological Sustainability for Non-timber Forest Products	Sustainable Development Goals	Routledge Handbook for Sustainable Food and Gastronomy

SPECIAL FEATURE 

Herb­­­s for wellness: Key drivers in the new US$3.4 trillion global wellness industry

Gerard Bodeker

Herbal medicines have become a mainstay of the home health practices of the majority of the world’s population over the past two decades. In the industrialized world, studies have found that herbal and other forms of complementary medicine use increases as people become more affluent. At the same time, in the developing world, traditional medicine, with its strong herbal base, has continued to be the first resort to healthcare of the majority of poor and rural populations.

INTERVIEWS

Dr. John Innes, University of British Columbia, on forests and health

"For me, health goes far beyond the absence of sickness. It embraces all aspects of the well-being of people, including physical and mental health, satisfaction, happiness and a range of other intangible values."

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Chagat Almashev, Foundation for Sustainable Development of Altai (FSDA), on medicinal plants in Altai mountain communities

"The whole way of life of the indigenous peoples of Altai was based on spiritualization of nature to promote health and wellbeing."

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Children identify wild plants during Snow Leopard Festival organized by FSDA. Credit: FSDA  

REGIONAL DISPATCHES

Morocco’s “green curtain”, the argan forest, helping to empower women and fight desertification

Zoubida Charrouf

Asia: Biodiversity and human health – implementing best practices in sustainable harvesting and trade of medicinal plants

Anastasiya Timoshyna

The recognition of linkages between biodiversity and human health is highly relevant to the sustainable use and conservation of plants and animals that form the raw materials both of traditional and modern medicines. Wild resources also provide an important source of food and nutrition, in particular in times of climate stress e.g. when crops fail.

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Viet Nam: Gac fruit – the “fruit from heaven” entering Western markets

Iris Hardewig

Less than two years ago, the idea was born to create a line of functional food products based on Vietnamese herbs and fruits with a traditionally known health benefit. The project was initiated by a Vietnamese entrepreneur, Madame Thai Huong, who had previously established a new milk business in Viet Nam to improve the nutritional situation, especially of Vietnamese children. Read more

Brazil: Medicinal plants, environmental health and human health in a semi-arid region

S. Zank, N. Hanazaki

The degradation of an ecosystem has adverse effects on human health and well-being, and studies of ecosystem health emphasize the importance of placing human health within an ecological context linked to ecosystem services, or the benefits that people obtain from ecosystems. Ethnobotanical studies focusing on folk medicine and medicinal plants can contribute to understanding ecosystem health and eco-cultural health, because they can incorporate the perspective and local knowledge of communities. We summarize here some reflections of a study in a semi-arid region of Northeastern Brazil. Read more

Connoisseurs of medicinal plants carrying medicinal tree barks. Credit: Sofia Zank

PRODUCT WATCH

Prunus africana (Hook.f.) Kalkman, is a secondary forest canopy tree species that has been declining due to farming, slash-and-burn agriculture, habitat loss as well as large-scale unsustainable harvesting in Afromontane forests for international trade. A recent article examines the traditional resource rights related to the ethical dimensions of the trade in P. Africana in traditional medicine of Africa. The authors consider the species in the context of relevant agreements, including the Nagoya Protocol, the World Trade Organization’s Intellectual Property Rights and two African regional frameworks.

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GENERAL NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Scientists shift medicinal properties from one plant to another

A number of important drugs come from plants, but some medicinal plants are endangered or tricky to grow. For some scientists, finding ways to ensure ready access to these drugs has become a priority. Researchers aid they have identified the genes that enable an endangered Himalayan plant to produce a chemical vital to making a widely used chemotherapy drug…

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Business adds value to indigenous medicine

For thousands of years, the San and Khoi indigenous people of what is now South Africa have used a plant known as buchu that is native to the western part of the country. They consider it a holy plant and use it to treat ailments such as fever, stomach ache and back pain. The San and Khoi have freely shared their knowledge of medicinal plants with others who arrived in South Africa over the centuries. But, until recently, they never received any benefits when that knowledge was used for commercial gain.

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Success of traditional Chinese medicine environmental governance project celebrated in China

Participants in an innovative project promoting sustainable use of wild medicinal plants in China met this week to celebrate their success and look forwards to the future as the 30-month project comes to an end. The EU-funded Sustainable supply chains: Engaging China’s private sector in sustainable management of medicinal plants (EGP MAPs) has helped establish sustainable supply chains for medicinal plants ingredients in the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) industry.

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New partnership announced to conserve Argentina’s medicinal plant heritage

As one of the world’s mega-biodiverse nations, Argentina is home to a wealth of medicinal plants. There are at least as many as 1,500 native species – yet, beyond the country’s borders, little is known of this national botanical treasure and its utilisation, says Graciela Barreiro, Director of Carlos Thays Botanic Garden in Buenos Aires. 

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Vultures are new target for African bushmeat and medicine trade

Nobody liked vultures much until now, but the change isn’t good news. Big birds appear to be next on the hunters’ list for the bushmeat trade, and vultures are their new favourite. Researchers visited hundreds of bushmeat stalls at 67 markets in 12 countries across West and Central Africa, and found 52 species of vultures and other raptors for sale. More than a quarter of them are classified as near threatened, vulnerable or endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List.

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Bee products: providing nutrition and generating income - Honeybees, beekeeping and bee products in our daily lives

Last month, FAO’s Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition “FSN Forum” – an online venue for multi-stakeholder dialogue where policy decisions on food security and nutrition are collectively inspired, developed and linked with practice – hosted a discussion on bee products, nutrition and income generation. 

Read more 

More news: www.fao.org/forestry/nwfp/en/

RECENT LITERATURE

Bodeker, G., Van’t Klooster, C., Weisbord, E. Prunus africana (Hook.f.) Kalkman: The Overexploitation of a Medicinal Plant Species and Its Legal Context. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. November 2014, 20(11): 810-822. doi:10.1089/acm.2013.0459. (available at: http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/acm.2013.0459).

Harvey AL, Edrada-Ebel RA, Quinn RJ. 2015. The re-emergence of natural products for drug discovery in the genomics era. Nature Reviews: Drug Discovery. 14, 111-129.

Keong, C., Timoshyna, A., Oldfield, T. 2015. Trading and preserving forests: Towards sustainable and legal trade in timber and non-wood forest products. Paper selected for the World Forestry Congress. (available at: http://foris.fao.org/wfc2015/api/file/554c7e4b15ae74130aee6cea/contents/afa3b326-fbcc-4660-aebb-a887657563d5.pdf).

Ndoye, O. & Ze, A.A. 2015. The Contribution of Non Wood Forest Products to Food Security and Nutrition in Central Africa: Challenges and Policy Implications. Paper selected for the World Forestry Congress. (available at: http://foris.fao.org/wfc2015/api/file/552b81489e00c2f116f8e1b1/contents/5dbf6b96-9a7e-4719-a8b0-a79492d6a59c.pdf).

Parviainen, J. 2015. Cultural heritage and biodiversity in the present forest management of the boreal zone in Scandinavia. Journal of forest research. DOI 10.1007/s10310-015-0499-9

Shackleton, C.M., Pandey, A.K., Ticktin, T (eds). 2015. Ecological Sustainability for NTFPs: Dynamics and Case Studies Harvesting. UK: Routeledge. (available at: www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415728591/).

Sloan, P., Legrand, W., & Hindley, C. (eds.). 2015. The Routledge Handbook of Sustainable Food and Gastronomy. UK: Routledge. (available at: www.routledge.com/products/9780415702553?utm_source=shared_link&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=sbu3_vej).

Tieguhonga, J.C., Ingrame, V., Malab, W.A., Ndoye, O., Grouwels, S. In press. How governance impacts non-timber forest product value chains in Cameroon. Forest Policy & Economics. (available at: www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1389934115300332).

Van Andel, T.R., Croft, S., Loon, van E.E., Quiroz, D., Towns, V.M., Raes, N. 2015. Prioritizing West African medicinal plants for conservation and sustainable extraction studies based on market surveys and species distribution models. Biological Conservation. Vol.181, pp. 173–181.