Medicinal Trees Disappearing in Ecuador
9/17/99
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Title: Medicinal Trees Disappearing in Ecuador
Source: Environment News Service
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: September 17, 1999
QUITO, Ecuador, September 17, 1999 (ENS) - The tree known as Holy
Wood, a powerful pain-reliever, is only one of a number of popular
medicinal plants vanishing in Ecuador due to unsustainable
harvesting, a new report by TRAFFIC International has found. TRAFFIC
is the wildlife monitoring arm of WWF-Worldwide Fund for Nature and
IUCN-The World Conservation Union.
Although four out of five Ecuadorians rely on traditional medicine
for healthcare, little attention is being paid to the use and
conservation of the medicinal plants on which traditional medicine
depends.
In 1998, TRAFFIC Internation started a project to support more
effective management of plant trade in South America. A new report on
the use and trade of medicinal plants in Ecuador was released earlier
this month.
The TRAFFIC study found that among the medicinal plants most used and
marketed, three are trees on the list of species in which
international trade is banned: the Holy Wood (Bursera graveolens),
Balm (Myroxylum balsamum) and Walnut (Juglans neotropica).
Two species appear on the endangered list of the IUCN-World
Conservation Union: "Chamana" (Dodonaea viscosa) and "Achupalla"
(Puya eryngioides).
Six species are on the IUCN list of threatened trees : Aegiphilia
ferruginea, Floripondio (Brugmansia aurea), Cedar (Cedrela odorata),
Walnut (Juglans neotropica), "Huambula" (Minquartia guianensis) and
"Yagual" (Polylepis incana).
TRAFFIC hosted a workshop on the conservation of medicinal plants
earlier this month that focused on revising government policies and
regulations. Participants included representatives from Ecuador's
Health, Environment and Social Ministries, health and environmental
NGOs, plant based medicine manufacturers and indigenous communities.
Many problems were pinpointed. Plant species have not been
identified, selected or tested efficiently, for their addition to the
national lists of drugs, leading to a lack of a stimulus for their
production and appropriate use, as well as to begin management and
conservation programs. There are no systematic inventories, nor
specific analysis or studies to promote their agronomic production or
industrialization and to encourage their economic development. The
lack of state's support for these investigations and the scarcity of
information and appropriate infrastructure hinder progress.
The recommendations to emerge from TRAFFIC's investigations range
from legislation to public information and education. An urgent
recommendation is the improvement of trade control through monitoring
and recording, market studies and economic valuation.