Bio-diversity

This project promotes the conservation, sustainable use and cultivation of threatened forest and woodland tree species that are valued in the medicinal plant trade for their bark and are in high demand. It will do this by cultivating these tree species and targeting leaf production as an alternative medicinal resource in cases where the bark and leaf chemical constituents are similar. The participants are four locally based CBOs involved in the medicinal plant trade. Sites that afford the most optimal cultivation bio-resource conditions per species will be selected. The species will be planted as part of an agro-forestry system. The leaves will be harvested and products developed through locally appropriate processing methods and in line with medicines control and certification requirements. Indigenous knowledge will be protected and enhanced through rigorous measures. The project will be part of a larger initiative made up of similar enterprises that are linked through a joint marketing and trade initiative, ensuring significant returns at the local level. The project combines the imperatives of biodiversity conservation, traditional medicine development, enterprise development and agricultural development. The conservation of the most endangered tree species, the provision of greater access to popular scarce species and development of enterprises around these species will have a long-term impact on the interface between traditional medicine and conservation.

South africa