Bio-diversity

Context: Tanzania and Africa at large are witnessing growing usage of medicinal plants in urban communities through herbal medicines and pharmaceutical products. A number of pharmaceutical products contain plant extracts while others are made through transformation of chemicals found within plants or from synthetic inorganic materials that have originated research into active compounds found in plants. With increasing demand from growing population in society, pharmaceutical industries and medical researchers, medicinal plants are facing unsustainable usage. This may lead to their eventual extinction particularly since increasing deforestation has led to the destabilization of the ecosystem in which plants grow. The proposed project will contribute to combating decreasing plant diversity including medicinal plants through establishment of a medicinal plants show and research garden, which will be scaled up to an Eco Park in future. About the NGO: The Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology (NM-AIST) is a higher education and research Institute. Its main objective is to educate the next generation of African Scientists and engineers by equipping them with the technical, entrepreneurial and leadership capacities to solve African problems thereby contributing to the economic and social transformation of East Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. To reach this objective, NM-AIST has embarked on a number of teaching and learning, research and innovation and public service and outreach activities. Project s Primary Objective: Developing a medicinal [plan show and research garden for conservation of endangered species, academic research and community education at NM-AIST.

Tanzania