Plants for life: - Sacred Seeds Sanctuary

4. ConserveThe role of plant and seed collections as aconservation resource was widelyacknowledged as an important piece ofthe conservation jigsaw puzzle. It wasemphasised that ex situ methods aremade more relevant when they feeddirectly and specifically into targeted insitu conservation, and that this shouldbecome a normal partnership. Seedbanking was frequently cited inquestionnaire responses as a vital backupto other conservation methodologies,and one that should be supported andexpanded for medicinal plants specifically,since most efforts have been directed tocrops thus far. Further, climate changescience is turning its attention to thepredicted effects of temperature rise onindividual plant species. The alteration ofa species’ environmental niche will in turnaffect whole ecosystems; habitats willshift and their composition change.Ex situ collections that attempt to recreatehabitats become even more relevant inthis light.Botanic gardens should therefore:• Maintain and develop living collectionsof local medicinal plants and makethem available for teaching andresearch use.• Set-up and maintain seed andgermplasm banks, specifically for localmedicinal plants and those criticallyendangered. Ensure that the best andmost current seed conservationtechnologies are used, to ensure longtermpreservation.• Foster ecological and floristic studies insites of origin of plants.• Maintain familiarity and compliancewith regulations, for example CITES,and with the conservation status ofmedicinal plant holdings via, forexample, the IUCN Red List.• Contribute to the development andtesting of conservation methodologies.5. Preserve indigenous knowledgeIn 2004 the United Nations Conferenceon Trade and Development (UNCTAD)warned that a biodiversity crisis is beingaccompanied by a cultural diversity crisisand the weakening of the customary lawsthat traditionally regulated the use ofnatural resources. The growingawareness of loss of indigenousknowledge and the implications of thiswas reflected in questionnaire responses.• Target 13 of the GSPC calls for thedecline of plant resources andassociated indigenous knowledge thatsupport livelihoods to be halted, sinceboth physical habitat and ancientknowledge, once lost, will be goneforever.• There are inherent conservation valuesin the way plants were collected fortraditional healing, many of which havenow fallen out of use. In Zimbabwe,for example, the collecting of bark,roots, branches etc. from a plant thatshowed signs of having been collectedfrom by another n’anga (traditionalhealer) was prohibited. It was believedthat when a n’anga used a plant totreat a patient, the patient’s diseasewas transferred into that plant.When another n’anga subsequentlyused the same plant to treat a patient,the disease of the previous patientwould be transferred to the newpatient. This belief ensured that theplant recovered from the effects ofcollection (Mavi and Shava, 1997).• There have been clashes betweentraditional healers and externalorganisations, based around theownership of indigenous knowledge.Botanic gardens are likely to havedetailed specific knowledge about thelandscapes, people and flora of anarea and are well-placed to buildcommunity links and to help with thedocumentation of traditional knowledgeon medicinal plants that is available inthe public domain.• There are simple ways botanic gardenscan collect and promote indigenousknowledge. For more information onthe collection of indigenous knowledgego to www.kew.org/ethnomedica/.6. Develop alternatives to wild harvest,technology transferAnother key questionnaire response,emphasised again and again, was therole of community involvement inconservation. This is imperative at allstages of project development andimplementation. At a local level botanicgardens can provide communities withvaluable horticultural expertise andmarket information. The transfer ofcultivation methodologies to farmers andother stakeholders via training initiativesshould be encouraged, as should thedevelopment of harvester organisationsand best practice horticultural knowledgeshared between these. Additionally,investments in technology transfer,research, training and capacity building,can make the private sector voluntarilyrespond to environmental management.• A recent study of 150 traditional healersin South Africa found that 72% saidthey would appreciate proper trainingon how to domesticate frequently usedmedicinal plants (Manzini, 2005).• During storage considerable amountsof medicinal plants are wasted due tohumidity, insect attacks, inappropriatestorage facilities and lack of awarenesson the part of collectors. (Hamuyan etal., 2006).22Plants for life: Medicinal plant conservation and botanic gardens