from the global partnership for plant conservation

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Convention on Biological DiversityPlant Conservation Report Page 34TARGET 12:THIRTY PER CENT OF PLANT-BASED PRODUCTS DERIVEDFROM SOURCES THAT ARE SUSTAINABLY MANAGEDIntroductionPlants and their derivates provide a range ofproducts including amongst other thingsfuel, food, shelter, clothing and medicines.Such plants or plant products may be harvestedfrom wild or semi-natural conditions, or cultivated.This target requires a coordinated approach thatapplies across all sectors of international, nationaland local production and trade of plant products.In the case of plant material collected from wildor semi-natural ecosystems, harvesting must bebelow replacement rates to be sustainable, and theprocess of harvesting should not cause signiicantdamage to other components of the ecosystem.Sustainable management of plants and theirproducts relates to environmental as well as socialissues, including fair trade, equitable sharing ofbeneits and participation of indigenous and localcommunities.enthusiastic response in many countries anddemand for FSC-certified products outstripssupply. Major retail outlets in the UK and USAfor example are committed to stocking as muchFSC as they can and several governments havedeveloped timber procurement policies thatrequire them to seek certified products.ProgressIndicators of progress towards this targetinclude the percentage of products derivedfrom independently certiied production areas,including forest certiication and organicproduction, as well as from sources withsustainable harvesting plans in place.The organic sector is growing rapidly with globalsales of organic food and drink increasing byaround $5 billion over the last six years to nearly$40 billion in 2006 38 . In Europe, the organic shareof the total food market varies from approximately6% of total food sales in Switzerland and Austria,4.5% in Denmark, to 3% in Germany and 1.6%in the UK 39 . In the USA, the organic food marketcurrently has a 3 % share of total food sales andgrew by 21 % in 2006 according to the OrganicTrade Association (OTA).With regard to sustainable forest production,in December 2006, a total of nearly 300million hectares were reported to be undercertification, 40 of which 84.2 million hectareswere certified under the Forest StewardshipCouncil (FSC) scheme. FSC has met with an38 Institute of Rural Sciences, Aberystwyth Univesity, Wales39 Soil Association Market Report, 200740 www.forestrycertiication.infoBark of Warburgia ugandensis, in high demand forlocal traditional medicine (Photo: National Museums ofKenya).FAO has facilitated the collection, analysesand dissemination of national, regional andinternational statistics on all aspects of forestresources, forest products and their trade andother important socio-economic variables atregular intervals. FAO also provides support tothe United Nations Forum on Forests as well asto regional criteria and indicators processes formonitoring progress towards sustainable forestmanagement. Moreover, FAO provides supportto countries to implement sustainable forestmanagement practices.FAO also works towards the enhancement offorests and forest products and their contributionto poverty alleviation while ensuringenvironmental sustainability, by inter alia:• Identifying the potential of non-woodforest products (NWFPs), improvedharvesting and production methods, andwide dissemination of related knowledgeat all levels;
• Re-appraising the value and potential ofwood fuels as a clean, safe and economicalenergy source and raising awareness oftheir importance at policy level, includingimproved information systems; and• Developing a regional code of forestharvesting for South America and assistingcountries in Asia, Africa and SouthAmerica to introduce reduced impactlogging practices based on regional codesof harvesting.Various national initiatives are being developedto support the sustainable management ofuseful plants. For example, the German FederalAgency for Nature Conservation has supportedthe development of the “International Standardfor Sustainable Wild Collection of Medicinal andAromatic Plants" 41 , which also addresses Targets6, 12, and 13. In Uganda, the BioTrade Initiativeof the United Nations Conference on Trade andDevelopment 42 , which provides a useful model forreining and transforming medicinal and aromaticplants products, has focused on promoting tradeand investment in products and services derivedfrom native or indigenous biodiversity.FutureFurther work to explore ways in whichsustainable management can be adequatelydescribed and estimated by countries wouldbe valuable. There are a number of importantsustainable production initiatives that are beingdeveloped by the private sector and an exchangeof experiences and identiication of lessonslearnt to provide a framework for developmentof good practices, tools and estimationprocedures would be extremely beneicial.Global standard for sustainable wild medicinalplant harvestingA new standard to promote sustainablemanagement and trade of wild medicinal andaromatic plants was launched in 2007. Thestandard is needed to prevent plants usedin medicine and cosmetics from being overexploited.More than 400,000 metric tons ofmedicinal and aromatic plants are traded everyyear, and about 80 % of the species involvedare harvested from the wild.Following extensive consultation with plantexperts and the herbal products industry, theInternational Standard for Sustainable WildCollection of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants,ISSC-MAP, was drawn up by the MedicinalPlant Specialist Group of IUCN.The German Federal Agency for NatureConservation was involved in the consultationalong with WWF-Germany, and the wildlifetrade monitoring network TRAFFIC. Industryassociations, companies, certifiers andcommunity-based non-governmentalorganizations assisted in the developmentof the standard. The standard is basedon six principles: maintaining medicinaland aromatic plant resources in the wild;preventing negative environmental impacts;legal compliance; respecting customary rights;applying responsible management practices;and applying responsible business practices.International Standard forSustainable Wild Collection ofMedicinal and Aromatic Plants(ISSC-MAP)Version 1.0Medicinal Plant Specialist GroupSpecies Survival CommissionIUCN – The World Conservation Union41 www.loraweb.de/map-pro/Standard_Version1_0.pdf42 http://www.biotrade.orgBfN – Skripten 1952007Plant Conservation ReportPage 35 Convention on Biological Diversity
Page 2 and 3: Published by the Secretariat of the
Page 4 and 5: Convention on Biological DiversityP
Page 50: Convention on Biological DiversityP

from the global partnership for plant conservation

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?