Allachy project: Field consultation on the International Standard for Sustainable Wild Collection of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (India)
Community members and staff of FRLHT
in Savana Durga Forest near Bangalore
© Alan Hamilton
Grantee:
Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions (FRLHT)
Project period: January to December 2006
Highlights
- The project will field test a draft international standard being developed for the sustainable wild collection of medicinal plants.
- The test site is one where FRLHT and the Environmental Change Unit, University of Oxford, have been developing methodologies for a community-based system for sustainable use of medicinal plants.
Final report of the project (pdf 21b).
Link to latest version of the ISSC-MAP Standard
Project account by Alan Hamilton, 6 June 2006
Project description
The objective of the project is to field test a draft International Standard for Sustainable Wild Collection of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (ISSC-MAP), which is being developed under the auspices of a Steering Group consisting of the German Bundesamt für Naturschutz (BfN), WWF Germany and TRAFFIC, IUCN Canada and the IUCN Medicinal Plant Specialist Group. It is hoped that the standard will provide a benchmark to judge whether the harvesting of wild medicinal plants is sustainable. There will be applications in certification systems.
There is much current concern over the unsustainable harvesting of wild medicinal plants and many calls from industry and others for a practical definition of sustainable use. A new international standard must be widely recognised and accepted as reasonable, if it is to carry weight. The BfN-WWF-IUCN group has so far produced several drafts of the proposed standard, which have been sent out for wide consultation. It is the latest draft that will be tested under this project.
The standard will be field tested in a forest where FRLHT together with the Environmental Change Unit, University of Oxford (UK) has been developing methods of sustainable harvesting for medicinal plants based on community involvement.
Review paper on sustainable harvesting (pdf 536kb). From Plant Talk No. 43, pages 32-35 (2006). Reproduced with permission.The test will be implemented by a test team, consisting of an external consultant, local experts and staff members of FRLHT. Testing will focus on a selected set of species. The test will include desktop analyses, field visits and interviews, and team sessions and workshops. The test team will decide on the best technique for assessing each component of the standard.
