The rapid growing interest in Medicinal Aromatic Plants.

 

Medicinal Aromatic Plants 

Medicinal Aromatic Plants (MAPs) play a valuable and important role in economic, social, cultural and ecological aspects of local communities the world over. Medicinal Aromatic Plants (MAPs) can be defined as botanicals that provide people with medicines - to prevent disease, maintain health or cure ailments. In one form or another, they benefit virtually everyone on Earth through nutrition, toiletry, bodily care, incense and ritual healing. Medicinal Aromatic Plants (MAPs) grow in almost all terrestrial and some aquatic ecosystems around the world. However increasing demand on plants and their habitats are threatening many species harvested from the wild. Cultivation of MAPs is thus a feasible diversification enterprise for many small-scale farmers as demand is high, trade opportunities are increasing and the income generating potential is good. Medicinal Aromatic Plants (MAPs) are an integral component of many local trade supply chains. They are part of traditional medicine systems found in numerous local communities around the world, and comprise a wide range of species which have different sources, characteristics and uses. Since time immemorial these products have made a significant contribution to human health and well-being as well as contributing to farm household income generation through trade. 'Traditional medicine’ is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the sum total of the knowledge, skills, and practices based on the theories, beliefs, and experiences indigenous to different cultures, used in the maintenance of health as well as in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of physical and mental illness.

 Livelihoods and sustainable development 

There are many situations where MAP activities can be especially valuable for livelihoods because they are an accessible option to most: harvest for subsistence or trade requires access to natural assets, basic species knowledge, and some willing labour. Medicinal Aromatic Plant (MAPs) trade is essentially the process of converting natural resources into income, drawing on social, physical and human assets to do so. The more sustainably managed the asset base, the greater the potential for a successful activity. An estimated 400 000 tonnes of MAPs are traded annually and more than 70 percent of the plant species used in herbal medicines, cosmetics, and other plant-based products are harvested from the wild, and the demand for them is globally increasing. Coupled with land conversion and habitat degradation in many regions, it means around a quarter of such species are under threat. In Europe, at least 2 000 MAP species are traded commercially and as many as 1 300 species being native to Europe. The increase in demand for MAPs is putting pressure on natural resources. The European Plant Conservation Strategy (EPCS) states that 90 percent of MAP species native to Europe are still collected from the wild. Approximately one quarter of plant species used for medicine, cosmetics or dietary supplements, are threatened with extinction. The past 30 years have witnessed a rapid growth of interest in MAPs among both conservation and development organizations, in part as a result of the vital livelihood contribution these goods make to large numbers of rural communities for subsistence and trade, but also as a result of the negative impact that over harvesting has had on some species and ecosystems. Historically the major consumption of MAPs was related to local subsistence. The shift within many developing countries from subsistence to commercial usage (trade) has created an increase in the intensity and frequency of wild plant harvesting. In the presence of limited cultivation options, popularly traded species have become over-exploited or indeed commercially extinct, resulting in forced exploitation of alternative species, or a geographical shift to other areas.

If conserved, MAPs will continue to be available to provide continuing benefits for healthcare, income and support of cultural heritage. 

Issues for conservationists include:

• conservation of species and their genetic diversity; 

• ensuring sustainability of both cultivation and wild collection by small-scale farmers and rural populations; 

• motivating people’s interest in MAPs to facilitate species and habitat conservation. 

The livelihood issues include: 

• making the health benefits ofMAPs available at local, national and international levels; 

• achieving responsible distribution of the benefits and the costs of managing and exploiting such resources. 

The Purpose of this section is to promote and create awareness about MAPs as a feasible diversification enterprise for small-scale farmers. It highlights the challenges and opportunities associated with MAPs as a diversification enterprise, and presents small-scale cultivation options, processing, marketing and selling strategies to achieve a successful livelihood diversification option for smallscale farmers.