Unsustainable wild harvesting of Prunus Africana trade from Madagascar and Cameroon.

 

The bark of Prunus Africana - harvested exclusively from wild populations – was used in Europe to produce herbal remedies to treat prostrate problems. The product was traded in a variety of forms: unprocessed dry bark, bark extracts, brand-name capsules, a component hair tonic (used in Japan), and local trade in timber and furniture from the wood. Most of the processing of the bark occurs in the European Union. The annual export volume to Europe was about 3.3 tonnes in mid-1990s, and up to 72 percent of this raw product was harvested in Cameroon; 18 percent from Madagascar; 6 percent from Kenya, and 4 percent from the United Republic of Tanzania.

In 1995, growing demand and unsustainable harvesting methods helped include this species in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in EndangeredSpecies (CITES), and in 2006 CITES recommended that trade be banned until exporting countries could develop management plans, together with tree inventories, to ensure that the tree was sustainably grown and harvested, and as such, the European Union, the largest importing market for Cameroon, voluntarily suspended trade. However, the government of Cameroon has approved a national management plan for Prunus africana, which may see the trading of bark back on the international market.