Available online 19 February 2016
Conservation and sustainable uses of medicinal and aromatic plants genetic resources on the worldwide for human welfare
- a Banco Português de Germoplasma Vegetal, Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária e Veterinária, I.P. (INIAV, I.P.), Quinta S. José, S. Pedro de Merelim, 4700-859 Braga, Portugal
- b Centro de Investigação de Montanha (CIMO), Escola Superior Agrária do Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia, 5301-855 Bragança, Portugal
- Received 9 July 2015, Revised 25 January 2016, Accepted 13 February 2016, Available online 19 February 2016
Highlights
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- The ancient relationship amongst medicinal and aromatic plants (MAP) and human welfare is present.
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- There are major drivers of the decline in wild MAP resources.
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- MAP conservation, sustainable use and methodologies on wild harvesting, are international goals.
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- Established networks make possible to increase the effectiveness of the knowledge about this important genetic pool.
Abstract
Plants
have been used since ancient times to heal and cure diseases and to
improve the health and the wellbeing of the populations. Medicinal and
aromatic plants still form the basis of traditional or indigenous health
systems of the populations in most of the developing countries, as
reported by the World Health Organization (WHO).
As a
result of the expanding interest in medicinal and aromatic plants, new
income generating opportunities are opening up for rural populations.
With many of the MAPs gathered from the wild, the recollection and sale
of MAPs is providing a complementary source of income for many poor
rural households.
Currently, we are facing an
incomparably growing pressure on plant populations in the wild due to
the increasing commercial recollection, largely unmonitored trade, and
habitat loss. Profound knowledge of the features of the (international)
trade in botanicals (size, structure, streams, commodities, traded
quantities and their origin) is (1) essential for assessing the trade’s
impact on the plant populations concerned; and (2) required for
conservation concepts and measures which have to meet future supply and
the provisions of species conservation.
Keywords
- Trade;
- Traditional;
- Medicine;
- Knowledge
Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
