[MPWG] Fw: Excerpts NWFP-Digest-L No. 11/05
Patricia_DeAngelis at fws.gov
Patricia_DeAngelis at fws.gov
Wed Jan 4 08:38:58 CST 2006
I just realized I neglected to forward excerpts from October NWFP-Digest-L
No. 11/05. There are several interesting articles.
Below is the entire table of contents. Summaries for items pertaining to
medicinal plants (and NTFPs) at home and abroad are included (as marked
with double asterisks: **). To see the full articles, you must cut and
paste the url into your web engine.
Patricia S. De Angelis, Ph.D.
Botanist - Division of Scientific Authority
Chair - Plant Conservation Alliance - Medicinal Plant Working Group
US Fish & Wildlife Service
4401 N. Fairfax Dr., Suite 750
Arlington, VA 22203
703-358-1708 x1753
FAX: 703-358-2276
Working for the conservation and sustainable use of our green natural
resources.
<www.nps.gov/plants/medicinal>
NWFP-Digest-L
No. 11/05
Welcome to FAO’s NWFP-Digest-L, a free e-mail journal that covers all
aspects of non-wood forest products. Back issues of the Digest may be found
on FAO's NWFP home page: www.fao.org/forestry/site/12980/en
==============================================================
IN THIS ISSUE:
PRODUCTS
1. Agarwood trade
2. Bamboo attracts global audience
3. Bamboo cloth: A novel functional textile from
bamboo-charcoal yarn
4. Bamboo in Cuba
5. Bamboo in India: bamboo units to generate 8000
jobs
6. Brazil nut farmers crack forest conservation in
the tropical Andes
7. Brazil nut: Felling trees is prohibited; and the
Para Nut tree dies standing
8. Honey in Zambia: Honey goes to waste in Mufumbwe
9. **Medicinal plants in Scotland: Bog myrtle (
Myrica gale.)**
10. ** Medicinal plants in the USA: Appalachian Center
for Ethnobotanical Studies **
11. ** Medicinal plants in Vietnam: Melanoma discovery
**
12. ** Moss is a cash crop for mountain people in the
USA **
13. ** Mushrooms and medicines: Fungi 'antibiotics' for
superbugs**
14. **Mushrooms and medicines: Mushrooms hide magic in
Australia’s forests**
15. ** Mushrooms in Canada: Cash crops from the forest
floor**
16. Seabuckthorn: product development in India
COUNTRY INFORMATION
17. **Gambia: Selling forest products to improve
livelihoods**
18. Malaysia: Global significance of Malaysian mangroves
19. Tanzania bans export of unprocessed sandalwood
20. Vietnam: Southern mangrove forest – great potential
for ecotourism
NEWS
21. **AIDS and herbs: Zimbabweans hit by 'herbs craze'**
22. AIDS and frogs: Frogs may help in fight against HIV
23. Bushmen's quiver tree threatened by climate change
24. Coalition Against Wildlife Trafficking
25. Course: Erasmus Mundus Masters on Sustainable
Tropical Forestry
26. Fabrics with a healing touch
27. 2006 BP Conservation Programme Awards – call for
applications
REQUESTS
28. Request for contributions to the next issue of
Non-wood News
EVENTS
29. Forest Market (Mercado Floresta)
30. Introducing Community Forestry: Innovative Ideas,
Practices and Methodologies
31. **Non-timber forest products and managing woodland
for wildlife**
32. Frontiers in Forest Information: a centenary
conference/workshop
33. **Plants to cure man and his environment. 2nd
International Symposium**
34. **Spirit of Healing: Traditional Medicine, Fair
Trade and Health For All**
LITERATURE REVIEW AND WEB SITES
35. **Environment and Poverty Times**
36. **The Overstory: recent issues**
37. Women, Forests and Plantations. The Gender Dimension
38. Unasylva: latest issue covers Poplars and willows
39. Other publications of interest
40. Web sites and e-zines
MISCELLANEOUS
41. Chopsticks: National standards for disposable
chopsticks issued
42. ** Christmas tree growers in Pennsylvania, USA
benefit from IPM**
43. **Daffodils to help beat dementia**
44. Poll: Ginkgo is firm favourite
9. Medicinal plants in Scotland: Bog myrtle (Myrica gale)
Source: Edinburgh Evening News - Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, 8 October 2005
Myrica gale, sweet gale, bog myrtle. This shy Scottish plant, well known to
our ancestors, is finally taking centre stage again. Bog myrtle is a small
deciduous shrub with reddish brown buds that grows in bogs, wet heaths and
fens. It used to be common throughout the UK, but as we gradually drained
wetlands its habitat was removed and it retreated further north, finally
making its home in the Scottish Highlands.
The leaves of this sweet scented plant are resinous and it was
used to flavour beer. Another well-known use was as an insect repellent.
The bark was hung in wardrobes and stuffed into mattresses to repel fleas.
Recently, a Scottish company has started harvesting this plant
to extract the oil, which has insect repelling properties. With £750,000 of
commercial and government funding for research into this plant, this has
huge commercial potential for the Highlands.
Bog myrtle, like many plants, was thought of as a medicine, and
at one time was the standard treatment for scabies. The leaves were made
into "gale tea", which was a cold remedy as well as being a useful
astringent for upset stomachs.
Belonging to the Myricacea family, there are about 50 species
of wax myrtles worldwide. They are nearly all aromatic and have a history
of being used as a medicine.
They are found in soaps, stomach remedies and catarrh mixes and
can still be found in many herbal dispensaries:
For full story, please see:
http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=2059952005
10. Medicinal plants in the USA: Appalachian Center for
Ethnobotanical Studies
Source: Newswise, 5 October 2005
In the U.S. alone, medicinal and nutritional herbs are a $4 billion-plus
industry, worldwide the figure is at least $20 billion annually. The
Appalachian Mountains in Western Maryland and West Virginia support a
unique and exceptionally diverse flora, including many plants that have a
long history of medicinal use. In recognition of the need to conserve wild
native plants, to scientifically explore and understand their true medical
efficacy, and to generate economic benefit for the people of the
Appalachian region, the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute
(UMBI) and Frostburg State University, in collaboration with West Virginia
University, have established the Appalachian Center for Ethnobotanical
Studies (ACES).
The Appalachian Center for Ethnobotanical Studies is a
collaborative, inter-institutional effort devoted to the multidisciplinary
study and conservation of native plants and will foster economic growth in
the region through the managed development of the area's natural resources.
It will work with existing businesses and facilitate the development of new
local enterprises to explore the use of regional plants for health-related
purposes.
The Center’s goal is to conduct multidisciplinary research and
education programs on native plants with potential medicinal properties,
conservation of these plants and Appalachian ecosystems as a whole,
preservation of Appalachian culture as it relates to the harvesting and
traditional use of medicinal plants, and the exploration of economic
benefit to the region that may be derived from managed development of
botanical resources.
For more information on the Appalachian Center for
Ethnobotanical Studies and the conference that took place on 13-14 October
2005 to discuss the collaborative efforts on ethnobotanical studies that
integrate bioscience with indigenous herbal medicine practices, wildlife
habitats, conservation efforts, cottage industries, and economic
development for Central Appalachia, please visit
http://www.umbi.umd.edu/nande/EthnobotanySymposium.html
For full story, please see:http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/515093/
11. Medicinal plants in Vietnam: Melanoma discovery
Source: Press Release: Forest Herbs, 13 October 2005
Researchers at the University of Otago's Wellington School of Medicine are
working on a possible treatment for melanoma derived from a Vietnamese
herb. The herb came to their attention through an NZAID project that aims
to save endangered medicinal plants and develop sustainable incomes for
Vietnamese hill tribes, whose people are among the poorest in Asia. NZAID
is New Zealand's international aid and development agency.
The company behind the project, Forest Herbs Research Ltd of
Nelson, has registered a provisional patent to protect the intellectual
property of the project for the benefit of the hill tribes, and is
exploring options for commercializing the discovery.
Director of Forest Herbs, Peter Butler said the find was
unexpected: "We certainly weren't looking for a cure for cancer," he said.
"We went into this aid project three years ago aiming to save rare plants
and help these remote villagers - if the Wellington research confirms its
early promise we could have a major success that will be a life changer for
the poorest farmers around Sa Pa."
Mr Butler said the patent for the melanoma treatment will be
assigned to a collective of the hill tribe people in the Sa Pa district,
which is near the Chinese border. "The plant with the anti-melanoma
properties is a very rare tuber that is found at high altitudes in the
forest," he said. "Through the Medicinal Plants Innovation Project (a joint
venture between Forest Herbs and International Flora and Fauna from the UK)
methods have been developed to propagate and cultivate the plant to protect
the wild stock, and to provide a viable base for an industry."
The tuber of the plant Stephania brachyandra has been used
traditionally for many purposes, including as a relaxant and sleep aid.
However, the findings of its anti-melanoma properties are new. Dr Paul
Davis, who heads the Biological Investigation Group (BIG) at the Wellington
School of Medicine and Health Sciences, is supervising a series of trials
through the rest of this year to corroborate the initial laboratory
results.
The Forest Herbs' team in Vietnam has some other exciting
prospects among the plants of the northern hills of Sa Pa. The aid project
has funded a commercial essential oil still, set up on one of the communes
to produce oils from traditional herbs that showed promise in early trials.
Mr Butler said that one of these, a fast-growing member of the mint family,
Elsholtzia penduliflora, has excellent potential and that traditionally it
has been rubbed into sore muscles. There is also demand from international
Fair Trade organisations, which will be supplied when production increases.
For full story, please see:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0510/S00210.htm
BACK TO TOP
12. Moss is a cash crop for mountain people in the USA
Source: ENN Daily Newsletter, 17 October 2005
Deep in the forest, miles from anything resembling a town, even logging
roads and rutted four-wheeler paths dissolve. It is there that J.P.
Anderson spots it: a long-fallen, rotting tree covered in a blanket of
brilliant green moss some 2 inches thick and several feet long. Quickly and
gently, he rips up a long section of the living carpet and stuffs it into
one of eight woven-plastic sacks he'll fill in an hour.
Moss is the all-purpose sponge of the forest, storing water,
releasing nutrients and housing tiny critters. But across Appalachia and in
the Pacific Northwest, it's more than that. It's a way to make ends meet
when jobs are few. Picking is hard work on a hot day. And it pays only
about $5 a sack.
What Anderson picks could end up in a floral arrangement or a
craft project, maybe even on a movie set. Along the way, it will support
more than a dozen jobs, from people who sort it, dry it and package it to
those who ship and sell it.
But biologists, businessmen and pickers themselves say the good
stuff is getting harder to find -- and the money harder to make.
Moss is not commercially grown, so buyers depend on the
wilderness. Some state and national forests, though, have already banned
harvesting, worried about what they are losing when moss leaves the
ecosystem.
A less ethical picker will strip the logs bare, but Anderson
and father James, who have witnessed the devastation of strip mining and
clear-cut logging, always leave clumps behind to help the spore-driven
plant regenerate. To thrive, it needs moisture, cool temperatures and
shade. "You never pick it all," James says. "Not if you want it to grow
back again."
How long that takes is a question that has some scientists and
U.S. Forest Service officials wrestling with the regulation of this
secretive industry, where there are plenty of opinions but few facts.
North Carolina's Pisgah and Nantahala national forests expect
to ban moss collection Jan. 1 after studies there indicated a growback
cycle "on the order of 15 to 20 years," says botanical specialist Gary
Kauffman of the Forest Service. That's twice as long as some veteran
pickers and moss buyers think it takes. Though Kauffman agrees the science
is still lacking, Pisgah and Nantahala will likely err on the side of
caution. That means the forests will be off-limits to the 100-200 pickers a
year who typically get permits.
Nationwide, it's hard to tell how many people make a living
from moss. Most search out private land, where they go unnoticed and
untracked by hunt clubs and logging companies. Nor are all pickers alike.
Some are chronically unemployed, living on society's fringe. Some are
recreational, filling sacks while hunting or hiking. Some teenagers do it
at county fair time, for pocket money.
Sue Studlar, a West Virginia University biologist who has
studied the business, argues that overall, moss is "mined, rather than
sustainably harvested." Large-scale removal can inadvertently damage other
species, from ferns to salamanders. The Monongahela National Forest banned
mossing in 2001 until it could study the impact. Two years later, Studlar
concluded that picking should be discouraged near limestone cliffs and wet
areas, that no log or rock should be stripped bare, and that known
"biodiversity hot spots" should be off-limits. But "potentially, if you did
it right," moss could be harvested without harming the ecosystem, Studlar
says. It falls off in clumps naturally as it regenerates, and pickers could
harvest those remnants.
The Monongahela, which covers nearly 1 million acres in West
Virginia, may someday restore moss-picking permits. Ecologist Melissa
Thomas-Van Gundy says that possibility is not a priority, but she agrees
with mossers who say they and others should be allowed to take non-timber
products from the forest, including ginseng root and medicinal herbs like
goldenseal, before the loggers destroy them.
Pat Muir, a botanist at Oregon State University, figures
mossing was an $8.4 million to $33.7 million business in 2003, with
anywhere from 4.2 million to 17 million pounds being harvested in the two
dominant regions, Appalachia and the Pacific Northwest. Data is hard to
come by, and most moss dealers won't share sales figures, but Muir reached
her conclusions by interviewing those who would talk, analyzing six years
of export data from the U.S. Department of Commerce and making a series of
assumptions.
For full story, please see: http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=9039
13. Mushrooms and medicines: Fungi 'antibiotics' for superbugs
Source: BBC News – UK, 12 October 2005
Scientists believe they may have found powerful new antibiotics in fungi
that could fight drug-resistant bacteria. The protein compound or peptide
which lives in a fungus found in northern European pine forests is as
powerful as penicillin and vancomycin, they say.
When tested in the lab, "plectasin" killed Streptococcus
bacteria including strains that are now resistant to conventional
antibiotics.
The Danish and US researchers' findings are published in Nature.
For full story, please see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4333654.stm
Related story: http://www.newkerala.com/news.php?action=fullnews&id=35300
14. Mushrooms and medicines: Mushrooms hide magic in Australia’s
forests
Source: Hobart Mercury - Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, 2 October 2005
Tasmania's native forests could be a goldmine for new human medicines, says
a leading mushroom expert. They may even hold the key to a breakthrough
cancer treatment.
University of Tasmania fungi researcher Sapphire
McMullan-Fisher said the island's native forests were an untapped resource
for new drugs. She said that Tasmania’s forests were full of fungi and
mosses with active ingredients which could be useful to medicine.
"But we know practically nothing about these possibilities, so
little research is being done," said Ms McMullan-Fisher, who estimates only
40 per cent of Tasmania's native mushrooms have been scientifically named.
The other 60 per cent remained a mystery to science.
After 10 years of specialised research into fungi, she said she
still often found fungi in Tasmanian forests which she had never seen
before. She added that there was a major lack of research into Tasmania's
native fungi and in Australian fungi as a whole. "There are about 10 to 15
people Australia-wide studying fungi but there's 2000 Australian scientists
investigating plants," she said.
The lack of information about the native fungi had seen
bio-prospectors all but ignore them.
In the mid-1990s there was an explosion of research worldwide
into potential new drug treatments. Global drug companies ploughed billions
into scouring the world's rainforests for potential new drugs. "The
bio-prospectors avoided looking into Tasmania's fungus because there was so
little known and there was no guarantee they would even know what they were
looking at," she said.
Ms McMullan-Fisher said interest in fungi and mosses had
particularly waned in the past 30 years. The lack of understanding had
serious consequences. She said most forest reserves in Tasmania were based
on large plant types and did not take into account fungi and mosses. "These
things may be going extinct and we don't even know it," she said.
The level of understanding of native fungi and mosses in
Tasmania was 200 years behind the study of larger plants in the state.
"Tasmania, as part of the Gondwanaland relic, could be expected to be a
hotspot for fungal diversity. There's a lot of work to be done."
Ms McMullan-Fisher said Tasmanian Aborigines probably had a far
more in-depth understanding of the island's fungi and which varieties were
edible, poisonous or beneficial in medical treatments. "Unfortunately not
much remains of what the Tasmanian Aborigines knew because we came in and
didn't bother to learn."
Ms McMullan-Fisher has recently moved to Queensland where she
is finishing writing up her thesis on fungi and moss communities in the
alpine, wet forest, coastal heath and grassy woodland around Hobart. She
spent years studying mosses and fungi near Hobart including on Mt
Wellington where she said there were up to 500 different species.
For full story, please see:
http://www.themercury.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,16760375%255E3462,00.html
15. Mushrooms in Canada: Cash crops from the forest floor
Source: Globe and Mail – Canada, 17 October 2005
As this year's wild-mushroom season gears up, Michel Jansen-Reynaud isn't
certain he'll surpass last year's harvest, when he picked 303 pounds
between 31 August and 16 December – chanterelles, king boletus, pine,
cauliflower and hedgehog mushrooms delivered to restaurants specializing in
West Coast cuisine, caterers and fungi connoisseurs. After keeping about
five pounds for himself, the rest were sold for $7 to $10 a pound, earning
Mr. Jansen-Reynaud, a restaurant manager and wilderness guide, $2,500 tax
free. This year's crop doesn't look as promising. "We didn't get rain at
the right time," he explains.
B.C.'s wild-mushroom industry is unregulated and unmonitored.
Accurate figures don't exist for amounts harvested, dollar values or the
number of pickers. Any figures are merely guesses, said Shannon Berch, a
soil scientist with B.C.'s Ministry of Forests. Import information from the
Japanese embassy in Vancouver is used to make educated guesses about how
many tonnes of B.C. fungi are being exported, Ms. Berch said.
But there is one certainty. "There's a ton of stuff coming out
of the forest," Ms. Berch said.
Richard Winder, a director of the South Vancouver Island
Mycological Society and a research scientist with Victoria's Pacific
Forestry Centre, agrees that it's difficult to unearth hard data. But armed
with his PhD in botany and plant pathology, Mr. Winder has assembled some
tonnage figures. He estimates that in 2004, 200 metric tonnes of morels,
100 metric tonnes of chanterelles and 100 metric tonnes of pine mushrooms
were plucked out of B.C. forests. More specifically, Mr. Winder cites the
chanterelle industry in northern Vancouver Island where wetter conditions
and a longer growing season enable 100 pickers to sell to three buyers for
much of the year.
"I'm not sure what that translates into dollars, but it's
roughly equivalent of a small mill," he said. "The bottom line is, it is an
important sector in the non-timber forest-products sector. We are famous
for it out here."
The B.C. government has been asked repeatedly for funds to
determine how many wild-mushroom dollars -- and how much lost tax revenue
-- are being sliced out of the forests. "It's an unresolved issue," Ms.
Berch said.
For full story, please see:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20051017/BCMUSHROOMS17/TPNational/Canada
COUNTRY INFORMATION
17. Gambia: Selling forest products to improve livelihoods
Source: FAO Newsman, 7 September 2005
Poor communities in the Gambia are now earning regular income by selling
forest products, thanks to an FAO programme that helps communities to build
up markets for local products.
In a pilot area of 26 villages suffering extreme poverty,
people learned about the potential value of forest products and how they
could be marketed more successfully.
Villagers interested in marketing forest products have set up
their own businesses and organized themselves in producer associations to
sell honey, logs, fuelwood, mahogany posts, handicrafts and palm oil on
nearby markets. They are also making additional income from tree nurseries
and ecotourism.
"Before the start of the project, villagers had not explored
the market potentials of handicrafts made of Rhun palm leaves, because they
did not have the practical skills or market knowledge. Now they are selling
products such as chairs, tables, lampshades, baskets and beds made of these
leaves," said Sophie Grouwels, an FAO community forestry expert.
In the Gambia, forests were deteriorating at an alarming rate
partly due to the state-controlled forest management approach, which
ignored the local population. Therefore, in the 1990s, the Gambian
government introduced community forestry, giving ownership to the
communities, in an attempt to improve forest management. Despite this
change, the communities still did not have many incentives to conserve the
forests until the programme was introduced.
"In the past, when people from the village saw bushfires, we
only protected the village but didn't care if the entire forest burned. We
thought it didn't matter because regardless of what happened, the
government would take whatever was there. Now, we know things are
different. If we see a fire five kilometres away, we go and see where it is
and where it is going. We don't let our forests burn," said Modu Jarju from
one of the villages.
"People who used to shun managing forests or exploited them,
are now asking for more forests to own and manage in order to earn more
income," said Grouwels.
Communities that used to sell a truckload of fuelwood at around
US$50 prior to their involvement in the FAO project are now selling the
same amount of wood at around US$700 after having organized themselves in a
producer federation.
"Given the success of this project, FAO hopes its methodology
will be applied in other parts of the Gambia and other countries," Grouwels
said.
The project is funded by the Government of Norway.
For full story, please see:
http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2005/107439/index.html
NEWS
21. AIDS and herbs: Zimbabweans hit by 'herbs craze'
Source: Zimbabwe Standard (Harare), 9 October 2005
A "herbs craze" has hit Zimbabwe. Forget about the much talked about
anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) and the conventional drugs and medicines, many
Zimbabweans now prefer herbs to medicinal drugs.
The more imaginative have called this craze "Operation
Moringa", after the popular healing plant, Moringa. The Moringa tree is
said to have amazing healing powers for many ailments and is found in
abundance in the Binga area of Zimbabwe.
Due to the high costs of conventional medicines or perhaps
disappointment with modern pharmacology products, many - HIV positive or
even negative people - are increasingly making herbs and traditional
medicines a part of their lifestyles, according to research by
authoritative bodies such as the Scientific and Research Development Centre
(SIRDC).
The "herb craze" has also been attributed to media reports that
have profiled some people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWAs) attributing
their good health to the use of certain herbs or traditional medicines.
The use of herbs and traditional medicines is also becoming a
common intervention in the fight against the Aids scourge. Quite a large
number of communities, especially in rural areas, are developing herbal and
nutrition gardens to assist those infected by HIV. However, according to
experts, it is important that people have clear guidelines to help them
administer herbs and other traditional medicines. It is important also that
HIV-positive people have information on the possible side effects of each
and every herb they are handling. They must also know how to deal with the
side effects, should they arise.
Most communities running herbal gardens are being trained and
funded by NGOs involved in anti-Aids work. It is important for the NGOs to
equip these communities with all the necessary knowledge to run such
projects correctly and professionally.
This was the background to a recent one-day seminar organised
by the National Aids Council where researchers and experts in herbal
therapy concurred that herbs are proving an effective method of managing
diseases but must be handled with caution. The experts warned people using
herbs to be wary of possible side effects, especially when used together
with modern medicines and ARVs.
Dr Orseline Carelse from SIRDC said the country should work
hard to safeguard communities from the side effects and uncontrolled
wholesale use of herbs. Carelse said although both herbal and modern
medicines have side effects, the latter's effects are well documented and
known with clear procedures to follow in cases of a reaction or allergies.
Carelse said it was therefore imperative that the same measures be taken to
ensure the proper use of herbs and traditional medicines.
For full story, please see: http://allafrica.com/stories/200510090247.html
27. 2006 BP Conservation Programme Awards – call for applications
Source: CENN Electronic Bulletin
Funding available with training opportunities. The aim of BP Conservation
Programme Awards is to contribute to long-term environmental conservation
and sustainable development in priority areas by encouraging and engaging
potential leaders in biodiversity conservation, and providing opportunities
for them to gain practical skills and experience.
This initiative, organised by BirdLife International,
Conservation International, Fauna & Flora International, the Wildlife
Conservation Society and BP, has been helping young conservationists across
the world to achieve their goals for the past 15 years. The Programme
currently works towards its aims by offering advice, training and awards,
primarily targeting university students.
Three types of awards will be offered in 2006:
• Future Conservationist Awards: Approximately 20 awards of up to $12,500
each, plus training.
• Conservation Follow-up Awards: Approximately 5 awards of up to $25,000
each, plus training. Available to previous BPCP award winners only.
• Conservation Leadership Awards: 2 awards of $50,000 each, plus training.
Available to previous BPCP award winners only.
These three tiers allow progression from encouraging and
supporting inexperienced teams undertaking small-scale, basic surveying and
awareness-raising projects, to the stage where teams are engaging in more
complex decision-making, and developing stronger communication and
leadership skills.
The application deadline is 16th December 2005 for ALL
applications, and awards will be announced mid-March 2006.
All details, including new guidelines and application forms, are now
available on the Programme website at: http://conservation.bp.com
E-mail applications and enquiries to:
bp-conservation-programme at birdlife.org.uk
Non-timber forest products and managing woodland for wildlife
3 December 2005
Minnesota, USA
The University of Minnesota Extension's "Woodland Advisor" program is
offering a joint course in non-timber forest products and managing woodland
for wildlife. One or both topics may be attended.
For more information, please contact:
Susan Seabury at 01-888-241-0724, ext. 6466 or sseabury at umn.edu
or visit http://www.cnr.umn.edu/cfc/wa/Support/wasess.htm
Plants to cure man and his environment. 2nd International Symposium
6-7 December 2005
Yaoundé, Cameroon
For more information, please contact:
Pr. Bernard-Aloys Nkongmeneck, BP: 812 Yaoundé, Cameroon.
Tel :(237) 223 02 02 (H) (237) 999 54 08.
Email : nkongme at uycdc.uninet.cm or cenrce at yahoo.fr
Spirit of Healing: Traditional Medicine, Fair Trade and Health For All
16-18 June 2006
Pennsylvania, USA
This conference is being co-sponsored by Herbalists Without Borders and
Penn State's Interinstitutional Consortium for Indigenous Knowledge. It
will explore the role of herbal medicine in primary health care and poverty
alleviation. How can traditional medicine serve the primary health care
needs of the majority of people who have little or no access to
conventional medicine? How can medicinal plants bring in more income for
poor communities? What type of regulatory and policy approaches help or
hinder the provision of health care and a higher standard of living for the
poor?
Conference tracks include:
--Making Trade Fair in the Botanicals Industry
--Intellectual Property Rights, Access, and Benefits-Sharing
--Organic Certification
--Agricultural Extension and Genetic Resources
--HIV/AIDS--Diseases of Industrialization: Diabetes Mellitis, Heart Disease, and
Cancer
--Malaria and Other Tropical Diseases
--Poverty and Access to Health Care in the United States
We are accepting proposals for presentations through 15
December 2005. Proposals which include traditional people as presenters and
health care providers working on the ground in clinical and agricultural
extension environments will be given preference. We encourage presenters
from countries outside the US to submit their proposals as early as
possible, as the process for acquiring visas can be long and challenging
for some travellers.
Proposals should include a description of the presenter(s) and
his or her qualifications in 300 words or less. Please also include name,
title, address and phone number, plus email and fax number if applicable.
An abstract of the presentation in 300 words or less should include comment
about which track or tracks the presentation addresses. Workshop sessions
are 1 hour 20 minutes, we advise allowing time for Q & A.
For more information, please contact:
Jennifer Chesworth
Program Director,
Herbalists Without Borders
153 South Allen Street
State College, Pennsylvania 16801, USA
Tel. +1-814.234.3424
E-mail: jc at herbalistswithoutborders.org
www.herbalistswithoutborders.org
LITERATURE REVIEW AND WEB SITES
35. Environment and Poverty Times
Source: UNEP/GRID-Arendal Newsletter, 21 September 2005
The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) has released a new issue
of the Environment and Poverty Times. This publication in newspaper format
covers a wide range of articles and graphics related to environment,
achieving the millennium development goals (MDGs) and governance. The paper
focuses on the vital role of environment in poverty reduction. It tries to
raise critical/constructive voices that point at pitfalls, but also propose
solutions.
The Environment and Poverty Times is available online at
http://www.environmenttimes.net/
Excerpt of potential interest from the September issue of Environment and
Poverty Times
How important is environmental income?
http://www.environmenttimes.net/article.cfm?pageID=217
Environmental income – the income generated from ecosystem goods and
services – is a major constituent of the household incomes of the rural
poor. It includes income from natural systems such as forests,
grasslands, lakes, and marine waters. It also includes agricultural
income – the output of agroecosystems. Researchers often make a
distinction between agricultural income and what in this report we term
“wild income” – that is, income from less manipulated natural systems
like forests and fisheries. There is overlap between the two, as in the
use of forest grasses for livestock forage, or forest leaf litter as a
soil amendment or crop mulch.
36. The Overstory: recent issues
From: FAO’s NWFP Programme
The Overstory is a free e-mail agroforestry journal for practitioners,
researchers, professionals, and enthusiasts. One issue is sent every two
weeks focusing on a concept related to designing, developing, and learning
more about trees and agroforestry systems. Each edition includes project
development strategies, brief book recommendations, species highlights,
internet links to helpful information for agroforesters, and much more.
Recent issues of The Overstory have covered:
· Mycoforestry (issue no. 155)
· Collection of Botanical Specimens (issue no. 159)
· Women's Indigenous Knowledge (issue no. 160)
Past editions are available from the Overstory home page.
For more information, please contact:
Craig R. Elevitch
Editor
P.O. Box 428, Holualoa, Hawaii 96725 USA
Email: overstory at agroforestry.net
http://www.overstory.org
MISCELLANEOUS
42. Christmas tree growers in Pennsylvania, USA benefit from IPM
Source: Pennsylvania Integrated Pest Management Program, 27.9.05 (in ENN
Daily Newsletter, 28.9.05)
Christmas tree growers in southeastern Pennsylvania are reducing their
pesticide use up to 50 percent a year while eliminating a devastating pest,
say researchers at Penn State and the Pennsylvania Department of
Agriculture (PDA).
Christmas and other ornamental tree sales is an over $41
million per year industry in Pennsylvania, making the state fifth in the
nation. The White Pine Weevil (WPW) is the major pest of many of these
trees, including the eastern white pine, Colorado spruce, Norway spruce and
Douglas fire. According to Cathy Thomas, Pennsylvania Integrated Pest
Management Coordinator at PDA, the weevil is native to Pennsylvania forests
and prefers nurseries because of the large fields planted with a single
species of trees. “Across the state, WPW causes major financial injury to
Christmas tree growers each year,” says Thomas.
Typically, large quantities of pesticides are used to control
WPW. According to Thomas, this practice puts largely unnecessary pollutants
into the environment and, increases the risk of pests developing resistance
(immunity) to the pesticide and increases the cost of production. In
addition, EPA’s Food Quality Protection Act is phasing many of the
traditional pesticides used in growing Christmas trees. “Increasingly,
growers are looking for alternatives to traditional pesticides, but often
lack the training to implement new approaches,” Thomas explains.
One alternative to excessive pesticide applications is
integrated pest management (IPM). IPM aims to manage pests — such as
insects, diseases, weeds and animals — by combining physical, biological
and chemical tactics that are safe, profitable and environmentally
compatible. According to Thomas, growers using an IPM strategy to manage
WPW will significantly reduce their pesticide applications.
Thomas and researchers from Penn State and PDA started working
with 3 large Christmas tree growers totalling approximately 2,000
production acres in Schuylkill County earlier this year.
At the end of the first year of the two-year project, Thomas
says the results are very promising. “We’ve been able to achieve excellent
control with scouting and trapping WPW. The three growers were able to
reduce their pesticide use by 50 percent and recorded a 20 percent
reduction in tree damage. One grower reduced pesticide costs by over $200,
000,” says Thomas.
Thomas is hoping that by initially working with three of the
largest and most respected growers in the region, widespread adoption by
small growers through out Pennsylvania will occur.
Educational presentations of the data collected will be
available for statewide use and additional training programs. The data is
also available on the Penn State Christmas Tree Web site at
http://ctrees.cas.psu.edu/.
For more information on Christmas tree pests, see PA IPM’s Christmas Tree
Pest Problem Solver at
http://paipm.cas.psu.edu/ProblemSolvers/ctreeProblSolv.htm.
Questions about the project can be directed to Thomas by calling +1-(717)
705-5857 or by e-mail at caththomas at state.pa.us.
For full story, please see: http://www.enn.com/aff.html?id=894
43. Daffodils to help beat dementia
Source: Glasgow Daily Record - Glasgow, Scotland, UK, 17 October 2005
A chemical found in daffodils may help treat people struck down by
Alzheimer's disease. Scientists working in Wales - where the daffodil is
the national flower - believe the chemical in a special species of the
bloom can help the symptoms of memory loss. And they want daffodil farms to
be set up in the mountains of Wales to become a source of the drug
galanthamine.
Researchers at Cardiff University are pushing for vast amounts
of daffodils to be grown and harvested in the Black Mountains of mid-Wales.
University marketing director Frank Marsh said: "The potential for Welsh
hill farms is huge. The benefits are extensive, not only to Welsh
bioscience and the pharmaceutical industry, but also to the ageing
population."
Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia.
The University's Manufacturing Engineering Centre is now
helping the company Alzeim Ltd to develop the daffodil as a medicinal
plant. The daffodil was brought to the UK by the Romans, who believed in
its healing powers. But doctors have warned the bulb of the yellow flower
is poisonous when eaten.
For full story, please see:
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=16257071&method=full&siteid=66633&headline=daffodil-farms-to-help-beat-dementia--name_page.html
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