[MPWG] New industry standard for collection of wild plants

[richard thomas]

Hi all, 

I thought you'd be interested to know the International Standard for
Sustainable Wild Collection of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (ISSC-MAP)
is being unveiled today in Germany - and you can hear more about it at
EXPO West next month. 

Regards
Richard



New industry standard for collection of wild plants

Nuremberg, Germany, 16th February 2007-A new standard to promote the
sustainable management and trade in wild medicinal and aromatic plants
(MAP) was launched today at Biofach, the World Organic Trade Fair. 

The International Standard for Sustainable Wild Collection of Medicinal
and Aromatic Plants (ISSC-MAP) was drawn up following extensive
consultation with plant experts and the herbal products industry
worldwide. It promotes appropriate management of wild plant populations
to ensure plants used in medicine and cosmetics are not over-exploited.


"Traders and companies, collectors and consumers must share the
responsibility for maintaining populations of medicinal plants which are
valuable natural resources," said Susanne Honnef of TRAFFIC. "The
ISSC-MAP principles and criteria show how this can be achieved in
practice."

More than 400,000 tonnes of medicinal and aromatic plants are traded
annually, with around 80% of the species harvested from the wild. Almost
70,000 species are involved, many of them are in danger of
over-exploitation and even extinction through over-collection and
habitat loss. For example, in India, almost 300 medicinal plants are
considered threatened by IUCN-the World Conservation Union. 

Traditional Medicinals, one of the industry's leading companies, is
investigating applying the new standard to the collection of Bearberry,
a shrub whose leaves are used for the treatment of a variety of
conditions, mainly of the diuretic and urinary tract.

"Our German supplier was able to prove the sustainability of their
Bearberry sources, and we are keen to see how the newly developed
ISSC-MAP criteria apply to this trade. Sustainable supplies will mean
long-term benefits for the local people who rely on the Bearberry trade
for supplementary income," said Josef Brinckman, Vice-President of
Traditional Medicinals. 

"I welcome the launch of this new standard, which presents an
important step in ensuring the sustainable use of natural pharmaceutical
products," said Professor Drenckhahn, President of WWF-Germany.
"We'd like to see other companies use the standard and see how
it works in practice for their benefit." 

Those attending the EXPO West trade fair from 9-11 March 2007 will be
able to hear more about the ISSC-MAP standard from Dr Danna J. Leaman,
chair of the Medicinal Plant Specialist Group for the World Conservation
Union (IUCN), and Josef Brinckmann, Vice-President of Traditional
Medicinals. 

Organisations and experts involved in the ISSC-MAP consultation
included: the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN), the
IUCN SSC Medicinal Plant Specialist Group (MPSG), WWF-Germany, and
TRAFFIC, plus industry associations, companies, certifiers and
community-based NGOs.  TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network,
works to ensure that trade in wild plants and animals is not a threat to
the conservation of nature. TRAFFIC is a joint programme of WWF, the
conservation organization and IUCN - The World Conservation Union.

The ISSC-MAP is based on six principles: maintaining wild MAP
resources, preventing negative environmental impacts, legal compliance,
respecting customary rights, applying responsible management practices,
and applying responsible business practices. It can be downloaded from
http://www.floraweb.de/proxy/floraweb/map-pro/ 




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Dr Richard Thomas
Communications Co-ordinator
TRAFFIC International
richard.thomas at trafficint.org 
+44 1223 279068

TRAFFIC - the wildlife trade monitoring network
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