Brazil starts mapping medicinal plant potential
Date: 25-Feb-02
Country: BRAZIL
Author: Katherine Baldwin
With a possible cure for cancer or AIDS hidden among the foliage of the Amazon jungle or submerged by wetlands, Brazil's IBAMA environmental agency said it has created the country's first ever database and research center into medicinal plants.
Brazil has cataloged 300 medicinal plant species, like its Guarana plant energy-booster and Catuaba, said to help combat impotence, but they represent less than 10 percent of the country's natural medicine cabinet, says IBAMA.
With the new center, Brazil hopes to uncover and document more herbal remedies in a bid to preserve and protect its valuable plant species from bio-pirates who frequently coerce poor Amazon tribes into extracting plant remedies for export.
IBAMA estimates the global market for plant medicines is worth many billions of dollars annually so it is no surprise Brazil wants to protect and profit from its home-grown cures.
"The only way to discipline, order or effectively combat the illegal use of these resources is by learning all about them," said IBAMA President Hamilton Casara.
Brazil is home to one-fifth of the world's flora and fauna but its ecosystems are also among the most pirated.
Its vast Amazon jungle, blanketing an area bigger than Western Europe with thick rain forest, provides rich pickings for plant and animal thieves and a lack of alternative revenue sources for jungle dwellers makes them easy prey for pirates.
"People in the local communities are corrupted by thieves, receiving a pittance for their work," said Casara.
From the backyards of those communities comes a powder from the Guarana plant, sold in health shops around the world as an energy enhancer. Other plant remedies include Arnica, which helps with scarring, and Sucupira, which eases sore throats.
The World Health Organization says there are some 250,000 medicinal plant species in the world, extracts from which are used to produce more than 85 percent of the medicines used by more than 80 percent of the developed world.
The United States and Germany are among the top importers of Brazilian medicinal plants.
IBAMA's push to protect its plants will include sustainable development projects for far-flung communities to provide them with alternative income, Casara said. The agency also signed up 2,000 workers to form nationwide networks that will work with police to stop plant and animal trafficking.
The crackdown coincides with a bid by Brazil to guarantee intellectual property rights for its indigenous populations over many herbal remedies, passed down through generations. Brazil declared its commitment to that goal at the United Nations' World Intellectual Property Organization in December.
