The 4th International Traditional/Complementary Medicine Conference and Exhibition (INTRACOM)

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The 4th International Traditional/Complementary
Medicine Conference and Exhibition
(INTRACOM)The Paradigm Shift Towards Integrated
Medicine14th-16th October 2002Sunway Pyramid
Convention Centre, Bandar Sunway

• Conservation of Medicinal Plants Malaysian
  Achievement
• by
• Noorainie Awang Anak
• TRAFFIC Southeast Asia
• (www.traffic.org)

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TRAFFIC Network

• TRAFFIC aims to ensure that trade in wild plants
  and animals is not a threat to the conservation
  of nature

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Introduction

• WHO - 80 of population in the world used herbal
  product for their primary health needs and this
  trends is increasing with the new product
  launched and more research done on medicinal
  plants.
• about 25 drugs derived from plants uses in
  modern pharmacopoeia

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Introduction

• Herbal medicine has always been an important part
  of health care worldwide. The revival of herbal
  medicine stems from a belief that what is natural
  is best and thus, safer for consumption.
• Malaysia, being one of the mega-biodiveristy
  centres of the world, is ideally situated to take
  advantage of this revival and ultimately the
  herbal industry business.
• Malaysias rich biodiversity heritage contains a
  significant number of plants that have medicinal
  properties.

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Introduction

• There are about 20,000 species of flowering
  plants, gymnosperms, ferns and ferns-allies
  estimated in Malaysia and
• Of these about 1,200 species are medicinal and
  aromatic plants which have potential sources of
  chemicals for use in the pharmaceutical,
  agrochemical, flavouring and fragrance
  industries.

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Introduction

• Demand for medicinal plants is increasing in both
  developing and developed countries, and
  surprisingly, most of the material traded is
  still from wild harvested sources on forest lands
  and only a very small number of species are
  cultivated.

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Introduction

• In a study done by Kumari, Dan and Ibrahim
  (1998), in Peninsular Malaysia, they identified
• 67 of the source of medicinal plants were
  collected from the wild,
• 7 from totally cultivated sources and
• - 26 from a combination of wild collected and
  cultivation
• The raw material for the medicinal plants is
  supplied to the practitioners mostly through
  middlemen and self-collection, and some is
  purchased from market and in some cases imported
  from overseas.

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Information

• Although a great deal of information on the use
  of medicinal plants is available from published
  pharmacopoeias and ethnobiological studies, in
  most cases little is known regarding harvest and
  trade volumes, trade controls, market dynamic and
  conservation impact.

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Conservation

• Malaysia is still at an infancy stage when it
  comes to the conservation of medicinal plants
• Realizing these, some efforts have been in place,
  the commitment and support from all stakeholders
  are encouraging but it still need to be developed
  further.

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Commitment

• The Government may classify some indigenous
  plants in rich medicinal properties as protected
  species to prevent indiscriminate harvesting
  which could lead to their extinction.
• A legal move might be needed to prevent the
  countrys bio-diversity in view of the increasing
  demand for herbs and plant-based health
  supplements and remedies
• (Text by Deputy Prime Minister, YB Dato Seri
  Abdullah Ahmad Badawi during an open day of
  Institute of Medical Research, 24 August 2000)

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Policy

• As stresses in the National Policy on Biological
  Diversity which was launched in April 1998
• there is need to develop the economic potential
  of medicinal plants for our country which was
  endowed with rich biological diversity.
• These biological resources must be managed in a
  sustainable manner because they are part of our
  natural heritage, which if managed well, will
  yield benefits to every sector of society.

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Conservation efforts

• As a signatory to the Convention of Biological
  Diversity, we also obliged to fulfill the
  convention requirement whereby each party should
  
• Consider ways of inventorying and monitoring
  their biological resources
• Take necessary action to ensure their
  conservation, sustainable use and equitable
  sharing of the benefits derived from them
•     

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Conservation efforts

• Malaysia is also a Party to the
  Convention on International Trade in
  Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna
  (CITES) in 1978. CITES carries with it
  certain obligations with regard to control of
  trade of flora and fauna between
  countries.
• Appendix I
• Appendix II
• AppendixIII

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Conservation efforts

• In order to fulfill and meet the demand, a
  concerted initiatives and research efforts must
  be undertaken to promote conservation and
  sustainable production of quality herbal plants
  and products either by government agencies,
  research institutes, universities, private
  enterprises and local herbal industries.

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Conservation efforts

• Department of Forestry
• Permit and license to enter forest reserves and
  collect plant species
• Formation of protected areas (eg. Protected
  Forest, Virgin Jungle Reserves etc)
• Inclusion of medicinal plants in the 4th National
  forest inventory in Peninsular Malaysia (10
  species)
• Medicinal plants park e.g Perlis, Pahang,
  Langkawi etc
• Sabah Forest Research Centre, Sabah Parks and
  State Museum Ethnobotanic Garden
• Sarawak Forest Research Centre

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Conservation efforts

• 2. Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM)
• Medicinal Plant Division (established in January
  1995) The mission is to promote medicinal
  plants research in Malaysia
• 3. Malaysian Agricultural Research and
  Development Institute (MARDI)
• 4. Institute of Development Studies,
• Sabah Biodiversity Centre
• 5. Sarawak Biodiversity Centre

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Conservation efforts

• 6. Department of Agriculture
• -Regulated Plants under Customs (Prohibition of
  Exports) Order 1998
• 7. Universities
• Universiti Malaya
• Universiti Sains Malaysia
• Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
• Universiti Putra Malaysia
• Universiti Malaysia Sabah
• Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

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The Future

• The most immediate and important task for
  Malaysia is to develop a national strategy for
  the conservation and sustainable use of medicinal
  plants
• This strategy must balance the biological
  constraint, shortages of supplies and commercial
  requirements.
• This tasks requires team efforts, involving a
  wide range of disciplines and institutions from
  Government, enterprise, research sector, local
  communities and other non-government
  organisations

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Guidelines

• Guidelines for the conservation and sustainable
  use of medicinal plants (IUCN et. al)
• To study traditional knowledge on the use of
  plants in health care
• To identify the medicinal plants, outline their
  distribution and assess their abundance
• Wherever possible, to cultivate the medicinal
  plants as the source of supply
• To ensure that any collecting from the wild is
  sustainable
• To improve techniques for harvesting, storage and
  production.

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Guidelines

• 6. To conserve populations of medical plants in
  natural habitats
• 7. To conserve populations of medicinal plants
  species ex-situ
• 8. To build public support for the conservation
  of medicinal plants through communication and
  cooperation
• 9. To develop and gain support for a code of
  ethics for wild crafters
• 10. An appropriate coding system under the
  Customs Harmonised System (HS Code) for raw
  materials and finished herbal products should be
  developed and iplemented

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MHC?