WILD FOR A CURE:
GROUND-TRUTHING A STANDARD
FOR SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OFWILD PLANTS IN THE FIELDCOMPILED BYWOLFGANG KATHE, BRITTA PÄTZOLD, DANNA LEAMAN,
ANASTASIYA TIMOSHYNA, DAVID NEWTON,EANGHOURT KHOU, GIRIDHAR KINHAL, INDU BIKAL SAPKOTA,
MOHD. KHALID SAYEED PASHA, NOUHOU NDAM,ROLAND MELISCH, SLADJANA BUNDALO, SUSANNE HONNEF,
THOMAS OSBORN, XIMENA BUITRÓN AND XUEYAN LIU

A TRAFFIC REPORTThis report was publishedwith the kind support ofPublished by TRAFFIC International,
Cambridge, UK.
© 2010 TRAFFIC International.
All rights reserved.
All material appearing in this publication is
copyrighted and may be reproduced withperrmission. Any reproduction in full or inpart of this publication must credit TRAFFIC
Europe as the copyright owner.
The views of the authors expressed in thispublication do not necessarily reflect those of
the TRAFFIC network, WWF or IUCN.
The designations of geographical entities inthis publication, and the presentation of thematerial, do not imply the expression of any
opinion whatsoever on the part of TRAFFIC
or its supporting organizations concerning thelegal status of any country, territory, or area,
or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
The TRAFFIC symbol copyright andRegistered Trademark ownership is held byWWF. TRAFFIC is a joint programme of
WWF and IUCN.
Suggested citation: Kathe, W.; Pätzold, B.;
Leaman, D.; Timoshyna, A.; Newton, D.;
Khou, E.; Kinhal, G.; Sapkota I.B.; Pasha,
M.K.S.; Ndam, N.; Melisch, R.; Bundalo, S.;
Honnef, S.; Osborn, T.; Buitrón, X.; and Liu,
X. (2010). Wild for a Cure: Groundtruthing a Standard for Sustainable
Management of Wild Plants in the Field.

TRAFFIC International.
ISBN 978-1-85850-241-0
Front cover photograph: Pelargonium
sidoidesPhotograph credit: WWF/TRAFFIC/Britta
Pätzold.

WILD FOR A CURE:
GROUND-TRUTHING A STANDARD FOR
SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF WILD
PLANTS IN THE FIELD

Compiled by Wolfgang Kathe; Britta Pätzold; Danna
Leaman; Anastasiya Timoshyna; David Newton;
Eanghourt Khou; Giridhar Kinhal; Indu Bikal Sapkota;
Mohd. Khalid Sayeed Pasha; Nouhou Ndam; Roland
Melisch; Sladjana Bundalo; Susanne Honnef; Thomas

Credit: Arpana Basappa

Osborn; Ximena Buitrón; and Xueyan Liu

Resident from Shiragunji Village Forest project site,
Honnavar Forest Department, Karnataka, India

CONTENTS
Abbreviations and acronymsiii

Acknowledgementsiv

Executive summaryv

Background1

The importance of medicinal and aromatic plants

1

Introduction

1

Methods

4

Criteria for selection of project sites

4

Guidance materials

5

Promotional materials

5

Stages of project implementation in the field

6

Reporting and co-ordination

7
9

Results
Results by country

9

Brazil9

Cambodia

13

India

17

Lesotho/South Africa

22

Nepal

25

South-east Europe and Bosnia-Herzegovina

28

Overall findings regarding ISSC-MAP as a tool

32

Lessons learned from country field projects

36

Conclusions

39

Recommendations

40

References

42

Annex: Project documents obtainable from TRAFFIC

44

ii

WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the FieldABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS
ABS
ASEAN
AVIVE
BfN
BIMSTEC
BMU
BMZ
CBD
CITES
COMIFAC
CoP
COPRONAT
CPA
DED
DGIS
FAO
FARMA
FiT
FRLHT
GACP
GPS
GSPC
GTZ
ICCO
ICEI
ICIMOD
IFOAM
IMO
INPA
ISSC-MAP
IUCN
KCA
LNPBZ
MAP
MDG
MPCA
NDF
NGO
NMPB
NTFP
RofE
SIDA
UICN-SUR
VAMP
VFC
WII
WHO
WOCMAPWWF

Access and Benefit Sharing (a framework requirement under CBD)
Association of Southeast Asian Nations
Associação Vida Verde da Amazônia, Brazil
Bundesamt für Naturschutz (German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation)
Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-sectoral Technical and Economic Co-operation
Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit (German Federal Ministry
for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety)
Bundesministerium für Wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit (German Federal Ministry for
Economic Co-operation and Development)
Convention on Biological Diversity
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
Commission des Forêts d'Afrique Centrale (Central African Forest Commission)
meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES/CBD
Coperativa de Produtos Naturais da Amazonia (funded by AVIVE), Brazil
Community Protected Area
Deutscher Entwicklungsdienst (German Development Service)
Directorate General for International Co-operation, The Netherlands
UN Food and Agriculture Organization
Fostering Agricultural Markets Activity
Funds in Trust Programme (BMZ)
Foundation for Revitalization of Local Health Traditions, India
Guidelines on Good Agricultural and Collection Practices
Global Positioning System
Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (CBD)
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (German Society for Technical Co-operation.)the Interchurch Organisation for Development Cooperation
the Instituto Cooperazione Economica Internazionale
International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Nepal
International Federation of the Organic Agriculture Movements
Institut für Marktökologie, Switzerland
Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia
International Standard for Sustainable Wild Collection of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants
The International Union for Conservation of Nature
Kangchenjunga Conservation Area (Nepal)
Langtang National Park Buffer Zone (Nepal)
medicinal and aromatic plants
Millennium Development Goal (UN)
Medicinal Plant Conservation Area
Non-detriment Finding (a requirement for trade in CITES Appendix-II specimens)
non-governmental organization
National Medicinal Plants Board of India
Non-timber Forest ProductRegional Office for Europe (of IUCN)
Swedish International Development Agency
IUCN Regional Office for South America
Vlasenica Allium ursinum Management Plan (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Village Forest Committee (India)
Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, India
World Health Organization
World Congress on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (Cape Town, 2008)
the global conservation organization

WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field

iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The successful implementation of this project is an example of inter-country, inter- regional and interdisciplinary expertise,support and co-ordination provided by innumerable people in the countries and regions involved and at an international level.
TRAFFIC acknowledges with gratitude their dedication and support. Besides all authors of this report, the following
colleagues and associates have contributed substantially to the project on which this report is based, and to the report itself:Frank Barsch, Sue Watson, Jürgen Matijevic and Patrick Weber (WWF Germany); Guillermo Castilleja, Timothy Geer, Celine
Beaulieu, Aurore Sajhau and Johary Rakotojohary (WWF International); Julia Marton-Lefèvre (IUCN); Sabita Thapa, Bheh
Raj Oli, Ashok Baniya, Rudriksha R. Parajuli, Sujeet Shrestha, Niki Maskey (WWF Nepal); B. Arpana, K.D. Haridasan and
K. Ved (FRLHT, India); Dr B.S. Adhikari, Dr G.S. Rawat, Priyanka Bhatt, Dr Amit Kotia and P.R. Sinha (WII), Dr B.S.
Sajwan (NMPB) and Dr R.B.S. Rawat (Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Uttarakhand Forest Department); Stephen
Kelleher, Lucy Emerton, Kristy Faccer, Marcelo Argüelles and Liliana Pires (LLS, IUCN); Arturo Mora, Manuela Gonzalez,
Frederico Soares Machado and Jörg Elbers (UICN-SUR); Barbara Schmal, Valda Roso, Robert Viana and Márcio Batista(AVIVE and COPRONAT, Brazil), Adriana Pellegrini (INPA, Brazil); Rankica Bahtijarevic, Branco Duric (Agriculture
Faculty University of Banja Luka), Vesna Veljancic (Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Republika Srpska), John Furnari(UNDP, Bosnia and Herzegovina), Azra Korac-Mehmedovic, (Federal Ministry of Environment, Bosnia and Herzegovina),
Lazar Vidovic', Dragica Petrovic' and Josip Buh (Forest Authority Birac, Vlasenica) and Dordo Maric and colleagues (Elmar
d.o.o, Bosnia and Herzegovina); Gabor Magyar (CEO WWF-Hungary); David Ashwell (Eco-initiative director); Mr. Seng
Teak (WWF-Cambodia); HE Chay Samith, Sy Ramony, Suy Thea, Kim Sarin, Yang Phirum and rangers of Bokor National
Park (Ministry of Environment, Cambodia); Dr Heang Punley, Dr Pen Sunna and Thai Savy (National Centre of Traditional
Medicine, Cambodia); HE Ty Sokhun, HE Ouk Sokhon, HE Hourt Bunnary, Chhang Phourin, Lic Vuthy and Suon Phalla(Forestry Administration, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery, Cambodia); Prof. Yok Lin (Royal University ofPhnom Penh, Cambodia); Prof. Von Monin and Kim Soben (Royal University of Phnom Penh, Cambodia); Ou Teymea(Khmer Habitat); Chea Suon, Um Nay and Khat Sokhorn (MAP traders in Phnom Penh, Cambodia); local community,
authority, traders of Prek Tnoat commune, Cambodia; NGOs Save Cambodian Wildlife; Fauna and Flora International;
Conservation International; Normad; Medicine de la nature; NTFP-EP; Asian Foundation; Pact-Cambodia; and National
Committee for the Management of Decentralization and De-concentration; EU-China Biodiversity Programme (ECBP);
WWF-China; IUCN China Programme Office; Christine Chizana, Domitilla Raimondo and Pethole Manyama (South African
National Biodiversity Institute); Dr Taelo Letsela and his team (Lesotho CITES Scientific Authority, based at the National
University of Lesotho); the Mazda Wildlife Fund; Dr Rachel Wynberg and Jaci van Niekerk (University of Cape Town’s
Environmental Evaluation Unit); Ulrich Feiter (Parceval), Kersten Paulsen (BZH) and their colleagues; Bruno Streit(University of Frankfurt am Main, Germany); Josef Brinkman (Traditional Medicinals Inc., USA); Susan Curtis (Neal’s Yard
Remedies, UK); Uwe Schippmann, Beate Jessel and Natalie Hofbauer (BfN, Germany); Jorge Cabrera (IUCN-ELC) andSonia Lagos-Witte (Costa Rica); Marita Steinke and Anne-Kathrin Pfeiffer (BMZ); and Steven Broad, Caroline Gill, Julie
Gray, Ritu Kanotra, Teresa Mulliken, Marcus Phipps, Samir Sinha, Richard Thomas, Angelina Montes, Chris Turton and
Sulma Warne (TRAFFIC). For their excellent film and photographs, thanks are due to Jan and Melanie Haft of Nautilus TV(Germany).
In particular, we are indebted to those organizations that contributed to funding the project, namely the German Federal
Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development (BMZ), as the main funding agency, as well as the German Federal
Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN); German Society for Technical Co-operation (GTZ–Manaus); the Rufford Maurice
Laing Foundation; IUCN (LLS, supported by DGIS); UICN-SUR; IUCN ROfE—through the Count Down 2010 Initiative
financed by the European Commission; the Interchurch Organisation for Development Cooperation (ICCO); the Instituto
Cooperazione Economica Internazionale (ICEI); Hamburger Stiftung Asien-Brücke (Germany); the Centre for International
Forest Research (CIFOR), Central Africa; WWF Germany; Schwabe Germany; and the University of Frankfurt am Main,
Germany.

iv

WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Nearly every human being benefits from medicines derived from wild plants. The poor in developing
countries are particularly reliant on plant-based medicines and frequently also on the income provided
by harvest of plants for sale. However, many wild plant species are at risk from overuse and habitat
loss and so are the healthcare systems and livelihoods they support. The decline in plant populations
is often the result of demand within urban and foreign markets, rather than to meet the healthcare needsof the local population: demand for natural products in food, cosmetics and medicinal market sectors
is growing worldwide, posing socio-economic problems, and opportunities, in countries of origin, as
well as ecological problems.
This report presents a description of the project “Saving Plants that Save Lives and Livelihoods”,
implemented by TRAFFIC and its partners WWF, IUCN and others, which addresses a growing
demand from industry, governments, certification bodies, resource managers and donor agencies for
specific guidance on sustainable wild plant collection practices. Within this project, the International
Standard for Sustainable Wild Collection of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (ISSC-MAP, since late2008 part of the FairWild Standard), a comprehensive tool for verifying sustainable wild collection,
was tested on the ground in a variety of situations in six selected project areas in Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Brazil, Cambodia, India, Nepal, Lesotho and South Africa. The various implementation contexts
included: existing resource management schemes (both community- and State-managed); a protectedarea context; situations with links to existing regulatory requirements, including those for CITES Nondetriment Findings; and field-level partnership with business and local non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Promotional and advocacy work, for example targeting relevant international fora;
provision of guidance materials for ISSC-MAP implementation (in Portuguese, Khmer, Hindi,
Kannada, Nepali and Serbo-Croat); and co-ordination and oversight of the project was conducted by
the ISSC-MAP Secretariat.
Through its participatory approach, the project achieved a high level of local uptake of ISSC-MAP and
facilitated the development of national, regional and international stakeholder networks, which are
crucial for continuous implementation and scaling up of activities. The project contributed substantially to raising awareness among governments of the need for sustainable management and trademodels when developing regulatory frameworks relevant to medicinal and aromatic plants.

Itestablished that ISSC-MAP was a useful instrument to improve understanding of natural plantresources and integration of local communities into the economy, while simultaneously working for the
maintenance of wild plant populations.

WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Fieldv

A series of challenges and successful approaches were identified through this project and, based onthese, recommendations for improving the management of wild plants are as follows:• Regulatory context. Agencies engaged in sustainable wild plant collection should acquire athorough understanding of the legal context within which they will be operating, in order to workin concert with it. In settings where laws governing collection and management of wild plants arefound to be in need of updating or otherwise improving, legislators should consider using ISSCMAP principles as a guide to revision of such laws. In this way, they would simultaneously achievesynergy with goals of international environmental agreements such as the Convention on Biological
Diversity (CBD). In contexts where legislation specific to wild plants is absent, legislators should
consider mainstreaming ISSC-MAP into national and/or local law.
• Partnership. Projects for sustainable wild plant collection should engage local stakeholders, forexample businesses, local collectors, and local organizations with experience in the field, in
partnership, including by identifying clear and realistic market openings for harvested products.
• Project documentation. In many locations with a strong tradition of organized collection of wild
plants there can be a wealth of knowledge on wild plants that is not necessarily written down.
Project staff engaged in management of harvest of wild plants should take care to ensure that
documentation available to support schemes is appropriate to local needs.
• Training. Projects on sustainable wild plant collection should factor in ample time and funds forcapacity-building and training of local project workers in resource assessment, harvest monitoring,collection and processing techniques, protection of their traditional knowledge, and benefit-sharing.
• Project time span. Project managers aiming for sustainable wild plant collection should adopt a
long-term perspective in order to allow time to support projects through to stability.
• Certification. Project managers, governments, NGOs and others involved in sustainable collectionof wild plants should evaluate on a case-by-case basis whether certification is the best option forreinforcing sustainability.
• International co-ordination. The current project benefited from centralized and fully funded coordination and standardization of efforts on the ground, including to support compliance andpromote relevance to inter-governmental conservation and development frameworks, such as the
CBD. Similar projects should take care to install oversight at this higher level.
• Research. Scientists and other individuals with appropriate local knowledge should consider prioritizing research on plant species for which sustainability of wild harvest is a major concern, tosafeguard species important for health and livelihoods.
• Initiation of a value-adding strategy and market development. Development agencies involvedin projects adding value to raw plant material should also support capacity-building and tools forresource management.

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WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field

INTRODUCTION
This report provides a general overview of the results of a project entitled “Saving Plants that Save
Lives and Livelihoods”, designed to demonstrate that effective sustainable management of wildcollected medicinal and aromatic plants is possible on the ground. In the context of this report, the term“medicinal and aromatic plants”—MAPs—signifies “plants used to produce pharmaceuticals, dietary
supplement products and natural health products, beauty aids, cosmetics and personal care products aswell as some products marketed in the culinary/food sector” (Medicinal Plant Specialist Group, 2007).
Development of this project followed as the logical next step after drawing up a standard to guidesustainable use systems for MAPs, namely the International Standard for Sustainable Wild Collectionof Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (ISSC-MAP), published in 2007. Any standard is only ever as goodas its implementation.
The Background section of this report provides information on the rationale, history and inception of
the project. A description of the structure of the project and its methods precedes country-by-country
accounts of project implementation experiences followed by sections on over-arching results at theinternational level, and on lessons learned from the project. Recommendations for further developmentof the project’s aims are made, based on conclusions regarding the successes and lessons learned.
This report is provided primarily to inform the efforts of government agencies, social and environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and MAP-reliant businesses. However, it can also be
used by community groups, resource managers and other local stakeholders at field implementationsites. It is hoped this record of implementation of sustainable wild MAP production approaches will
be a useful contribution to a future where sustainable wild plant collection is increasingly accepted asa norm, based on an understanding that the safeguarding of diversity in nature is integral to human lives
and livelihoods.

BACKGROUND
The importance of medicinal and aromatic plants
Degradation of the natural environment and of the wild living resources it provides has caused a decline
in well-being, notably for many poor people in developing countries who depend directly on wild
animals and plants for their survival. Plants with medicinal and related applications are valued in many
parts of the world, being used in all forms and systems of medicine, from traditional and folk medicine
to complex systems, such as Ayurveda, homeopathy and modern Western medicine. Moreover, theircollection and sale provide an important source of income for many rural households in source
countries. Most species are not cultivated, but collected from the wild (Schippmann et al., 2006),
where their populations have declined considerably in many cases during the past decades. The
increasing global human population and associated demand for natural resources has not only led to

WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field1frequent over-collection of plants but additionally triggered land and habitat degradation that also
contributes to their decline. For these reasons, sustainable harvesting and management of resources insource countries and transparent and responsible trade mechanisms along the supply chain, areessential to ensure the long-term survival of wild plant populations, their habitats, and related
traditional knowledge.

Sustainable wild harvesting and trade are promoted by international

conventions, such as the United Nation’s Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and areincreasingly part of discussions at all levels (from local to worldwide) and within all sectors (fromcommunity group representatives, to private sector players, to governments). While the general goalof sustainability is included in many strategy and policy documents, the projected rise in the global
human population by around two billion by the middle of the millennium argues urgently for theconcrete implementation of such approaches. Respect for traditional use rights and adequate participation of local and/or indigenous communities in the sharing of benefits are crucial for the sustainable
and equitable management of these resources.

TRAFFIC and medicinal and aromatic plants
TRAFFIC has spent more than 20 years working on the development and promotion of sustainable
harvest, management and trade in MAPs. This work has included:• support to the Declaration on the Conservation of Medicinal Plants deriving from the International
Conference on Medicinal Plants, in Bangalore, 1998 (Anon. 1998);• comprehensive studies of the conservation of and trade in MAPs (e.g. Lange, 1998; Marshall, 1998; and Silva
et al., 2001);• the establishment of an international network of MAP experts and stakeholders;• participation in the development of the World Health Organization (WHO) Guidelines on Good
Agricultural and Collection Practices (GACP) for Medicinal Plants (WHO, 2003);• the development, with partner organizations, of ISSC-MAP, the first standard of its kind applying
specifically to MAPs, between 2004 and 2007 (MPSG, 2007);• contribution to achieving the aims of the CBD, particularly targets 3, 11, 12, 13 and 16 of its Global
Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) (CBD, 1992 and 2002); and• contribution to implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), for example Goal
7 relating to environmental sustainability (United Nations, 2002 and 2005).

Development of ISSC-MAP
Since the late 1990s, the work of TRAFFIC and its partners on MAPs has focused on stakeholder
engagement.

At EXPO 2000 in Hannover, Germany, TRAFFIC was instrumental in securing

signatures for the “Joint Declaration for the Health of People and Nature” from the Bundesministerium
für Umwelt, Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit (BMU) (the German Federal Ministry for theEnvironment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety), the Bundesministerium für Wirtschaftliche

2

WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field

Zusammenarbeit (BMZ) (the German Federal Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development),
and representatives of important companies in the MAP sector, scientific institutions and conservation
NGOs. This declaration acknowledged the demand for action against medicinal plant resource
depletion through co-operation amongst all stakeholders in the sector. Following this important step,
WWF Germany established a working group of traders and manufacturers (from the pharmaceutical,
herbal, food and cosmetics industries) and personnel from certification bodies in the MAP sector toraise awareness of the necessity of converting wild plant collection to sustainably managed operations.
Many companies agreed with these conservation aims, but were concerned that converting to suchoperations would lead to uncertainty over raw material supply, quality assurance, and food safety
requirements. While the private sector has a strong incentive to develop its own mechanisms to ensure
standards in these areas, most companies emphasized that they would need further guidance regarding
the ecological aspects of sustainable sourcing of plants from the wild: the idea was born to develop a
set of principles and criteria to provide guidance on this—ISSC-MAP.
ISSC-MAP was developed from 2004 to 2007

Box 1: Implementation of ISSC-MAP as partby a joint initiative of the Bundesamt fürof the FairWild Foundation

Naturschutz (BfN) (German Federal Agency

by Britta Pätzold

for Nature Conservation), TRAFFIC, WWF
and IUCN, with funds provided by thesefounding institutions and others.

Thedevelopment process included widespreadexternal consultation (with over 150 experts
from 40 countries), through an international
andinterdisciplinary

advisorygroup

involving stakeholders from governments andrelated agencies, NGOs, companies andcertification bodies, and other experts inecologicallyandsocially

sustainableproduction, organic certification and ethicalbusiness development. The first version of
the Standard was published in early 2007. Its

In October 2008, the four founding institutions of
ISSC-MAP signed an agreement to endorse global
implementation of the Standard through the
FairWild Foundation. ISSC-MAP has become theecological module of the FairWild Standard, which
also measures social and economic components of
the harvest and trade of wild plants via a frameworkof principles and criteria. As such, certification ofconformity with ISSC-MAP is now offered under the
FairWild Label. The Foundation’s aim is theestablishment of “a worldwide framework for
implementing a sustainable, fair and value-added
management and trading system for wild-collectednatural ingredients and products thereof”.

development and implementation weregoverned by a decision group comprising
representatives of the founding organizations
and from the Foundation for Revitalization of

As the project on which this report is based started
before the merger of ISSC-MAP with FairWild,
ISSC-MAP terminology will be kept in this report.

Local Health Traditions (FRLHT), based inIndia; the US-based Traditional Medicinals Inc.; and the Swiss Institut für Marktökologie (IMO). In
2008, the ISSC-MAP was endorsed by the FairWild Foundation and is now part of the FairWild
Standard (see Box 1), the merger having been formalized during the fourth IUCN World Conservation
Congress in Barcelona the same year.

WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field

3

The “Saving Plants that Save Lives and Livelihoods” project—implementationof ISSC-MAP
In 2007, TRAFFIC and its partners IUCN and WWF established the project “Saving Plants that Save
Lives and Livelihoods”, essentially to translate the theory of ISSC-MAP into practice. The project ran
from November 2007 to March 2010 and had the following objectives:
1. Identification of priority species for the development of sound harvest and trade management
systems.
2. Enhanced capacity of harvesters and local resource managers to implement the elements of
ISSC-MAP, for instance resource assessment and management planning.
3. Initiation of ISSC-MAP implementation through sustainable management and equitable benefitsharing. Specifically the project aimed to produce a management plan for each regional project siteand species selected.
4. Enhanced awareness and increased acceptance of approaches to sustainable wild MAP use by key
stakeholders.
The following sections present the findings and experiences of the “Saving Plants that Save Lives andLivelihoods” project.
.

METHODS
Considerable research, such as selection of project countries and preparation of guidance materials, wasconducted in advance of going into the field (see Criteria for selection of project sites and Guidancematerials below). Some assessment of potential project species and trends in MAP market chains was
also conducted prior to beginning work on site. Steps in project implementation within project
countries followed a broadly similar sequence (see Stages of project implementation). Effort wasalso directed to scaling up the project beyond the selected case study regions where openings allowed.

Criteria for selection of project sites
Criteria drawn up for selecting sites for testing implementation of ISSC-MAP included the requirementthat the Standard should be introduced in a variety of situations. It was agreed that, between them, thesites should have:• a wide geographical range, in order to get feedback on how different regional conditions could
influence ISSC-MAP implementation;• a wide range of implementation scenarios. The following were considered:• Implementation within existing resource management schemes. Resource management is often
in place for the harvest and collection of wild plant material, with different stakeholders (e.g.
government authorities or communities) responsible for management, according to local
conditions.
4

WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field• Implementation within a protected area and/or buffer zone. This is a specific case of resource
management, in which management of the area is often as important as management ofcollection.
• Implementation linked to regulatory systems. ISSC-MAP can be used as a tool to informprovincial, national, or international regulatory processes. The Standard could either be used asa whole in regulations, or integrated into regulations in parts, or referred to as a set of rules toobserve or consider.
• Implementation in the context of CITES Non-detriment Findings (NDFs): an “NDF” is a precondition for trade in CITES-listed Appendix-II species, whereby CITES Parties are required toascertain that trade will not be detrimental to the survival of the species. ISSC-MAP could be
used as a guide for conducting NDFs.
Third-party certification was not a specific objective of the project and hence not linked to selection
criteria, owing to the lack of a fully developed certification system for ISSC-MAP—such a system has
only been developed since integration with the FairWild Standard: for further information, seewww.fairwild.org.
In terms of requirements for individual sites, the selection criteria specified that each site should have:• availability of partnerships and networks to facilitate efficient project implementation within the
short project timeframe available;• the likelihood of a comprehensive stakeholder approach;• availability of structures to promote, scale up and raise funds for ISSC-MAP implementation
beyond the project itself.
Based on these criteria, locations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Cambodia, India, Lesotho/South
Africa and Nepal were chosen via a desk study, including correspondence with people in the field, by
project supervisors. Details of specific sites chosen are provided in the country sections of Results.

Guidance materials
During the project period two key guidance documents were developed by the ISSC-MAP Secretariat,
one on resource assessment (see Box 2) and the other on management planning. These documents weresent to all field projects in early 2008. Feedback on the usefulness of these documents on the groundwill be taken into account in refining them in the future.

Promotional materials
To raise awareness of ISSC-MAP among key international stakeholders in governments, NGOs, tradeassociations, companies and others, the project produced a number of promotional tools, including a

WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field

5

film produced by Nautilus TV called Healing Power from Nature, produced for CBD CoP 9, in Bonnin May 2008, and including footage shot by a film crew in Nepal and Southern Africa. On 26 October
2008, the film won a prize from the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic at the 35th International
Festival of Sustainable Development Films. It has been viewed thousands of times via the Internet inGerman, English and Japanese logged and has triggered a lot of interest in ISSC-MAP and options for
its implementation.
The ISSC-MAP and FairWild websites and printed promotional material, such as flyers and factsheets,
provided important tools for enhanced awareness of approaches to sustainable wild MAP use, particularly for the private sector. This assisted the FairWild Secretariat in one of its key functions, the facilitation of market links between producers, buyers and manufacturers of sustainable consumer products.
At BioFach 2009, materials with the new FairWild design were launched and the FairWild Foundation
presented itself as the embodiment of ISSC-MAP for the first time.

Stages of project implementation in the field
Project staff began work on site from November 2007 and remained up to the end of 2009. Once inthe field, a preliminary task was to set up a start-up workshop to discuss potential species and sites for
project implementation, in consultation with the ISSC-MAP Secretariat, and to encourage multistakeholder participation. The exception was South Africa/Lesotho, where selection of species and sitewere made in advance, there being clear reasons for choosing the species Pelargonium sidoides. Workplans developed at start-up workshops outlined stages of project implementation, according to which
the following steps were undertaken:
1) A situation analysis was carried out to get basic information on potentially relevant species anddetails of socio-economic structures (information on collectors, traders, prices, traditional use, relevant
legal issues, stakeholders’ interests, etc.). This was done as a team, with participating stakeholders.
Most regional projects then developed a shortlist of potential sites and species, making decisions on
species selection according to criteria in the following categories:• conservation status of the species• regulatory status of species• scope and quality of available knowledge (local, traditional, scientific)• importance of wild collection of the species for local livelihoods and economic development• availability of national and/or international market links, market acceptance or likelihood of
establishing such links for the species considered• availability of a business concept• availability of project infrastructure

6

WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field

One of the tools for species selection was a conservation status matrix, based on the “Predictors ofResilience or Vulnerability to Harvesting” matrix originally designed by Cunningham (2001),
assessing factors including geographic distribution, population sizes, plant uses and likelihood ofsustainable harvesting.
2) Following completion of the situation analysis, final decisions were taken on project site, target
species and development of an action plan for the site.
3) Translation of all project materials, including the Standard, into the local language. In some cases,
a more basic version of documents was used for work in the field.
4) Development of training materials and implementation of training sessions on different aspectsof the project work, as needed (for example, on resource assessment methods).
5) A resource assessment, using the methodology described in Box 2.

This assessment wasundertaken to determine the conservation status, abundance, growth rates, trade volumes andsustainable use thresholds of selected species in the target area.
6) The output of the resource assessment provided the basic information necessary to produce amanagement plan for the target species, following advice in a guidance document issued to all project
field staff.
7) Production of local-language communication materials for various stakeholder groups, in order
to raise awareness. Additionally, all regional projects arranged meetings with regional and national
decision-makers and institutions to inform them of the project, to raise support for it, to explore links
to existing frameworks, and to pave the way for future upscaling of the project. When opportunities
presented themselves, regional projects were represented at relevant trade fairs (e.g. BioFach inGermany and India)—see Overall findings.

Reporting and co-ordination
A formal system of bi-monthly internal reporting, together with two workshops held in Germany,
allowed exchange of experiences and evaluation of project implementation in progress, with scope foradaptation of the work plan.

WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field

7

Box 2: Resource assessment and adaptive management: the keys to sustainable MAP
collection by Danna Leaman, Medicinal Plant Specialist Group, IUCN-SSC
Resource assessment enables collectors and other resource managers to: i) estimate sustainable harvest
limits for a specific resource within a particular collection area; ii) observe and understand the impact of
current harvest protocols (specific methods, often with agreed limits) on the recovery of the target resource;
and iii) make the needed adjustments in harvest protocols to maintain the target resource at sustainable levels.
Adaptive management—a process of continually assessing, monitoring and adjusting resource collection
practices, in order to reach a desired objective, such as controlling harvest levels and practices within
estimated limits of resource replacement and recovery—is fundamental to sustainable resource use. Resource
assessment is an essential component of an adaptive management process and without these two inter-linked
components, any claim to sustainable wild collection lacks credibility. An adaptive management plan provides
the foundation for developing a programme of sustainable use to reach a balance between resource demand
and resource supply.The need for this balance is addressed as the first principle of the International Standard
for Sustainable Wild Collection of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (ISSC-MAP),
Guidance on resource assessment and adaptive management provided to the project used participatory andadaptive management approaches. It specified five basic steps needed to design and carry out a resource
assessment and monitoring process to meet the requirements of ISSC-MAP (see figure and text below):1) Situation analysis to gather and evaluate existing Process of assessing, monitoring and adjusting theknowledge about target or candidate species annual sustained yieldand the collection situation;2) Resource inventory and yield studies to understandhow much of the target/selected species ispresent within the collection area and the timerequired to replace the material harvested;
3) Setting collection quotas or other controls within
the estimated limits of sustainability and using
appropriate practices;4) Assessment and periodic monitoring of harvest
impacts to determine whether current harvest
levels and controls are resulting in adequate
resource regeneration and productivity; and
5) Harvest adjustments to revise the harvest protocol if the intensity, frequency, timing, and methods of harvest
are not sustainable.
Management of wild plant resources, including medicinal and aromatic species, is complex and characterizedby high levels of uncertainty about population size, growth rates, variation in yields and even the correct
identity of the plants being harvested. There are great variations in time and effort required for resource
assessment depending on the terrain, species diversity, expertise available, and resource management context
for each situation. These factors influence the costs, complexity, and time required to undertake resource
assessment and management.

8

WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field

RESULTS
Results by country
Project site 1: Brazil—Saraca Island/Silves (Amazonas State)

Cumaru Dipteryx odorata, Brazilian Amazon. Credit: Juvenal Pereira/WWF-Brazil

B a c k g ro u n d
A strong social context for collection of wild plants in the Brazilian
Amazon has grown up around Rubber Tree Hevea brasiliensis(Seringueira) and Brazil Nut Bertholletia excelsa (Castanheira)Source: WWF Germany

harvest, which have had a strong influence on the local economy(Allegretti, 1987).

Many other plants, such as palms like Acaí

Euterpe precatoria and fruits of Cacau Theobroma cacao and Bacuri
Rehedia macrophylla, are frequently used by local people for humanand animal health treatments. Ethnobotanical information on these
Location of the projectsite in Brazil (see asterisk)

species is available and can contribute to the revitalization of culturalawareness conducive to sustainable plant use.

WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field

9

Identification of priority site/species
The project site chosen, Saraca Island, in Silves Municipality, Amazonia, has many wild plant species
used by local people; has links with the Associação Vida Verde da Amazônia (AVIVE), a women’sorganization established in Silves in 1999 to develop products based on sustainably collected native
wild plants; benefits from private sector interest in products made from plants harvested; and is of
relevance to Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS)1 and Traditional Knowledge (TK)2 issues.
Regarding species choice, the decision was to open up possibilities for ISSC-MAP implementation forseveral of the most important species collected in the area, with the aim of conducting resource
assessments for all of them and integrating their management into a comprehensive plan after the endof the project.
Species selected were:• Puxuri Licaria pucheri, used for stomach disorders, rheumatism and insomnia;• Andiroba Carapa guianensis and Andirobinha Carapa procera, used to treat worms, bacterial
infections, fever and rheumatism;• Burití Palm Mauritia flexuosa, used in oils, sun creams and other skin applications; and• Preciosa Aniba canelilla, which produces an essential oil appreciated for its scent.
Priority actions were identified for those species not selected, yet of interest to the community andindustry, for example Cumaru Dipteryx odorata; Pau Rosa Aniba roseaodora; Copaiba Copaifera spp.
and Breu Protium spp.

Promoting acceptance of sustainable
use of wild MAPs

Credit: IUCN/Ana Delfina.

Engaging the participation of stakeholders
was the key to success in marrying
traditional medicinal plant collection
practices with the aims of ISSC-MAP. A
workshop was organized to introduce
ISSC-MAP to stakeholders, with input
Project training for AVIVE and COPRONAT
members in Brazil

from the project and from AVIVE. Other
stakeholders

participating

included

representatives of industry, government, NGOs, academic and research institutes, botanic gardens,
associations and communities. To increase understanding of available local knowledge, an analysis of
1 in relation to the Access and Benefit-sharing provisions of the CBD; 2 CBD Parties work to preserve knowledge andpractices of indigenous communities that embody traditional lifestyles relevant for biodiversity: this knowledge and practiceis referred to as “Traditional Knowledge”.
10

WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Fieldlocal collection practices was initiated, including interviews with collectors. This proved to be valuable
to everybody involved, including the holders of the local knowledge, as they became more aware of
the value of their own knowledge. Potential synergies between local management systems andcollection practices and ISSC-MAP management requirements were analysed and the results were
integrated into drafts for a site management plan. The information and knowledge exchange between
the project staff and local people helped to make the Standard come alive because it could be linked to
the local situation: ISSC-MAP implementation made an important transition from theory to practice inthe hearts of the collectors, their community and other local stakeholders.

Initiation of ISSC-MAP implementation
Much was already in place for initiation of ISSC-MAP implementation on Saraca Island in view of
AVIVE’s connection with the site. Training and other remedial actions to pave the way for implementation were taken, as described below:• Initial activities on site revealed that training of
local stakeholders, including in inventorying
techniques and in development of management
plans, would be necessary in order to achieve ISSCMAP implementation over the medium term. In
response, AVIVE carried out a programme toaddress these needs and, during the second half ofthe project, resource assessment and inventorying
were carried out with technicians from the Instituto
Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA)(National Institute of Amazon Research), theDeutscher Entwicklungsdienst (DED) (German
Development Service) and IUCN.

Community
Credit: AVIVE

plans for annual collection and management will bebased on ISSC-MAP guidance, as well as a complementary book on participatory management of nontimber forest products (NTFPs) in Amazonian Collecting Breu, Protium spp.,
communities (Machado, 2008): while ISSC-MAP’s

Comunidade São Pedro, Brazil

strength is that it provides a comprehensive, theoretical framework following internationally acceptedcertification standards, the NTFP management book was more applicable on the ground, owing to its simple
language and pictorial displays.
• ABS and TK, which are addressed by ISSC-MAP, are of major importance in Brazil, where thecountry’s rich biodiversity has created great interest in resources from international and national

WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field

11

companies. As a result, the voice of indigenous communities and other traditional resource-users is
louder than in many other countries. ABS and TK issues were addressed at this project site by
consultants, including local experts, supporting AVIVE´s needs on this in relation to ISSC-MAP
implementation (see Box 3). Research comparing ISSC-MAP requirements with laws in Brazil
relating to agriculture, the environment, health, use and trade was one of the most important
products of the project and re-emphasized the implications of ISSC-MAP implementation in varying
legal contexts.

Outcomes• Based on an analysis of trade and market structures, links from the project in Brazil could be
strengthened with the private sector in the country. A memorandum of understanding is underdevelopment between AVIVE, IUCN and the Division of Health and Personal Care of theBrazilian natural cosmetics company BERACA, and a collaborative relationship exists between
BERACA and the FairWild Foundation. These relationships should contribute both to thesustainability of BERACA’s and AVIVE’s plans and the plants on which they are based.
BERACA has shown keen interest in future certification possibilities under FairWild, especiallyfor Burití, Preciosa and Pau Rosa.
• Bringing together the community members and external consultants in field research andplanning for ISSC-MAP implementation promoted a better mutual understanding of needs andthis in turn supported the development of a model approach for ISSC-MAP implementation,
based on community experience that can be replicated in Brazil and elsewhere where social,ecological and economic conditions are comparable.
Box 3:The importance of Access and Benefit-sharing (ABS) and Traditional Knowledge(TK): experiences from Brazil by Ximena Buitrón, UICN-SUR
The contribution to conservation from the sustainable use of biological/genetic resources and associated TK
is gaining profile, although coming to a common understanding of what is "fair and equitable" is still a challenge.
The need to understand the criteria for ABS, or benefit-sharing outside the context of genetic resources
remains. For this project, the process of addressing Principle 4 of ISSC-MAP ("Respecting Customary Rights")
entailed interviews with stakeholders and experts to get a better idea of the issue at different levels. Training
needs were identified and the value of an internal policy and capacity-building on benefit-sharing and TK
protection was stressed.
Local stakeholders do not have sufficient information regarding ABS and TK laws and policies to inform theirdecisions, although there is legal provision for ABS matters in Brazil, including recognition of TK, and experts
recommend that businesses obtain clear information before beginning access, use and trade activities. It is notalways that simple, however. It is often difficult to identify the owner of TK, even more so when there areseveral groups sharing similar knowledge. Moreover, TK is not patentable because it is not an innovativetechnology, but it can nonetheless be registered in Brazil, in the Livro dos Saberes (Book of Knowledge),
according to a Brazilian ministerial decree of 2000.

12

WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field

Project site 2: Cambodia—Prek Tnoat Community Protected Area

Project workers in action in Cambodia. Credit: TRAFFIC/Eanghourt KhouB a c k g ro u n dThousands of different plant species are used within traditional
medicine practices in Cambodia and the demand for this medicine isincreasing—both locally, where traditional medicine is often the only
Source: WWF Germany

healthcare available, and in cities, where it is becoming moredesirable and affordable. Demand is outstripping local supply andgreater quantities of plants and plant products are being sourced fromfurther afield. Recent overviews of the situation in Viet Nam andCambodia undertaken by TRAFFIC (Nguyen Dao Ngoc Van and
Location of the projectsite in Cambodia (seeasterisk)Nguyen Tap, 2008; Walston and Ashwell, 2008) emphasized theincreasing threat of unsustainable gathering of wild medicinal plantresources. While in Viet Nam these resources are already heavily

depleted, they are still comparatively healthy in Cambodia, although the exploitation of several
medicinal plant species (e.g. Coscinium spp.) is already of some concern. In general, however, little is

WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field

13

known regarding the exploitation of medicinal plant resources in Cambodia and, as much of the humanpopulation relies to a great extent on medicinal plant resources for their livelihoods, it is important thatany exploitation of these resources, particularly in the volumes commonly demanded by international
trade, be sustainable. Owing to the lack of formal regulation of wild MAP harvests and trade in
Cambodia, the project could not rely on an existing regulatory framework to support implementation(see Overall findings).

Identification of priority site/species
The project began with an introductory workshop, in May 2008, with participation from stakeholders
from government institutions, NGOs, research institutes and the private sector, in order to consult overthe selection of a suitable project site and species. After discussion and research, Prek Tnoat
Community Protected Area (CPA) on Cambodia’s south-west coast was selected as the project site. It
had the benefit of availability of a pre-implementation study of the MAP sector in the area, as well as
a

high

need

for

resource

management in the protected area
andbufferzone,

communityandstronginvolvement.

Furthermore, the site had year-round
accessibility, a good management
framework,
Credit: TRAFFIC/Eanghourt Khou

communities,

knowledgeableareasonable

population of the target species (seebelow), and continuity of the areawith Bokor National Park (approximately 140 000 ha).
Site overview, Prek Tnoat Community Protected Area

Speciesselectedwere

KrakoaAmomum ovoideum (a herbaceous
plant of the ginger family, whose fruits and seeds are collected to treat respiratory and digestive
disorders) and Tepirou Cinnamomum cambodianum (an evergreen tree, whose bark is collected fortreating stomach complaints).

Promoting acceptance of sustainable use of wild MAPs
Partly because there is no national regulation of harvest and trade of wild MAPs in Cambodia, there isvery little awareness with regard to the importance of sustainable collection of wild plant resources in
Cambodia. The project raised awareness of its activities through broadcasts on the national television
channel, Khmer Television, and reports in local and international newspapers. This built relationships
with the local media that could be drawn upon in future.

14

WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field

Awareness of the project was also achieved through direct involvement of the local community andlocal consultants in the resource assessment of Amomum ovoideum and Cinnamomum cambodianum.
The project team knew that the establishment of a sustainable use scheme for medicinal plants in the
project area would only be successful over the long term if the communities were involved in its
development, thus creating a sense of ownership, and trained in the necessary techniques; if links tomarkets in Phnom Penh could be established to ensure more reliable income from collection; and if a
community-based management plan was developed. The community was keen to participate, because
illegal collection by outsiders was a problem in the area and people were convinced that establishingcommunity management of the resources, in co-operation with the protected area management regime,
could help reduce this problem and hence result in economic benefits for the local communities.

Initiation of ISSC-MAP implementation
A specific methodology was developed
and

implemented

forresource

assessment of Amomum ovoideum andCinnamomum cambodianum.

Thismethodology included plot techniques,
datasheet

designtechniques.

andrecordingDatasheetsweredeveloped to assess habitat, ecology,
plant associations, population andyield of the two species. Staff of Prek
Tnoat CPA were trained in resource
assessment, as well as in methods ofdata

recording,data

analysis,techniques of bark collection and in themonitoring of C. cambodianum barkregeneration. A trade chain study of
Cinnamomum

cambodianum

and

Amomum ovoideum found that there
Credit: TRAFFIC/Eanghourt Khou

were 29 Khmer traditional medicine
shops and five Chinese traditional
medicine shops at the O Reussey and
Serey Pheap markets in Phnom Penh.
Khmer

and

Chinesetraditional

medicine shops in the two markets werethe main buyers and distributors to

Project staff on site in Cambodia carrying out resource

smaller shops, local healers and other assessment, 2008
consumers.

WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field

15

Training in sustainable harvest of
Amomum ovoideum was carried out toensure product quality and sustainability.

It included techniques for

harvesting fruits, drying techniques andmethods to maintain seed quality, in part
based

on

feedback

onqualityrequirements from traders in Phnom

Credit: TRAFFIC/Eanghuort Khou

Penh.
The community-based management
plan was developed through two consultation meetings with the Prek Tnoat
community, Kampot local authorities,
Bokor National Park administration
Fruit of Krakoa Amomum ovoideum, a project species
in Cambodia

staff, and local NGOs. A group of nine
members, including two members fromeach of the four villages (Chang Hoan,

Prek Tnoat, Prek Kreng and Trapeang Ropov) and a representative of the Prek Tnoat committee, wasformed to focus on management.

Outcomes
The project initiated the keeping of harvest records and records of trade in MAPs from the area.
One of the key successes of the project was the establishment of the community-based Traditional
Medicine Producer Group, the aim of which is to produce traditional medicine for sale locally,
including to visitors who visit the eco-tourism site at Prek Tnoat. The Group was set up with thehelp of healers living in the Prek Tnoat CPA. The concepts of resource management and benefitsharing are integrated into the Group’s activities: all in the Group agreed that 90% of the total
revenue generated from collection and trade from Prek Tnoat CPA would be received by them,whereas 5% would be used as a contribution to the Prek Tnoat community fund, and the remaining
5% would be allocated to the Group fund for use as needed.
The project supported market development for MAP products from the project area, linking markets
for A. ovoideum and Chinaroot Smilax glabra (another species of commercial interest) from Prek
Tnoat Community Protected Area to shops in Phnom Penh. One member of the community at Prek
Tnoat has been encouraged to work as a trader operating between the community and shops inPhnom Penh. Market prospects were not developed during this project for C. cambodianum, as barkharvest should be no more often than once every five years.
If ISSC-MAP continues to be implemented after the end of the project, scaling up the model to otherareas in Cambodia is conceivable.
16

WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field

Project site 3: India—sites in Uttarakhand and Karnataka

Community worker with the project in Karnataka, India. Credit: C. Arpana Basappa

The external boundaries ofIndia on this map have notbeen authenticatedB a c k g ro u n d
Project work in India focused on two States: Uttarakhand in the
Himalayan region of northern India, and Karnataka in South-west
India. An important repository of wild plant species, Uttarakhand has
been declared a “Herbal State” and a comprehensive plan for theconservation, development and harvesting of MAPs has been

Source: WWF Germany

launched in the State: 14 000 ha of protected forest have been
identified as Medicinal Plant Conservation Areas (MPCAs). The
Western Ghats of Karnataka are also rich in diverse wild plant types
and collection is commonplace. The Forest Department of Karnataka
Location of the projectsites in India (see asterisks)

has adopted a scheme of Village Forest Committees (VFCs) under the
Joint Forest Management Policy of the Government of India, whereby
the benefits of resources from community forests go back to thecommunities themselves and the communities in turn safeguard and conserve these forests. These
VFCs provided a basis for implementing ISSC-MAP guidelines in Karnataka.

WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field

17

Uttarakhand
Mandis (storage and auction facilities run by the State Forest Department) where collectors, traders andvillage representatives meet to trade in MAPs, have been established by the State of Uttarakhand in
Rishikesh, Tanakpur and Ramnagar, to enhance the transparency of trade. These mandis were starting
points for the introduction of ISSC-MAP to local stakeholders. State-level meetings were held at the
beginning of the project to inform policy-makers and Forest Department staff, as well as stakeholdersof the trade at mandis. From the outset, project staff engaged regularly with key players in the trade,including the members of the State Forest Department, State government, the National Medicinal
Plants Board (NMPB) of India, the Forest Development Corporation in Uttarakhand, and with the
Uttarakhand Industries Association and various NGOs working in the MAP sector.

Identification of priority sites/species
Site and species selection involved
regular discussion with the Forest
Department, Wildlife Institute of India(WII) and other interested parties. The
taxa and sites finally selected were
Jhula

Parmelia

spp.,

a

group

Credit: TRAFFIC/Wolfgang Kathe

comprising over 30 species of lichen,around Ghat in the Chamoli District,Badrinath District, and Indian Coleus
Coleus (syn. Plectranthus) barbatus in
the Chamba area of the Tehri Forest
Division.
The lichen Parmelia sp., project species in Uttarakhand

Parmelia spp. lichens areused to treat cardiac problems andbronchitis, among other ailments, andColeus barbatus, a perennial aromatic herb, is used to expel worms and to treat cuts. The projectfocused on Parmelia spp. and Coleus barbatus in separate phases.

Promoting acceptance of sustainable use of wild MAPs
Lobbying for acceptance of ISSC-MAP implementation was carried out at three levels: in the field withcollectors and traders, engagement at the mandis, and at policy level both regionally and nationally.

18

WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field

Initiation of ISSC-MAP implementation
Project implementation in the field was commissioned to the WII, one of the most renowned academic
research institutions in India. Under its auspices, a Parmelia resource assessment was carried out(according to a protocol developed by the WII for the Forest Department) and a comprehensive trade
study of Parmelia spp. was developed. The trade has been rather secretive in the past, involving a large
number of middlemen and a reluctance of traders to disclose information on clients or trade routes andfinal use of Parmelia spp. There is clear evidence, however, that lichens are used not only for
medicine, but also as incense material for poojas (religious ceremonies and worship), mainly insouthern India. Besides the legal trade through the mandis, it is also speculated that illegal trade ispractised from the collection area to Nepal and probably also to Tibet. Parmelia is often collected by
cutting the branches of pine or oak trees on which it grows, transporting them to collectors’ homes andthen stripping the branches of the lichen-bearing bark. Considerable work is yet necessary to achieve
ISSC-MAP implementation. The harvesting patterns and structures are complex (e.g. there is arotational system, whereby local collectors can collect in their area only once every four years), suchthat verification of sustainable collection of these species will be a long-term goal beyond the life of
the project.
For resource assessment of the Coleus species, collection sites were visited and data collected on
harvest and sale from mandis; villagers were also asked for trade information and a study of uses ofand market links for Coleus barbatus and Parmelia spp. was carried out to gain a better understandingof trade dynamics for the species.

Outcomes
Implementation of ISSC-MAP in Uttarakhand was most successful at a political level, managing tosecure a long-term commitment to ISSC-MAP from the head of the Forest Deptartment at provincial
level, the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests of Uttarakhand, and the chief executive officer of
the NMPB. Therefore, a medium- to long-term goal is to assist in mainstreaming ISSC-MAP inpolicy in Uttarakhand, and probably also at the federal level.
The project was also successful in promoting understanding of medicinal plant species conservationin non-governmental sectors, for example via the engagement of the Industries Association of
Uttarakhand and via participation of project stakeholders in BioFach India, India's largest trade fairfor organic products, in Mumbai in 2009. ISSC-MAP guidelines were tabled at national level at a
meeting convened in 2008 on the incorporation of medicinal, aromatic and dye plants under theremit of the National Working Plan Code. The MAP working committee of the meeting was keen
to incorporate ISSC-MAP guidelines into its plans. Institutional engagement with WII and FRLHT
has ensured the ISSC-MAP vision is sustained beyond the end of the project.

WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field

19

Karnataka
The project in Karnataka capitalized on previous
experience of the partner organization FRLHT inpromoting sustainable wild plant management, and aprevious project, funded by the United Nations
Development

Programme,

contributing

to

the

establishment of community-based resource management
structures.

Identification of priority sites/species
Two sites were selected: one in Illemane Village Forest
Area, in the Agumbe Range of Shimoga Forest Division,
Credit: Ravi Pandith

and another in Shiragunji Village Forest Area, in the
Katgal Range of Honnavar Forest Division. Selection of
species was made following a survey to determine those
MAP species about which local people had the most
Salacia chinensis root, used toinvigorate blood circulation

knowledge. Species requiring interventions to achievesustainable

collection,accordingtotheForestDepartment, were then noted and, following a stakeholder
meeting and technical discussion with experts fromFRLHT, species selected for ISSC-MAP implementation
were: at Illemane, White Palle Ailanthus triphysa,
harvested for its resin, and Rampatri Myristica
Credit: FRLHT

malabarica, used to treat coughs, fever, sprains and sores,
and, at Shiragunji, Salacia chinensis, the roots of which
are used to treat abnormal menstruation and to invigorate
Community-based team, Karnataka

blood circulation, and Babrang Embelia tsjeriam-cottam,
harvested for its fruit.

Promoting acceptance of sustainable use of wild MAPs
Prior links between FRLHT and the communities in the area meant that community members werealready receptive to the concept of and strategies for the conservation of medicinal plants.

Initiation of ISSC-MAP implementation
A “task team” formed as part of a previous FRLHT project, including all the stakeholders—VFC
members, women’s self-help groups, collectors, traders, Forest Department officials, etc.—became theplatform for implementation of ISSC-MAP at both sites. The task team, along with experts from
20

WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the FieldFRLHT and other stakeholders, brainstormed on the best
method of harvest to ensure sustainability of the species andexisting destructive methods were discontinued in the
project area. The new “rill method” for obtaining Ailanthus
triphysa resin (see photo, right), involving specially
Credit: Arpana Bassapa

designed tools and a plant hormone to increase resin
production, was highly successful and resulted insustainably produced resin of exceptional quality. At theIllemane project site, one trader was of particularimportance for Ailanthus triphysa, because he had almost
monopolized the trade in this and other species and had awell-equipped factory refining resins from trees. He agreed
to co-operate with the project and support sustainable
collection methods and protocols, including outside theCredit: Arpana Bassapa

project area, and even if the yields showed a slight reduction
when using the new harvest methods.
Collectors were registered and trained and traceability of the
product back to the source—besides being a benefit in its

Conventional method of harvesting

own right—contributed to creating a feeling of ownership resin of Ailanthus triphysa (top) andamong those involved in the operation. As part of the FRLHT-approved method (bottom)
project, a study was carried out to get a clearer picture ofmarket requirements for the target species, including quality
While reducing the number of

middlemen in trade to secure a higher income from MAP
collection for the local population, the project yet also aimed
to include traders who demonstrated their interest in the
project and ISSC-MAP implementation.

Outcomes

Credit: TRAFFIC/Sharat Bongale

and quantity demands.

A community workshop to
Perhaps the greatest success of the project in Karnataka promote the project inwas that sustainable collection methods were introduced Karnataka, India, 2008

in combination with the establishment of communitybased resource management. A 10-minute documentary was made to capture all the aspects of
ISSC-MAP implementation in Karnataka and this documentary was screened at a final projectworkshop held at FRLHT, Bangalore, on 29 January 2010. All stakeholders were invited anddignitaries including the CEO of the Karnataka State Medicinal Plant Board attended. Feedback at
the workshop was positive from both the government Forest Department and community members,
and the task teams at both sites are keen to expand the application of ISSC-MAP to species otherthan those already selected. The contents of ISSC-MAP have also influenced the preparation of the
Guidelines for Good Field Collection Practices of Medicinal Plants by NMPB (NMPB, in prep.).
WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field

21

Project site 4: Lesotho and South Africa —several locations

Project workers in the field in Lesotho. Credit: WWF/TRAFFIC/Britta Pätzold

Background and identification of priority sites/species
In 2003, TRAFFIC conducted an assessment of the sustainability of
the harvest of the medicinal plant species Kalwerbossie Pelargonium
sidoides, a slightly aromatic plant with velvety, heart-shaped leaves
Source: WWF Germany

and dark reddish-purple flowers, endemic to and used traditionally in
Lesotho and South Africa to treat colic, diarrhoea and other digestive
disorders. Concern had been raised by the German Government
because of the reportedly large scale of the trade in medicinal
products derived from this species in Germany and the absence ofLesotho and South Africa—
several project sites

substantive information on the short- or long-term sustainability of
the industry. The results of the assessment indicated that, although thetrade did not imminently threaten P. sidoides, the species was under potential longer term threat owing
to the very slow re-growth of root material left in the ground by harvesters and the danger of complete
root removal as a result of unmanaged follow-up harvesting. During 2005, TRAFFIC was approached

22

WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field

by the Government of Lesotho to assist in building capacity within their CITES Management andScientific Authorities. During a needs assessment for the training programme, the existence of an
unregulated and undocumented P. sidoides industry in Lesotho was revealed, while other sources
reported illegal harvesting of the species from protected areas within South Africa. As a result,
TRAFFIC and the National Environmental Secretariat of Lesotho agreed that the practical fieldwork
component of the training course should focus on research in relation to making an NDF for P. sidoides.
TRAFFIC was further requested to facilitate collaboration between government regulators in South
Africa and Lesotho and other stakeholders to ensure sustainability of the industry. Project sites
comprised all regions of Lesotho where the species occurs and adjacent areas of South Africa.

Promoting acceptance of sustainable use of wild MAPs
Research associated with making an NDF is described in Box 4.
Credit: WWF/TRAFFIC/Britta Pätzold

Biological, legislative, institutional and socio-economic
issues causing conservation management bottlenecks forPelargonium sidoides were highlighted along with possible
solutions.

The results of the NDF exercise werecommunicated to delegates at the World Congress on
Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (WOCMAP) in Cape Town in
November 2008 and discussed by the CITES Plants
Committee (CITES, 2009). The WOCMAP meeting was agood platform to present ISSC-MAP and its relevance for P.

Credit: WWF/TRAFFIC/Britta Pätzold

sidoides and other MAPs. In addition, TRAFFIC was invited
to participate in the Pelargonium Working Group, a group set
up in South Africa to further sustainable use of P. sidoides,
and this provided an additional opportunity to promote ISSCMAP, including to the medicinals industry.

Initiation of ISSC-MAP implementation

Credit: WWF/TRAFFIC/Britta Pätzold

Activities focused more specifically on implementation of
ISSC-MAP included development of an integrated
management plan for Pelargonium sidoides for Lesotho andSouth Africa, following the structure laid out in the South
African National Environmental Management: Biodiversity
Act.

The plan (the “Biodiversity Management Plan forPelargonium sidoides” (BMP)) included the results of the
NDF and the results of extensive consultations with industry,

Project staff at work in Lesotho

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23

harvester communities and government personnel in Lesotho and South Africa. The finalized plan will
be submitted to the Governments of Lesotho and South African for formal implementation throughtheir respective legal frameworks and through TRAFFIC projects currently being developed. In thiscontext, it was discovered that Lesotho’s environmental legislation was highly fragmented and would
not allow the BMP to be implemented easily or smoothly. In recognition of this shortcoming,
TRAFFIC is working with IUCN on a legislation review that will provide recommendations to theGovernment of Lesotho on how to rationalize environmental laws for the effective implementation of
CITES, CBD (and ABS and TK), and the P. sidoides management plan. Full and long-term implementation of the BMP will take several years and responsibility for further implementation is now with theGovernments of Lesotho and South Africa.

Box 4: Use of ISSC-MAP as a tool for the CITES Non-detriment Finding Process, byDavid Newton,TRAFFIC
Because of its specific trade focus, A Checklist for Making Non-detriment Findings—Guidance for
CITES Scientific Authorities (Rosser and Haywood, 2002) was found insufficient for identifying therequisite background information for the Biodiversity Management Plan (BMP) for Pelargonium
sidoides. However, these NDF guidelines have much in common with specific principles and criteriaof ISSC-MAP. Consequently, during the NDF process for P. sidoides, these guidelines and ISSC-MAP
criteria were applied jointly and used to document available knowledge and identify field-researchand data-collection priorities for the species. This enabled the compilation of an NDF in ISSC-MAP
format, with the advantage that the scientific data gathered during the NDF could simply beincorporated into the structure of the ISSC-MAP-based BMP. This manner of making an NDF waspresented at the International Expert Workshop on Non-Detriment Findings in Mexico, 2008, andthe presentation “Development of a Non-Detriment Finding (NDF) process for Pelargonium sidoides
in Lesotho” is available at: http://www.fairwild.org/publication-downloads/other-documents/NDFworkshop-case-study-Lesotho.pdf.

Initiation of scientific background work required to develop sound harvest protocols comprised afurther element of ISSC-MAP implementation during the project. In this connection, one of the mainquestions that still needs answering is the rate of ligno-tuber recovery of Pelargonium sidoides: a twoyear research study is being carried out with the support of the National University of Lesotho,
Witwatersrand University in South Africa, and TRAFFIC to this end.

OutcomesThrough developing an ISSC-MAP-based harvesting and management strategy, the project inLesotho is expected to contribute substantially to improving the livelihoods of local communities
through the provision of a better quality, reliable supply of raw material.

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WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field

Project site 5: Nepal— Kangchenjunga Conservation Area and Langtang
National Park Buffer Zone.

Project community meeting, Langtang National Park, Nepal. Credit: Indu Bikal Sapkota

Background
Nepal is one of the countries with the highest biodiversity in theworld, the diversity of its flora and habitats being almost unrivalled.
However, many regions in Nepal suffer from severe threats to their
Source: WWF Germany

biodiversity as a result of human pressure. Populations of many
medicinal plant species have been heavily depleted over recent
decades to accommodate both the high level of traditional medicinal
plant use in the country and the increasing demand from international
trade.
Location of the projectsites in Nepal (seeasterisks)

Economically, medicinal plants are among Nepal’s mostimportant commodities in trade. This project in Nepal focused in andaround protected areas, where potential conflict between theeconomic needs of the local population and conservation interests isparticularly evident.

It aimed to harmonize the structures of the existing community-based

management systems with ISSC-MAP principles and criteria and national guidance on wild collectionof NTFPs (Ghimire and Nepal, 2007).
WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field

25

Identification of priority sites/species
The selection of sites and species was based on a comprehensive, formal situation analysis carried out
by WWF Nepal, which has been managing a number of MAP conservation projects in the country forthe past two decades (Oli and Nepal, 2003), and can therefore draw on internal experts and a vastnationwide network of stakeholders in the MAP sector.
Two sites were chosen to implement ISSC-MAP in
Nepal: Kangchenjunga Conservation Area (KCA) and
Langtang National Park Buffer Zone (LNPBZ). KCA is
Credit: Indu Bikal Sapkota

located between two protected areas—Makalu BarunNational

Park-Buffer

Zone

of

Nepal

and

Kanchendzonga National Park of India, thus having
conservation significance in a transboudary context, andat regional level.
Habitat for wild medicinal andaromatic plants harvested by the The species selection process at both sites used a particproject staff in Nepal

ipatory approach and resulted in selection of one species

in each site—Chiraito Swertia chirayita in LNPBZ and Kutki Neopicrorhiza scrophulariiflora in KCA.
Both are very prominent MAP species, in high demand, and the conservation status of both is declining,mostly due to overharvesting in the past. Chiraito grows at altitudes between 1000 and 3000 m andbears greenish-yellow flowers. Its seeds are used by local people in treating coughs and colds and thejuice of its leaves and stem in treating malarial fever in some parts of Nepal. Chiraito is mainly
threatened by high market demand, enrichment plantations within the community forests to growtimber species such as pine, unsustainable collection for national and international trade, andovergrazing. Kutki is a perennial rhizomatous herb with purple flowers, typically found in the highpastures and alpine meadows between 3000 and 6000 m. Remote communities can benefit fromharvesting and managing it sustainably in the wild, but it is threatened by high demand for internationaland domestic trade. A ban on harvesting this species has been lifted by the Government of Nepal, but
wild harvesting and trade are only allowed after taxonomic identification and confirmation as N.
schrophulariiflora by the Department of Plant Resources and, in addition, a final approval of the
Department of Forests after a species inventory and identification of its total natural and harvestable
stock in the wild.
A study of trade in the two selected species identified market opportunities; market actors; processing
options for local value-adding and prospects for developing strategies for high-value addition andincreasing income for local producers; and capacity-building offers from business service providers.
Signing a memorandum of understanding with a large national and international MAP trader was a firstpromising step towards the establishment of business links.

26

WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field

Promoting acceptance of sustainable use of wild MAPs
The project was highly successful in its promotion of ISSC-MAP and the project field operations, atvarious levels. Local groups were encouraged to participate actively in the implementation of the
ISSC-MAP through inception, information and training workshops in the communities around the two
selected sites. WWF Nepal carried out large-scale national-level promotion through continuous
meetings with stakeholders at the political level, newspaper articles, local and national radio broadcasts
and through the production of a documentary film on sustainable NTFP-harvesting and ISSC-MAP,
Natural Herbs—Treasures of the Himalayas, that was broadcast on national TV and shown at nationallevel workshops; the film had a considerable awareness-raising impact.

The documentary wasproduced after intensive field visits in KCA and LNPBZ, interviews with the concerned stakeholders
and a literature review.

Initiation of ISSC-MAP implementation
The project endeavoured to build capacity among local communities, collectors and traders to ensurea sustainable, steady supply of high quality products and to make sure that the ISSC-MAP criteria were
understood and to try and ensure their application would be effective over the long term. Close cooperation with government agencies and other authorities, both local and national, formed a central partof the project in order to develop, streamline and/or adapt appropriate policies.
For both species, a resource assessment was carried out following the ISSC-MAP guidance, adapting
it where necessary. Based on this resource assessment and the existing community-based management
structures, management plans for the two selected species were developed by a consultant scientist in
co-operation with the local stakeholders and WWF Nepal. The management plan was harmonized withexisting guidelines and the ISSC-MAP indicators were adapted to the local conditions.

Outcomes
The project in Nepal provides documented experience of a process of adapting ISSC-MAP toexisting community management structures, which may be useful to other projects that plan toimplement ISSC-MAP.
With ISSC-MAP, a system is now available that can be used by the relevant authorities to deliveron the requirements that precede the issuing of a collection permit. Strict measures like a collection
ban could be avoided, if authorities adopted ISSC-MAP as a requirement for wild collection.
Neopicrorhiza schrophulariiflora is closely related to Picrorhiza kurrooa, which is listed in CITES
Appendix II and both species are traded under the same name (Kutki).

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27

Project site 6: South-east Europe and Bosnia and Herzegovina—
Vlasenica region

Wild Garlic Allium ursinum harvest in the project area, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Credit: Sladjana Bundalo

Background
South-east Europe is the continent’s most important source region for
MAPs collected from the wild (Lange, 1998 and 2006, and Kathe etal., 2003). The economic, political and structural changes induced by
Source: WWF Germany

the disintegration of the Soviet Union and by the collapse of theformer Yugoslavia in the 1990s are still having considerable influence
on wild MAP collection in the region. It has dropped sharply incountries such as Poland, Hungary and Croatia, often being replaced
by MAP cultivation. In other countries, such as Albania, Bosnia and
Location of the projectsite in Bosnia andHerzegovina (see asterisk)

Herzegovina, Bulgaria and Romania, there are still many wildcollection organizations and considerable volumes of plants arecollected every year, but the number of available (andknowledgeable) collectors is decreasing, as more lucrative options for earning a living are now
available. Hence, the future of wild collection is uncertain in almost all countries in the region and

28

WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field

collection operations are often not sustainable because of factors such as the lack of long-term
prospects, low prices paid for the raw material, lack of proper regulation, and overharvesting of somecommercially important MAP species.
Besides the project (co-ordinated by WWF and TRAFFIC) setting out to establish a sustainable
harvesting scheme for the collection of Wild Garlic Allium ursinum in the Vlasenica region of Bosnia
and Herzegovina, sustainable wild MAP collection in the region of south-eastern Europe wasadditionally promoted through communications and advocacy activities co-ordinated by TRAFFIC; seeBox 5.

Identification of priority site/specie s
Alliumursinum,

used

to

aid

digestion, for circulatory disorders,and as an ingredient in culinary
dishes, was selected as a target
species for a number of reasons.
Credit: TRAFFIC/Sladjana Bundalo

While other ISSC-MAP projects
focused on species of conservation
concern, A. ursinum is a very
common species in eastern Bosnia
and Herzegovina. The main aim of
this project was to show the applicability of ISSC-MAP in a model
context for the region, that could thenHarvesting Wild Garlic Allium ursinum in the Vlasenica
region of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2008

be used for wider promotion of theStandard. Moreover, collection of A. ursinum has increased dramatically in recent years owing to highdemand on international markets and although the population is not endangered by current collectionlevels, lack of resource management in the region poses a potential threat to populations of MAP
species. Collection of the species, on the other hand, is well organized by companies in charge of
harvest and trade, some of whom were involved during the ISSC-MAP development phase and also
manage harvest and trade in accordance with the fair trade criteria of the FairWild Standard.
Certification is a possible future option for the collection of A. ursinum in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Site selection was determined by availability of locations in Vlasenica for which permission to test
implementation of ISSC-MAP was granted by the local forest authority.

Promoting acceptance of sustainable use of wild MAPs
The project in Bosnia and Herzegovina ran workshops on sustainable MAP collection to foster
acceptance among stakeholders and encouraged governmental officials to recognize ISSC-MAP as a

WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field

29

Box 5: Promotion and advocacy activities insouth-east Europe

useful tool to ensure sustainability ofresource harvest.

The regional forest

authority supported, indeed actively particISSC-MAP advocacy activities carried out in south-east

ipated in, the resource assessment and theEurope aimed to establish an inter-disciplinary expert

development of a management plan. Good

network as a basis for long-term activities in the region.

co-operation with forestry authorities inWork included presentations at conferences (e.g. theInternational Symposium on Breeding Research on
Medicinal and Aromatic Plants in 2009 and Biodiversity
Conservation and Use of Genetic Resources conference in
Ljubljana, Slovenia) and meetings with potential strategic

Bosnia and Herzegovina is among the mostimportant prerequisites for successful ISSCMAP implementation in the country.
Project staff were invited to contribute to thepartners for FairWild implementation (e.g. the FAO Sub-development of the “book of rules” forregional Office for Central and Eastern Europe (Forestry

NTFP collection, part of forest law inteam); the Association of MAP Companies in Hungary; theRepublica Srpska (one of two entities

IUCN office in Belgrade; the Ministry of Agriculture ofmaking up Bosnia and Herzegovina), which

Hungary (Department of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants);

was adopted (with significantly stronger

the Research Institute of Agriculture Studies of Hungary;sustainability criteria) in December 2009. A

and the Chamber of Agriculture and Forestry of Slovenia).

legal advisor was engaged to provide
suggestions and comments and indicate

potential ISSC-MAP aspects and provisions that could be proposed for consideration during
finalization of the legislation.

Initiationofimplementation

ISSC-MAP

Information collected during thesituation analysis was obtained fromcollectors and other stakeholders andCredit: TRAFFIC/Sladjana Bundalo

included details on management
practicesintheregion,trade

channels, prices of raw material andprocessing. The data obtained during
theassessment

were

used

for

sustainable management planning
Sacks of Wild Garlic Allium ursinum ready fortransportation from the collection site in Vlasenica,
Bosnia and Herzegovina

during workshops, with the participationofstakeholders

allrelevant

from

the

local
whole

Vlasenica region.

30

WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field

Outcomes
The management plan drafting
process was completed in late 2009
Allium ursinum Management Plan
(VAMP),

developed

to

guide

sustainable collection practices forthe species in the region inaccordance with ISSC-MAP.

Its

long-term goal is sustainable use ofthespecies

Credit: TRAFFIC/Sladjana Bundalo

and the result was the Vlasenica

forcommercial Bosnia and Herzegovina project stakeholders in
purposes, in the context of the needs Vlasenica, April 2009
and rights of all stakeholders andlocal communities that depend on the resource. In order to achieve this goal, specific management
activities must be undertaken, including:• the improvement of collection practices through training;• the adaptation of licensing procedures;• more effective supervision of collection to prevent illegal harvesting;• development and implemention of a continuous monitoring system.
The local forest authority, as the body responsible for managing the Allium ursinum resource, will
be in charge of implementing the principles and components of the VAMP. The company Elmar
d.o.o. has been selected as a partner for implementation owing to its long-standing interest in
implementation of sustainable management of the resource and because it is one of three main
traders of A. ursinum species in the region.
Companies in the MAP sector and State authorities welcomed the approach of this project and haveshown interest in scaling it up to species that are of concern in the region, for example Yellow
Gentian Gentiana lutea, Smilje or Imortelle Helichrysum italicum and Bearberry Arctostaphylos
uva-ursi. In order to nuture continuity of ISSC-MAP implementation in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
important regional and national players, including the FAO Central European office and theFostering Agricultural Markets Activity (FARMA) project of the United States Agency forInternational Development (USAID) and Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), wereintroduced to the FairWild Standard. A regional workshop on institutional needs for the wildcollection sector is scheduled for 2010 in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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31

Overall findings regarding ISSC-MAP as a tool
ISSC-MAP is applicable in a range of situations
ISSC-MAP proved to be sufficiently versatile for application in diverse settings, as originally intended.
As Table 1 shows, the project sites covered a range of characteristics between them and ISSC-MAP
was applied successfully on both community and State land. Private companies, government forest
authorities, other key government regulatory bodies and collectors all showed keen interest in
implementing ISSC-MAP. Project documentation and other material was produced for different levelsof use, with some outputs using language almost consistent with legal language and other documentation more suitable for practical use in the field.
Table 1
Details of implementation contexts at project sites
Implementation with:

BA

LE/ZA

NP

IN–UL

IN–KA

BR

State controlled resource

X

X

X

X

X

X

Private sector/business links

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Local NGO as driverX

Protected area context

X

Links to regulatory needs
Community-managed resource

X

X

X
X

X

KH

X
X

X

X

Key: BA: Bosnia and Herzegovina; LE: Lesotho; ZA: South Africa; NP: Nepal; IN–UL: India, Uttarakhand; IN–KA: India, Karnataka; BR: Brazil;
KH: Cambodia.

Success for ISSC-MAP implementation extended beyond project countries (see also reference to
Cameroon in ISSC-MAP supports regulatory processes) and pick-up in China may be noted in thiscontext. Continuous exchange of experiences between this project and a project named “Sustainable
Management of Traditional Medicinal Plants in High-biodiversity Landscapes of Upper Yangtze
Ecoregion”, jointly run by WWF-China, IUCN and TRAFFIC and funded by the EU-China
Biodiversity Programme (ECBP), mutually benefited both projects and led to the application of ISSCMAP in China. A breakthrough has been the setting up of alliances with carefully selected businesses
receptive to best-practice frameworks for scaling up community-based resource management (initiallyof wild-harvested Southern Schisandra Schisandra sphenanthera) around Giant Panda landscapes.
Partnerships have been developed to enhance the opportunities for small-scale producers, enabling
business, local government and producers to work together in a multi stakeholder process, making
project results significant at an international level in terms of providing a working model for incentivebased conservation in landscapes outside protected areas.

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WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field

ISSC-MAP supports regulatory processes
In some project countries, for example Cambodia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, State regulations
governing MAP use are relatively under-developed. In such cases, ISSC MAP can provide the basis
for the development of regulations to support sustainable use of MAP resources, as has been
mentioned. In other cases, ISSC-MAP provides a yardstick for comparison with national laws, in orderto throw light on insufficiencies. Some examples of each type of situation follow.
State regulation of MAPs in Cambodia is poorly developed. National laws and relevant policies apply
a broad-brush approach to natural resource management issues and many of the regulations seem to beisolated from each other, resulting in a blurred, often self-contradictory body of legislation that leads
to confusion and poor enforcement. To serve long-term MAP management in Cambodia, legislationand policy need to become more rigorous and also to relate to international conventions and bestpractice guidelines. ISSC-MAP is able to provide support for the development of such legislation by
its setting-out of essential elements related to the harvesting of wild collected plants.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, detailed provisions for MAP trade are lacking, leading to ineffective
implementation of legislation. TK and practice regarding MAPs in Bosnia and Herzegovina areabundant, however, and this needs to be recognized and addressed by the country’s regulatory system.
In this regard, the Republika Srpska (RS) Rulebook on the Methods of Collection of Non-timber Forest
Products, to which TRAFFIC contributed and whose articles are based on ISSC-MAP principles andcriteria, will help. It includes information on the development of management plans, licensing
procedures, the maintaining of wild MAP resources, baseline resource assessments, training ofcollectors, respect for customary rights, fair business practices, etc. Steps were taken to ensure that theRulebook was not in conflict with existing State legislation. Proposed amendments are currently
awaiting approval by the Government.
In contrast to the case in Cambodia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, the regulatory system for MAP use
in India is well developed. However, several policies and implementation procedures at national andregional levels seem to require revision and the ISSC-MAP process can provide clear input towards
this. Traditional use of medicinal plants is widespread, but it is the commercial use of MAPs that
requires regular checks in order to ensure the sustainability of the harvesting of wild plants. This isparticularly true for Uttarakhand, positioning itself as a “Herbal State” and leading on progressive
approaches to cultivation and marketing of MAPs. Improvements are needed, however, in the trainingof collectors; in regulating issuance of collection permits; in assessment of available MAP natural
resources; in support for the local community as a priority; and in the raising of awareness regarding
the importance of sustainable wild harvesting.

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33

Triggered through awareness-raising activities
at international level, as a spin-off success of
this project, perhaps one of the most advanced
applications of ISSC-MAP to State regulations
has been with regard to CITES-listed African
Cherry Prunus africana in Cameroon.

In

2008, after the initial development of regional
FAO guidelines on the issuance of permits for
NTFP collection (based on ISSC-MAP
Credit: Saxifraga–Willem van Kruijsbergenguidelines (FAO et al., 2008)), a CITES
workshop on P. africana identified ISSC-MAP
as a suitable tool for identifying priorities foraction in the development of a national
management plan for P. africana for
Cameroon (Ingram et al., 2009). It is hopedthat eventual application of ISSC-MAP will
provide Cameroon with the means to reWild Garlic Allium ursinum

establish trade in P. africana based onsustainable grounds.

Since the lifting of the ban on Kutki collection in Nepal, ISSC-MAP has supported national regulations
by providing a credible tool for sustainable harvesting.

Combined with technical assistance tostakeholders, it has promoted government regulations favourable to wild collection, rather thanrestrictive. This approach could be applied to several MAP species for which collection is prohibited,in most cases because relevant information on their ecology and harvest levels is not available.

ISSC-MAP contributes to internationally agreed development goals
Forest authorities in several locations welcomed ISSC-MAP as a tool for community-based
management schemes, as it boosted empowerment to manage MAP resources and habitats sustainably.
This in turn supported national governments’ efforts to implement the CBD and respective National
Biodiversity Action Plans and the GSPC, as well as demonstrating efforts towards achievement of
MDGs, for example Goals 1 and 7, concerning poverty eradication and environmental sustainability,
respectively. MAPs are an excellent commodity on which to focus in terms of supporting achievementof the MDGs, as they can link advances in conservation, supply of medicinal products, and local
livelihoods in a clearly understood way—providing MAPs are sourced and traded sustainably. To showthat ISSC-MAP works well as a tool to foster these advances has been one of the grandest successes ofthe project at an international level.

34

WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field

ISSC-MAP proved to be a useful tool to support delivery of the goals of other international agreements,for example CITES NDFs or the WHO “[Updated] Guidelines on the Conservation of Medicinal
Plants” (in prep.), and was presented at the following international and inter-governmental fora, toconvey its contribution to international discussions on sustainable use of biodiversity and related TK
and international trade: IUCN’s World Conservation Congress (Barcelona, 2008); the International
Expert Workshop on CITES Non-Detriment Findings (Cancún, Mexico, 2008); CBD CoP 9 (Bonn,2008); the International Conclave on Medicinal Plants for ASEAN and Bay of Bengal Initiative forMulti-sectoral Technical and Economic Co-operation (BIMSTEC) countries, held in Imphal, Manipur(India), in 2008; the 10th and 11th Governing Council intersessional meetings of the South Asia Cooperative Envrionment Programme (2008); WOCMAP (Cape Town, 2008); and the World Forest
Conservation Congress (Buenos Aires, 2009).

ISSC-MAP can support certification processes
While formalized certification of sustainable
resource management and trade is not relevant in allcontexts, e.g. where there is no market for thecertified products, the incorporation of ISSC-MAP
as part of the FairWild Standard offers a certification option for ISSC-MAP via the FairWild
Label.

Voluntary codes of practice notwith-standing, such certification can be of great interest
to companies wanting to communicate sustainablesourcing practices to consumers. In order to trigger
Credit: TRAFFIC/Anastasiya Timoshyna

discussion and co-operation with the private sector,
FairWild presented itself at several trade shows,among them BioFach 2009 and 2010 in Nürnberg,
Germany, one of the world’s largest organic tradeshows with about 45 000 visitors, and BioFach
2009 in Mumbai, India. Funds provided throughthis project and via other donors allowed the participation of representatives of five of the project’s
regional field operations at BioFach 2009 in

ISSC-MAP and FairWild on show at
BioFach 2009, Germany

Germany, and presentation of the FairWild
Foundation at BioFach 2010. This allowed project staff to provide first-hand information to potential
clients, triggering strong interest from companies, certification bodies, government aid agencies, NGOs
and journalists from more than 20 countries.

WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field

35

Lessons learned from country field projects
General lessons
In spite of the differences between field projects, a number of “lessons learned” have been reported by
all projects, including some related to the overall project findings noted above.
• ISSC-MAP and accompanying guidance documents are valuable and useful tools to support theestablishment of sustainable harvesting and management regimes for a range of MAP species, in arange of different scenarios (see Table 1).
• Participatory approaches to resource assessment, monitoring, adaptation of framework documents
and management planning are the main key to success and necessary to obtain buy-in from all
stakeholders. However, they require long-term investment.
• It was sometimes felt there was a need for adaptation of the Standard documents: it should be
discussed how far local adaptations are permissible.
• Further guidance on certain aspects of ISSC-MAP implementation would have been very useful to
implementers in the field, especially on topics that required in-depth background knowledge, suchas ABS and TK, underlining the value of a combination of international and local expertise andinput.
• Reliable business links (at local, national or international level) are often crucial for project success.
Businesses demanding a sustainably sourced product translate into a substantial force forconvincing local stakeholders of the worth of implementing a sustainability standard.
• International co-ordination and support is needed (in this case provided through the ISSC-MAP
Secretariat), as trade is often organized internationally and can therefore have effects in otherregions—not all important players are located in the source countries. For example, advocacy
within relevant political frameworks, such as the CBD, complements efforts on the ground.
• A combination of model cases on the ground with promotion and targeted awareness-raising actions
at local, national and international level helps stakeholders to understand the approach used and toconvince them that ISSC-MAP is an excellent working tool, thereby creating the enabling
environment for sustainable MAP use.
• Strong and well-established partner organizations and a network of experts in the region are prerequisites for long-term success, especially with a short-term project.
• It is important to link application of ISSC-MAP to relevant local/national schemes on resource
management.
• A “common language” is not to be underestimated as a factor for successful project implementation.
In most regional situations, this meant that documentation (including the Standard itself) had to betranslated into the national or local languages and other communications had to be made in the samelanguage(s). Besides its more usual meaning, “common language” also refers here to the way in

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WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field

which communication was adapted to what could be understood by those ultimately implementing
ISSC-MAP. The sometimes rather theoretically worded, complex provisions of a standard such as
ISSC-MAP need to be transformed into ideas that are closer to the ground and can be more easily
understood. A good example is a book (Machado, 2008) compiled by a project partner in Brazil(see Project site 1: Brazil), which communicates not only in words but also in drawings andpictograms. While this probably cannot be envisaged for ISSC-MAP itself, it may be an option for
guidance documentation.
• Lastly, time constraints were often a challenge, especially, as noted, in so far as the need for patientand careful work to bring stakeholders on board was concerned, but also for pre-assessments
tackling, for example, analysis of how existing official management plans related to ISSC-MAP, or
how to deal with a lack of such plans. Time constraints were the more challenging in a project withfield work based on natural cycles and related intervals between growing, flowering, fruiting andharvesting periods.

Specific lessons
The diversity of regional projects resulted in a very interesting spectrum of lessons learned peculiar tothe site of project implementation.
In Brazil, ABS and TK issues are of particular importance. Establishment of ABS and TK agreements
is a major challenge, above all because there is confusion about what this would entail and international
dispute about what would or would not be acceptable. This issue was attended to closely by the projectin Brazil (and will continue to be so after the end of the project’s lifetime), and findings could provide
a good model for other operations for which ABS and TK considerations were of relevance. In short,the lesson learned was that analysis of legal situations can require local expertise from several
institutions.
In Cambodia, the main lesson learned was that other factors atwork at the site needed to be taken into account in order toconvince the collectors and villagers to embark on ISSC-MAP
In this case, uncontrolled harvesting by

Credit: TRAFFIC/Eanghourt Khou

implementation.

outsiders was a considerable problem. However, ISSC-MAP
implementation and the establishment of related management
structures contributed to: 1) a feeling of ownership of andresponsibility for the MAP resources among the local
population; 2) monitoring and surveillance activities thatallowed calculation of the real impact of outsider harvesting and Tepirou Cinnamomum cambodianumthat helped prevent outsiders from entering the area for a project species in Cambodia,
exploited for its medicinal bark

WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field37

harvesting. A second important lesson was thatmarket analysis and the establishment of trade
links were crucial to give a long-term
perspective to the collectors and their families,
so that they could increase their livelihoods by
Credit: Eanghourt Khou

better resource management in combination
with more reliable market access.
In India, there was a particular lesson relating
to site selection.
Harvesting on site in Cambodia

While the project in

Karnataka had the advantage that site selection
was easy because FRLHT could follow up on apreviously established project and the management structures that had already been developed, theUttarakhand project needed to start from point zero. Owing to site remoteness and restricted accessibility, project initiation and implementation in the field took a very long time and needed much longer
than the two years available for full development of ISSC-MAP implementation.
The Lesotho/South Africa project demonstrated that ISSC-MAP worked well as a tool for the CITES
NDF process and for South Africa the project outcomes provided very valuable guidance fordiscussions of the Pelargonium Working Group but, as the project necessarily included relatedscientific research, it exceeded the timeframe available and needed to access additional funds. This
relates to the general lesson learned on time constraints.
In Nepal, the importance of networking and public relations was a particular aspect, resulting in a
specific positive lesson learned. WWF Nepal is one of the few conservation NGOs with a history ofcontinuous medicinal plant conservation work (spanning over two decades). During this time, theorganization has not only built up its own capacity in the MAP sector but also established an enormous
network of partners in Nepal, from the government through to community forest-user groups. This
network, in combination with good media contacts, a professional PR department and additional funds,
enabled the development and dissemination of ISSC-MAP promotional materials through high-level
conferences, TV and radio broadcasting, and newspapers. These activities had a powerful advocacy
effect nationwide.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, key lessons learned were based on two factors: (i) the fact that collection
is often not performed by local communities but by “professionals” hired by a company that operates
as a MAP trader; (ii) ISSC-MAP implementation depends on the willingness and co-operation of theregional forest authority, the body responsible for giving permission to carry out activities such as
resource assessment, on which ISSC-MAP implementation is based. As a consequence of these38

WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field

conditions, ISSC-MAP implementation in Bosnia and Herzegovina could only be successful if (i)collectors benefited directly financially from implementing sustainable harvesting methods and (ii)there was a good relationship with the forest authority. The former would require supervision ofcollection practices through the collection and trading company.

CONCLUSIONSThe project’s main objectives—to develop sustainable use schemes for chosen project species; toenhance and initiate local capacity to implement these; and to increase acceptance of approaches tosustainable collection of wild MAPs at local and national level—were met in each of the project
countries. There was variation in the means by which these objectives were met, and variation in thelevel to which each was developed, reflecting a diversity of contexts, which was a strength of the
project inherent in the design from the outset. Beyond foreseen differences, unanticipated variables
and developments further tested the robustness of ISSC-MAP. That the project nonetheless concluded
with a model approach for resource management and an enabling environment created at all except one
project site testifies to the Standard’s workability. This is not to discount challenges encountered in
putting the project into action and maintaining its progress, from temporary site inaccessibility, to legal
complexities relating to ABS and TK. However, these obstacles provided experiences to inform future
efforts.
The project demonstrated the importance of local conditions for implementation of ISSC-MAP, thatthey need to be analysed case by case, that there is often a need to involve players from several
constituencies, and that this requires considerable time, networking and funding. Further, sustainability
must be built into the field projects themselves. While the question of whether this was achieved via
this project cannot be answered, given the relatively short time frame, the setting up of functioning
local or national management of wild plants for the future, combined with wider awareness of the valueof sustainable use approaches as outlined in ISSC-MAP and, crucially, partnerships with government
bodies, scientific institutions and the private sector were all achieved and constitute an encouraging
basis from which to develop.
Most plant species that were the focus of this project are either known or suspected to be unsustainably
harvested. In demonstrating a range of promising outcomes for ISSC-MAP, the “Savings Plants that
Save Lives and Livelihoods” project has taken a necessary and useful step in bridging the gap between
words and action to manage wild plants for the future of humankind.

WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field

39

RECOMMENDATIONSThis report was written primarily to provide individuals and organizations concerned with improving
rural livelihoods with a benchmark for the workability of sustainable collection of wild plants, in
support of livelihoods and species diversity. As a recent WWF report put it, “the principles ofsustainable use and benefit sharing embodied in the MDGs and the CBD are mutually supportive, but
the challenge lies in the implementation; particularly using the inter-linkages between biodiversity andpeople for the benefit of both” (WWF, 2006). Recommendations below stem from experiences fromthe project and are offered here to provide a basis for building on its successes and an awareness of the
obstacles it encountered.

Governance . Agencies considering promoting sustainable wild plant collection should acquire
a thorough understanding of the legal context within which they will be operating, in order to work inconcert with it. In settings where laws governing collection and management of wild plants are foundto be in need of updating or otherwise improving, legislators should consider using ISSC-MAP
principles as a guide to revision of such laws. In this way, they would simultaneously achieve synergy
with goals of international environmental agreements such as the Convention on Biological Diversity(CBD). In contexts where legislation specific to wild plants is absent, legislators should consider
mainstreaming ISSC-MAP into national and/or local law.

Partnership.

Ensuring community participation in collection and management of local wild

plants according to sustainable principles increases the chance that such collection will be sustainable.
Agencies establishing projects for sustainable wild plant collection should engage local
stakeholders, for example businesses, local collectors, and local organizations with experience inthe field, in partnership, including by identifying clear and realistic market openings for
harvested products.

Project documentation .

In many locations with a strong tradition of organizedcollection of wild plants there can be a wealth of knowledge on wild plants that is not necessarily
written down. Project staff engaged in management of harvest of wild plants should take care toensure that documentation available to support schemes is appropriate to local needs.

Training . Projects on sustainable wild plant collection should factor in ample time and funds
for capacity-building and training of local project workers in resource assessment, harvest
monitoring, collection and processing techniques, protection of their traditional knowledge, andbenefit-sharing.

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WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field

Project time span . Community buy-in to the ISSC-MAP approach and principles wasfound to be fundamental to the workability of the Standard in practice. Especially in the light of thetwo preceding recommendations on project documentation and training, but also in view of the time
taken for other aspects of project implementation, such as co-operation with government authorities,
project managers aiming for sustainable wild plant collection should adopt a long-term
perspective in order to allow time to support projects through to stability.

Certification . Certification of ISSC-MAP via the FairWild Standard is a development thatprovides the basis for credibility in commercial labels claiming sustainability of wild harvest.
However, certification can be costly for producers and requires strong links between producers andconsumers, as well as consumer awareness of sustainability concerns.

Project managers,

governments, NGOs and others involved in sustainable collection of wild plants should evaluate
on a case-by-case basis whether certification is the best option for reinforcing sustainability.

International co-ordination . The current project benefited from centralized and fully
funded co-ordination and standardization of efforts on the ground, including to support compliance andpromote relevance to inter-governmental conservation development frameworks, such as the CBD.
Similar projects should take care to install oversight at this higher level.

Research. All plant species in this project had acknowledged medicinal applications. Similarly,
almost all the chosen species were of conservation concern at some level. A great deal of basic
botanical knowledge/research is essential to develop approaches for sustainable management and wildcollection. For many species basic information about distribution, population trends, regeneration, andresponse to threats such as climate change is lacking. Therefore, scientists and individuals withappropriate local knowledge should consider prioritizing research on plant species for whichsustainability of wild harvest is a major concern, to safeguard species important for health andlivelihoods.

Initiation of a value-adding strategy and market development .
In view of the relatively limited value of much raw plant material, sustainable livelihoods benefit fromthe means to add value at the local level, for example by processing plant material into a more finishedproduct for sale.

However a value-adding strategy brings local sustainable benefits only whencombined with a sustainable harvest strategy. Development agencies involved in projects adding
value to raw plant material should also support capacity-building and tools for resource
management.

WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field

41

REFFERENCES
Allegretti, M.H. (1987). Reservas Extrativistas: uma proposta de desenvolvimento da florestaamazônica. Instituto de Estudos Amazônicos, Curitiba, Brazil.
Anon. (1988). Declaration of the International Conference on Medicinal Plants, held in Bangalore,
India, 16–19 February 1988. Viewed at http://www.bgci.org/worldwide/article/132/, March 2010.
CBD (1992). Convention on Biological Diversity (with Annexes). Concluded at Rio de Janeiro on 5
June 1992. No. 30613. Viewed at www.cbd.int/doc/legal/cbd-un-en.pdf, 23 April 2010.
CBD (2002). Global Strategy for Plant Conservation. Secretariat of the Convention on Biological
Diversity. Montreal, Canada. Viewed at https://www.cbd.int/doc/publications/pc-brochure-en.pdf,
23 April 2010.
CITES (2009). Development of Principles, criteria and indicators for the making of non-detrimentfindings—The Principle Level. 18th Meeting of the Plants Committee, Buenos Aires, 17–21 March
2009. Viewed at www.cites.org/eng/com/PC/18/E-PC18-14-04.pdf, 23 April 2010.
Cunningham, A.B. (2001). Applied Ethnobotany. People Wild Plant Use & Conservation. Earthscan,
London, UK.
FAO, GTZ and COMIFAC (2008). Directives sous-régionales relatives à la gestion durable desproduits forestiers non ligneux d'origine végétale en Afrique centrale. GCP/RAF/398/GER
Renforcement de la sécurité alimentaire en Afrique Centrale à travers la gestion et l’utilisation
durable des Produits Forestiers Non Ligneux. Yaounde. 24 pp.
Ghimire, S.K. and Nepal B.K. (2007). Developing a Community-Based Monitoring System andSustainable Harvesting Guidelines for Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP) in Kangchenjunga
Conservation Area (KCA), East Nepal. Final Report submitted to WWF Nepal Program, Baluwatar,
Kathmandu, Nepal.
Ingram V., Awono A., Schure J. and Ndam N. (2009). National Prunus africana management plan for
Cameroon. CIFOR, Yaoundé, Cameroon. 156 pp.
Kathe, W., Honnef, S. and Heym, A (Eds) (2003). Medicinal Plants in Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania. BfN Skripten 91; Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, Bonn.
Lange, D. (1998). Europe’s Medicinal and Aromatic Plants: their Use, Trade and Conservation.
TRAFFIC International, Cambridge, UK. 77 pp.
Lange, D. (2006). International trade in medicinal and aromatic plants. Actors, volumes andcommodities. In: Bogers, R.J., Craker, L.E. and Lange, D. Medicinal and Aromatic Plants.
Wageningen UR Frontis Book Series, 17: 155–170. Springer, Dordrecht.
Marshall, N. (1998). Searching for a Cure: Conservation of Medicinal Wildlife Resources in East andSouthern Africa. TRAFFIC International, Cambridge, UK. 112 pp.
Machado, F.S. (2008). Produtos Florestais Não Madeireiros: um manual com sugestões para o manejo
participativo em comunidades da Amazônia. Rio Branco, Acre: PESACRE and CIFOR. 105 p.
Viewed at www.pesacre.org.br, 23 April 2010.

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Medicinal Plant Specialist Group (2007). International Standard for Sustainable Wild Collection of
Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (ISSC-MAP). Version 1.0. BfN-Skripten 195, Bundesamt fürNaturschutz, Bonn.
Nguyen Dao Ngoc Van and Nguyen Tap (2008). An Overview of the Use and Trade of Plants andAnimals in Traditional Medicine Systems in Viet Nam. TRAFFIC Southeast Asia (Greater Mekong
Programme), Ha Noi, Viet Nam.
NMPB (National Medicinal Plant Board of India) (in prep.). Guidelines for Good Field Collection
Practices of Medicinal Plants.
Oli B.R. and Nepal B.K. (2003). Non-timber Forest Products from the Kangchenjunga Conservation
Area: Aspects of Trade and Market Opportunities. WWF Nepal Program, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Rosser, A.M. and Haywood, A.J. (Comps) (2002). A checklist for making Non-detriment Findings—
Guidance for CITES Scientific Authorities. SSC Occasional paper No. 27. IUCN, Gland,
Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
Schippmann, U., Leaman, D. and Cunningham, A.B. (2006). A comparison of cultivation and wildcollection of medicinal and aromatic plants under sustainability aspects. In: Bogers, R.J., Craker,
L.E. and Lange, D., Medicinal and Aromatic Plants. Wageningen UR Frontis Book Series, 17:
75–95. Springer, Dordrecht.
Silva, S.R., Buitrón, X., de Oliveira, L.H. and Martins, M.V.M. (2001). Plantas Medicinales de Brasil:
Aspectos Generales Sobre Legislación y Comercio. TRAFFIC South America. 44 pp., plus annexes.
United Nations (2002). Report of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, South
Africa. United Nations, New York, USA.
United Nations (2005). The Millennium Development Goals Report. United Nations, New York, USA.
Walston and Ashwell (2008). An Overview of the Use and Trade of Plants and Animals in Traditional
Medicine Systems in Cambodia. TRAFFIC Southeast Asia (Greater Mekong Programme), Ha Noi,
Viet Nam.
World Health Organization (2003). Guidelines on Good Agricultural and Collection Practices (GACP)for Medicinal Plants. The World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. 72 pp.
WWF (2006). Species and People: Linked Futures. WWF International, Gland, Switzerland.

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ANNEXPROJECT DOCUMENTS OBTAINABLE FROM TRAFFIC
General
ISSC-MAP in English; Portuguese; Kannada; Hindi; Khmer; Nepali; Serbo-Croat and German
ISSC-MAP project flyer in: English; Portuguese; Spanish; Khmer; Nepali and Serbo-Croat
Analysis of ABS issues in the context of the “Saving Plants that Save Lives and Livelihoods” project (English)
ISSC-MAP guidance documents on resource assessment and management planning (drafts, English)
Bosnia–Herzegovina
Situation analysis (English; Serbo-Croat)
Allium ursinum plant monograph and buyer specifications (English)
Resource assessment (English, Serbo-Croatian)Internal collection rules (Serbo-Croatian)BrazilSituation analysis (Portuguese)
Red List assessments and species sheets for target species (Portuguese)
Market analysis (Portuguese)
Report on legislation and export analysis (Portuguese)
Lessons learnt on ABS and protection of TK: the case of AVIVE (English and Spanish)
Cambodia
Situation analysis (English)
Species sheet for A. ovoideum (English; Khmer)
Resource assessment of target species (English)
Training material on resource assessment (Khmer)
India
Risk assessment for project sites in Karnataka (English)
Species selection reports (Karnataka) (English)
Resource assessment (English)
Market chain analysis, use and market links for Parmelia and Coleus harvested from the wild in Uttarakhand(English)Lesotho
CITES Non-detriment Finding report, Pelargonium sidoides (English)
Draft Biodiversity Management Plan for Pelargonium sidoides (English)
Nepal
Situation analysis, Kangchenjunga Conservation Area and Langtang National Park (English)
MAP value chain study (English)
Species selection reports, Kangchenjunga Conservation Area and Langtang National Park (English)
Resource assessments, Kangchenjunga Conservation Area and Langtang National Park (English)
Management plans for Neopicrorhiza and Swertia (English; Nepali)

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WILD FOR A CURE: Ground-truthing a Standard for Sustainable Management of Wild Plants in the Field

TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, works to ensurethat trade in wild plants and animals is not a threat to the conservationof nature. It has offices covering most parts of the world and works
in close co-operation with the Secretariat of the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora(CITES).

For further information contact:
The Executive Director
TRAFFIC International
219a Huntingdon Road
Cambridge CB3 0DL
UK
Telephone: (44) 1223 277427
Fax: (44) 1223 277237
Email: traffic@traffic.org

is a joint programme of

AUGUST 2010

Website: www.traffic.org