Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Program in Asia

In South Asia, medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) are an essential part of traditional health care systems. Their gathering and cultivation provide a critical source of income for many rural communities, especially landless poor and marginalized farmers. MAPs are also inextricably linked to the region's natural biodiversity. Unfortunately, MAPs are increasingly threatened by various environmental, socioeconomic and institutional problems. At the same time traditional and indigenous knowledge about these plants is weakening and, in some cases, vanishing altogether. While attempts have been made (both at local and national levels) to address these issues, they have suffered from inadequate funding, a lack of government prioritization, and insufficient information sharing and coordination among stakeholders.

After a number of years of supporting research on MAPs in the region, IDRC, in collaboration with the Ford Foundation, launched the Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Program in Asia (MAPPA) in 1998. The MAPPA programe was initiated and based at IDRC's South Asia Regional Office (SARO) in New Delhi. In August, 2005 the MAPPA programme was devolved to the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) Kathmandu, Nepal. ICIMOD was selected as it provided the most suitable platform to mainstream, develop and expand the MAPPA network.

MAPPA's main goal is to institute a system of long-term sustainable and equitable use of MAPs. The objective is to improve resource conservation and livelihood security in rural and marginalized communities. The mechanism is the design, support and coordination of a holistic research program to strengthen linkages between stakeholders within the MAP production to consumption chain. This is being achieved through strategic research, partnership building and the promotion of regional and international networking. MAPPA's focus currently encompasses the entire South Asian region, with ongoing plans to reach out to other parts of Asia. Through regional, national and local partners, including government organizations (GOs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), community-based organizations (CBOs), national research institutions and universities, MAPPA has developed a regional network of expertise in community-based MAP conservation, participatory research, and documentation.

Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MAPs): Benefits & Challenges

Traditional, Affordable Health Care

South Asia is home to many rich, traditional systems of medicine. Ayurvedic methods date back to 5000 B.C. Along with the Unani, Siddha and Tibetan systems, they remain an important source of everyday health and livelihood for tens of millions of people. Medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs), including trees, shrubs, grasses and vines, are a central resource for these traditional health systems, as well as for pharmaceutical (or allopathic) medicines. There are more than 8,000 plant species in South Asia with known medicinal uses.

Medicinal plants are an accessible, affordable and culturally appropriate source of primary health care for more than 80% of Asia's population (WHO). Marginalized people, who cannot afford or access formal health care systems, are especially dependent on these culturally familiar, technically simple, financially affordable and generally effective traditional medicines. As such, there is widespread interest in promoting traditional health systems to meet primary health care needs. This is especially true in South Asia, as prices of modern medicines spiral and governments find it increasingly difficult to meet the cost of pharmaceutical-based health care. Throughout the region, there is strong and sustained public support for the protection and promotion of the cultural and spiritual values of traditional medicines.

Widespread Demand for MAPs

Conservative estimates put the monetary value of MAP-related global trade at over 60 billion USD (Govt. of India, 2000). With increasing popular demand for medicinal plants, both in South Asia and internationally, this trade is expected to grow to 5 trillion by the year 2050 (FRLHT, 1996). Besides health benefits, MAPs also provide crucial livelihood options for millions of rural people in South Asia, particularly women, tribal peoples, and the very poor. India is the centre of South Asia's export trade in medicinal plants, and in this country alone, it is estimated that the collection and processing of medicinal plants contributes to at least 35 million workdays of employment a year. Unfortunately, while demand rises, inequitable trade practices have meant that only a small margin of the profits from MAPs trickle down to the collectors and harvesters. Highly developed illegal trading networks in Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, India and Myanmar control the raw MAPs trade, through lax border controls. Despite this, no regional collaboration in implementing international covenants relating to biodiversity exists to stem this growing illegal market.

Impacts of Commercialization

The expansion of unregulated trade and commercial use of MAPs poses a major threat to biodiversity in the region. Local communities tend to collect the highest value or most popular plant species, leading to over-harvesting or species extinction. Even when MAP species are safely cultivated, if done with mono-cropping systems, local biodiversity can be weakened. Finally, as 95 % of MAPs are harvested and collected in wild, the alarming levels of deforestation and ecosystem degradation in the region are also contributing to a decline in MAPs. Combined, all of these factors have severely reduced the availability of medicinal plant ingredients and the overall environmental sustainability of the region.

Along with the deterioration of resources, the cultural heritage surrounding MAP use is being eroded. Unstandardized expertise and knowledge of traditional systems of medicine, as well as inadequate processing and storage facilities, can result in ineffective or unsafe treatments. The absence of institutional support, appropriate validation systems, and quality control protocol for indigenous health practices, threatens valuable MAP knowledge and use practices, as well as public health.

Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Program in Asia (MAPPA)

Devolution of MAPPA program to ICIMOD

After about five years of successful operation, IDRC as the lead agency involved in creating and running MAPPA, decided to devolve MAPPA to a suitable host institution in Asia region for long-term sustainability and strengthened partnerships. International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) headquartered in Kathmandu, Nepal was selected by IDRC to host the devolved MAPPA program based on its programming fit, institutional commitment and existing demand.

The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), with its headquarters in Kathmandu, was established in 1983 to address challenges of economic and environmental development in the Hindu Kush-Himalayas: covering parts of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan. ICIMOD’s mission is to develop and provide integrated and innovative solutions, in cooperation with national, regional and international partners, which foster action and change for overcoming mountain people’s economic, social and physical vulnerability. To achieve its objectives, the Centre carries out six Integrated Programmes namely (1) Natural Resource Management, (2) Agricultural and Rural Income Diversification, (3) Water, Hazards and Environmental Management, (4) Culture, Equity, Gender and Governance, (5) Policy and Partnership Development, and (6) Information and Knowledge Management.

MAPPA is a unique program of strategic research, collaboration and networking. The program takes a holistic approach to research and supports activities that integrate biodiversity conservation, primary health care, sustainable livelihoods, and gender equity. MAPPA strives to ensure that this action-oriented research informs both national and international policy, as well as local level stakeholders.

Specific Objectives:

- Support Research on viable approaches for the sustainable production and processing of medicinal plants to benefit the poor through better incomes and/or improved access to health care options;

- Exchange of raw products involves a number of trans-boundary transactions based on historically established trading links and kith-and-kin relationships (family, ethnic, and socially based networks);

- Provide Networking Support by facilitating two-way communication, coordination, collaboration and information dissemination among IDRC partners and other stakeholders including research groups and donors.

MAPPA's Regional Approach

MAPPA is a special program that promotes problem solving research and development with an extensive regional focus covering Asia. This regional network approach is critical for a number of reasons:

- Species distribution and ecological boundaries do not coincide with political boundaries;

- Exchange of raw products involves a number of trans-boundary transactions based on historically  established trading links and kith-and-kin relationships (family, ethnic, and socially based networks);

- Regional collaboration for effectively implementing international covenants relating to biodiversity, trade and the sustainable use of MAP resources is essential.

MAPPA's Research Program Focus

Sustainable Use and Conservation of MAPs, by promoting sustainable management and genetic conservation schemes at the community level:

- Target important species, especially those which are rare and/or endangered, and develop appropriate methods to restock natural and domesticated plant supplies;

- Develop and value-add gender sensitive technologies and practices for the sustainable conservation, harvesting and cultivation of these targeted species;

- Design sustainable conservation and use strategies that balance conservation needs with ideal domestic and commercial demands;

- Establish local, state and national policies for community-based conservation and sustainable management, as well as appropriate and workable implementation mechanisms.

Improved livelihoods for rural poor in Asia, by developing innovative strategies to ensure a more equitable distribution of benefits, especially between impoverished upland dwellers and indigenous communities :

- Develop and provide training for value-addition activities such as improved storage, primary processing, packaging and marketing of MAP products among rural communities;

- Emphasize improving collection, cultivation and marketing conditions and benefits for women;

- Develop and realize "bio-partnerships" between local communities and industry, fostering a more balanced division of benefits between these groups to ensure long-term sustainable conservation strategies;

- Carry out gender analysis of MAP activities including harvesting, production and exchange of selected species and their derived products;

- Influence both national and local policies and their timely and suitable reforms, institutional mechanisms that can provide more incentives for conservation and cultivation, and local control over resources and increased benefits to the rural poor.

Improved human health by promoting MAPs as a means of safe and effective health care that can fulfill the primary health care needs of rural poor, and by increasing access to, and use of, MAPs:

- Assess the effects MAP commercialization has had on local health systems;

- Develop ways to understand local health care needs, as well as, approaches to improve the delivery of safe, effective and affordable health care to communities;

- Emphasize the documentation and use of local and gendered MAP knowledge and practices in order to improve their overall acceptance, value and use;

- Develop appropriate policies and laws to support the use of medicinal plants to meet primary health care needs, particularly for rural poor.

Networking to facilitating communication and collaboration:

- Promote networking at all levels among key actors involved in medicinal plants R & D. The goal is to increase the exchange of information, collaboration and coordination of activities;

- Identify ways to reach the diversity of MAP interest groups, recognizing skewed access to information and communication technologies;

- Promote discussion among different interest groups, especially encouraging the private sector, health care professionals, conservationists and government representatives.

Medicinal Plants Regional Network

As a partner of a global medicinal plants network, MAPPA is linked to MAP resources and forums and fostered by MAP networks and concerned organizations. The medplant global network is a global network of networks. It links and improves collaboration between existing regional initiatives and networks on the sustainable use and conservation of medicinal plants. The electronic network allows partners from around the world to post relevant medicinal plants information online, facilitating the exchange of knowledge and strengthening existing regional and local networks. To find out more visit www.bellanet.org/medplants

Opportunities with MAPPA

Given the scale and scope of the challenges in working toward the sustainable development of MAPs in Asia, MAPPA actively fosters synergistic research partnerships with other donor agencies, national programs and research partners. It is hoped that partnerships will continue to strengthen the MAPPA program in the future

Working with MAPPA

MAPPA mobilizes resources from donors such as IDRC and the Ford Foundation. Similarly co-financing from other donors such as CFC and IFAD have been there and other donors like CIDA is being pursued. MAPPA periodically invites proposals from relevant NGOs, GOs, research institutes, foundations, community-based organizations (CBOs), and universities etc. Individual researchers, scientists and academicians are also eligible to apply with the endorsement of their respective institutions. We encourage proposals from Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Pakistan and India. The average grant provided is approximately $25,000 (Canadian Dollars). The amount will cover research and dissemination expenses including honoraria, local travel, research materials and simple equipment, publications, and meetings. The project duration can vary from six months to two years based on the scope and nature of the proposed research. Proposals are reviewed by a MAPPA Committee, which includes representation from MAPPA partners. Selection of proposals is based on the relevance of the research topic, novelty of the methods proposed and the application potential of the results. In addition to monitoring the selected projects, MAPPA staff also promote successful implementation by facilitating the integration of network member inputs into the process. MAPPA organizes workshops and conferences, commissions special studies and participates in the design and development of bilaterally and multilaterally funded development projects. Funding guidelines and application information is available by contacting MAPPA project at ICIMOD. Prior to sending a complete proposal, we recommend submitting a two-page concept paper briefly outlining the proposed research.

Information Dissemination and Networking

MAPPA is dedicated to the quick and appropriate dissemination of research information. In collaboration with The Foundation for the Revitalization of Local Health Traditions (FRLHT), MAPPA publishes a quarterly newsletter to relate its activities to partners and support groups. MAPPA also publishes research reports, technical papers and proceedings of its meetings. It plans to publish Tool Books, Manuals and Guidelines, preferably in local languages for disseminating information at the grass roots level. MAPPA encourages networking through biannual meetings, as well as information sharing through Internet networks and between researchers. This website maintains a list of Current MAPPA Publications.

Program Administration

Currently MAPPA is a sub-programme placed under the Agriculture and Rural Income Diversification (ARID) programme of ICIMOD and will work within the overall ICIMOD mandate of poverty alleviation and environmental conservation in the Hindu Kush Himalayas under its medium term action plan (MTAP 2003-2007).

For more information on MAPPA, please contact:

Madhav Karki, Ph.D.
Deputy Director General -Programmes and Team Leader (MAPPA)
International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)
P.O. Box 3226
Kathmandu, Nepal
Tel. (977-1) 5525313 ext. 102
Fax. (977-1) 5524509
Email: mkarki@icimod.org

Medplants network - www.medplant.net