Prunus africana (Hook.f.) Kalkman: The Overexploitation of a Medicinal Plant Species and Its Legal Context

Abstract

The linkage between herbal medicines and the sustainability of medical plants from which they are manufactured is increasingly being understood and receiving attention through international accords and trade labeling systems. However, little attention is paid to the fair trade aspects of this sector, including the issue of benefit-sharing agreements with traditional societies whose knowledge and resources are being exploited for commercial herbal medicine development and production.This article examines the case of Prunus africana (Hook.f.) Kalkman, from equatorial Africa. While the conservation and cultivation dimension of the trade in P. africana has been much discussed in literature, no research appears to have focused on the traditional resource rights and related ethical dimensions of this trade in traditional medicine of Africa. Serving as a cautionary tale for the unbridled exploitation of medicinal plants, the history of P. africana extraction is considered here in the context of relevant treaties and agreements existing today. These include the Nagoya Protocol, a supplementary agreement to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreement from the World Trade Organization, and two African regional frameworks: the Swakopmund Protocol and the Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle Initiative.In the context of strengthening medicinal plant research in Africa, a novel international capacity-building project on traditional medicines for better public health in Africa will be discussed, illustrating how access and benefit sharing principles might be incorporated in future projects on traditional medicines.

Source, harvesting, conservation status, threats and management of indigenous plant used for respiratory infections and related symptoms in the Limpopo Province, South Africa

“…Generally, overharvesting of medicinal plant species is one of the key issues of plant resource sustainability (Bodeker et al 2014). In the present study, this activity was noted by all interviewed THs as a threat to recorded wild harvested plants.…”

Applying an Ethical Framework to Herbal Medicine

“…Aside from the impacts upon people, the production and delivery of herbal medicines has impacts upon local environments and communities. For instance, the growing demand for standardised herbal products is putting pressure on selected high demand species [ 49 ] and some plants are in danger of extinction as a result of demand [ 50 ]. A demand-oriented market and poor quality checks have motivated certain producers to go for mass production without taking into account the consequences of plant cultivation.…”

Tree response to bark harvest: the case of a medicinal species, <i>Garcinia lucida</i>, as source of raw materials for plant-based drug development

“…One of these resources is the bark of tree species, most commonly employed for many purposes such as medicines, dyes, food spice, wine flavour, and a range of other uses (Tshisikhawe et al, 2012;Cunningham, 2014a;Senkoro et al, 2014). The global demand for medicinal bark is steadily growing and has caused some valued indigenous plant species, very sensitive to high levels of harvest, to become threatened (Ndoye et al, 2000;2001;Djaligue, 2007;Tshisikhawe et al, 2012;Cunningham, 2014a,b;Bodeker et al, 2014). Therefore, there is an increasing concern about the management of medicinal bark harvesting (Pandey & Das, 2013;Baldauf & dos Santos, 2014;Mariot et al, 2014;van Andel et al, 2015;Pandey, 2015).…”