Conservation and Sustainable Use of Medicinal Plants in Arid and Semi-arid Ecosystems

SELECTED PROJECT RESULTS

• The project has established a national committee which is formulating a National Strategy and Action Plan for the conservation and sustainable use of medicinal plants.
• The project has recruited a National Community- based Natural Resources Management (CBNRM) team formed of a national specialist, supported by a community development specialist, who manages the Medicinal Plants Association (MPA), and an international consultant who provides guidance. The team is currently finalizing the CBNRM action plan. An international microfinance consultant has also been contracted to set the MPA’s operational rules.
• The Medicinal Plants Association (MPA), was established in 2004at St. Katherine’s as an Egyptian NGO. Most of the MPA members (more than 110 members) are citizens from the National Community of South Sinai Governorate familiar with medicinal plants and the threats they face. • A new structure and operational guidelines for the Medicinal Plants Association have been established and (MPA) has been registered as an Egyptian NGO. Initial activities by the MPA included training Bedouins in the running of NGOs and the implementation of economic activities based on cultivated medicinal plants and aimed at improving Bedouin livelihoods.
• A Threat Analysis for the region’s medicinal plants was completed during 2007. Application of a threat reduction assessment tool showed a positive trend against the baseline with a TRA Index of 56 percent.
• A gap analysis report on medicinal plant information was prepared and eco-geographic surveys completed to determine a baseline. The surveys included distribution mapping for globally significant medicinal plants, target species and hotspots. A medicinal plants database – listing 481 different species of medicinal plants, all found in South Sinai, (common names in Arabic only) – has now been made available online and staff have been trained in its use. A series of 14 distribution maps for globally significant medicinal plant species, identifying the real location cover of each species, has been made available.
• A seed and living collection of 50 samples representing 15 medicinal plant species has been collected for preservation in the national gene bank.
• Conservation activities have included the monitoring of constructed enclosures, collection of samples and establishment of a herbarium, and collection of seeds. Ex-situ conservation activities have included studies to determine the best locations for plant propagation in St. Katherine Protectorate and the building of greenhouses.
• Five greenhouses have been constructed at St Katherine’s for the propagation of endangered plant species. Two of these are fitted with a climate control system enabling them to mimic the conditions of colder climates at higher altitudes The greenhouses have proved successful with 34 out of 41 target species successfully propagated, producing total a total of 160,000 seedlings (2005) which were transferred to various locations including valleys in the St. Katherine’s Protectorate as part of a restoration process; to Bedouin farms for self-sufficient, economic cultivation; and to the Sharm El-Sheikh International Peace Garden for scientific and educational purposes. Four new greenhouses have now been constructed at Wadi Firan to propagate species that prefer warmer climates.
• Medicinal plant specimens collected during the initial surveys conducted by the project have been examined, categorised and placed in the St. Katherine's Herbarium. The total number of the herbarium specimens in 2004 was 328 belonging to 244 genera and 48 families, and the collection is now considered complete with 353 herbarium sheets.
• The Sharm El-Sheikh International Peace Garden has been established to serve as a large ex-situ conservation site for threatened species as well as an attraction for local and international tourism and education. In March 2006 the Egyptian Minister of Environmental Affairs visited the garden to learn about the project’s achievements.
• The project has made efforts to control the problem of feral donkeys in the protectorate by The capturing feral donkeys and selling them to donkey traders or the zoo in Giza

Legal


• The project has established a national committee which is developing draft legislation to protect Intellectual Property Rights and Access & Benefit Sharing (IPR/ABS) for genetic resources and traditional knowledge. A comparative study of four different related international legislations has been prepared and reviewed in committee meetings and draft national legislation is now being prepared.
• Entrance fees and payments for environmental services (PES) are operational in the St. Katherine’s Protectorate. Medicinal plants are now regarded as part of the goods and services that the protected area can sustainably provide.

Community


• The project has worked with all Bedouin tribes in the St. Katherine’s Protectorate and supported the establishment of a medicinal plants NGO to engage the local community in conservation activities. It has helped fund an MPA microfinance programme for the Bedouins in the form of a revolving fund (US$ 18,000) which has been used to establish projects that serve the community and, at the same time, support the conservation of medicinal plants. The project is now working to protect the Bedouins’ rights to their traditional knowledge through developing IPR/ABS Law.
• MPA income generating and social programmes with Bedouin tribes also include date production and processing; olive oil extraction; the making of handicraft ornamental accessories and the rendering of medicinal plant pictures on traditional carpets (which target Bedouin women); production of furniture from palm trees, and beekeeping (which as well as income from honey sales).

Sustainable Use


• The project is working at a number of levels to build durable linkages between sustainable uses and its benefits by re-examining and defining the roles of the various components of the existing system as: Regulators (existing state management institutions); Consumers (commercial sector, including researchers); and Producers (landholders and resource users, including collectors, traders, healers, grazers, etc.) Recognizing that landholders and resource users are the de facto managers of biodiversity at the local level, and, through adjustments in the existing policy and regulatory system the project is altering the balance of land use in favour of biodiversity conservation by conditionally devolving authority to those closest to the resource.
• The project has providing a platform that has enabled the interests of both the state and collectors to be discussed in a structured manner, and agreement to be reached on the way forwards. Furthermore, it has helped the state agency to understand that in enabling a system that allows local management of medicinal plant resources it is not abrogating its responsibilities, indeed it is furthering the process of governance by distinguishing between government – the power over – and governance – the power to. While the St. Katherine’s Protectorate ultimately has power over the MAP resources in as much as it can stipulate the conditionality of any transfer of rights and responsibilities to the collectors, it is effectively strengthening local governance by giving power to the women and men collectors, processors, traders and hakims to conserve, and benefit from, the MAP biodiversity in SKP.
  

Climate change


• The project has introduced and raised awareness of green, environmentally-clean energy sources, by installing solar heaters at four sites and demonstrating their benefits, cost-effectiveness and durability.

Communications and awareness raising


• The first two volumes of the Encyclopedia of Wild Medicinal Plants in Egypt were published during 2006. The project also intends to publish a total of 30 monographs which will later be combined together as a single volume.
• The project has raised awareness about medicinal plants by supporting the Medicinal Plants Association at several environmental conferences and events such as World Environment Day and Egyptian Environment Day activities. The project has also developed a cooperation programme with Misr International University in Cairo that including three facility visits to project sites and participation in many activities related to medicinal plants .
• Local awareness campaigns and trainings for Bedouins and school children have taken place. In December 2005 the project organized a field visit for 70 students of the Faculty of Mass Communication, Misr International University, who helped to implement an awareness campaign about the activities of the project in the Bedouin settlements. The students filmed a documentary about the St. Katherine’s Protectorate emphasizing the importance of biodiversity and conservation. They also distributed environmentally-friendly paper bags to be used instead of plastic bags.
• A national workshop on medicinal plants was organized in January 2004 soon after the project commenced operations with the objective of introducing the project to members of the civil society, including academia, medicinal plants experts, Bedouins, farmers, exporters, NGOs, and the private sector.
• The project was represented in the IUDN conference in Durban in September 2003.

Partners etc

Executing Agency is the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA)

Project website: http://www.mpcpegypt.com/

Newsletter: No

This page revised 23.8.2008

.