No. 10/10
Welcome to FAO’s NWFP-Digest-L, a free e-mail journal that covers all aspects of non-wood forest products. Back issues of the Digest may be found on FAO's NWFP home page: www.fao.org/forestry/site/12980/en.
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A special thank you to all those who have sent me links to information and to Giulia Muir for her help with this issue.
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1. Bushmeat: Is wildlife being eaten to extinction?
2. Bushmeat in D.R. Congo: 440 Congolese Chimps slaughtered every year
3. Bushmeat in Sierra Leone: Grave threat to chimp population
4. Bushmeat in Uganda: Goat project safeguarding wild chimpanzees
5. Edible Insects: Bugs can solve the food crisis
6. Edible Insects beat hunger in Laos
7. Mbokaja (Acrocomia aculeata)
8. Medicinal plants: Report highlights improved harvesting of wild medicines
9. Medicinal plants: Revised FairWild Standard launched
10. Medicinal plants: EU legislation puts herbal medicine under threat
11. Mushrooms in Finland: Exceptionally dry summer delayed mushroom crop
12. Mushrooms in Poland: Poles head to forests for annual mushroom hunt
13. Truffle hunters set to sniff out bumper crop
14. Vegetable Ivory: Assisting small farmers in Ecuador
15. Brazil: Lessons learned from Amazonas
16. Canada: Métis complete traditional plant use study for Southern Ontario
17. Democratic Republic of Congo: Saving bonobos means aiding left-behind communities
18. Eritrea: Efforts underway to boost honey production in Senafe sub-zone
19. Ethiopia: White honey project in Wukro
20. Montenegro: A UN-backed project turns polluted town into a magnet for ecotourism
21. Morocco: “Paloma Honey” project provides fitting tribute to FAO colleage
22. Republic of Korea pays homage to ginseng
23. Slovenia ranks among the countries with the highest biodiversity in the EU
24. UK: Inbred bumblebees “face extinction threat”
25. USA: Urban foraging - a look at the deep connections between people and ecosystems
26. USA: Turning to foraging to connect with nature
27. USA: Native plants now herbal remedies
28. Vietnam cracks down on illegal wildlife trade
29. Vietnam: How to reduce bamboo toothpick import
30. Biopiracy: Nations urge deal on protocol to stem biopiracy
31. Bringing the voice of forest people to the world at the IUFRO World Congress
32. “Inspired by Nature” Competition
33. NGOs call for biodiversity centre in Africa
34. The Middle East’s tradition of environmental protection
35. What are species worth? Putting a price on biodiversity
36. World’s governments set to agree three big boosts for biodiversity and human security
37. World is off track on biodiversity goals
38. 15èmes Journées Scientifiques de l’INRGREF sur les PFNL
39. Terra Madre
40. Reminder: UN Biodiversity Conference: CBD’s COP 10
LITERATURE REVIEW AND WEBSITES
41. Almost Chimpanzee: Searching for What Makes Us Human, in Rainforests, Labs, Sancuaries and Zoos
42. Biodiversity conservation in certified forests
43. Trends in patent activity in the cosmetics and perfume sectors
44. Other publications of Interest
46. Malaria parasite crossed to Man from gorilla: scientists
47. Millennium Development Goals: Next MDGs “should be more holistic”
48. New UN effort seeks to conserve bats and their critical role in seed dispersal
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1. Bushmeat: Is wildlife being eaten to extinction?
Source: BBC News, 3 August 2010
The rapid growth in the global demand for bushmeat is leaving many African species facing the possibility of being eaten out of existence, says Mark Jones, Director of Care for the Wild International.
“The increasing value of bushmeat has attracted criminal syndicates, with sophisticated and efficient logistical capabilities.”
We have all heard how the illegal trade in elephant ivory, rhino horn and other high value products is threatening Africa's wildlife. However, the impact of these products is dwarfed by the trade in bushmeat, defined as meat from Africa's wild animals traded for human consumption.
According to the Bushmeat Crisis Task Force, the hunting of and trade in bushmeat represents "the most significant immediate threat to the future of wildlife in Africa."
Traditionally, bushmeat hunting was a subsistence activity. It is now a multi-billion dollar international trade involving hundreds of species, from forest herbivores such as duikers and other antelopes to wild pigs, rodents, elephants and primates.
The exponential increase in the trade over recent years is being driven by demand from the exploding and ever more urbanized human population in Africa, and the increasing international value and demand for bushmeat products.
Commercial logging and the associated infrastructure development and expansion have given hunters easy access to previously impenetrable African forests, and ready-made transport routes to towns and cities.
The food source was originally exploited because of its low cost, lack of ownership issues, weak law enforcement and the lack of alternatives. Now, the increasing value of bushmeat has attracted criminal syndicates, with sophisticated and efficient logistical capabilities.
Law enforcement agencies in many African countries do not have the resources to keep up, and in some cases high level involvement in the trade may protect it from official interference. This makes accurate estimates of the trade difficult to obtain, although Central African consumers alone may be eating more than 2.5m tonnes each year.
Many target species have already been extirpated from parts of West Africa. Wildlife in Eastern and Southern African countries is increasingly being targeted, and Kenya is estimated to have experienced a loss of about 50 percent in its wildlife in recent decades, largely as a result of the bushmeat trade.
A recent study, involving researchers from the Zoological Society of London, estimated that as much as 270 tonnes of bushmeat might be coming through a single airport in Paris annually, destined both for personal consumption and to supply the lucrative trade in high value products. It is also estimated that more than a quarter of all mammal species hunted for bushmeat are threatened with extinction.
Widespread hunting of animals for bushmeat depletes populations of affected species, and can lead to local population crashes or extirpation. There are, however, much wider potential impacts. Species have functions: as prey for other species, seed dispersers or forest rebuilders. So reductions in certain species can have far reaching impacts on others, causing a loss of biodiversity and a crisis within ecosystems.
The loss of biodiversity leaves us with a predominance of a few so-called "weedy species", such as those that thrive in continually disturbed, human-dominated environments.
Small populations of highly endangered animals can be disproportionately affected.
Although the number of Great Apes involved in the bushmeat trade is small, their removal can have devastating impacts on populations, and Great Ape species in Africa are thought to be at risk of extinction over the next two decades if the trade continues at its current rate.
The commercial bushmeat trade also threatens the livelihoods and food security of indigenous rural people, which can result in social and political instability.
Bushmeat can also carry potentially devastating diseases - from anthrax to ebola, monkey pox to retroviruses - that may have disastrous impacts on livestock and far-reaching consequences for human health.
Until recently, most conservation projects concerned with bushmeat have tended to focus on research, education, and enforcement, with few attempts to provide alternative livelihoods or food sources. Many of the countries central to the trade are poor and suffer from corruption. These countries need resources, incentives and training if they are to apply and enforce national and international regulations.
Some good initiatives exist, including the development of fish farms, apiaries, and arable agriculture projects. Many more are required if the trade is to be significantly reduced.
Local actions to curb the bushmeat trade need to be resourced through global responses, requiring significant investment at a time of international financial instability and introspection.
If Africa's unique wildlife, and its rural communities, are to survive the impacts of the bushmeat trade, continued well-directed development aid for the poor countries of Africa throughout this period of global financial uncertainty is essential.
For full story, please see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8877062.stm
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2. Bushmeat in D.R. Congo: 440 Congolese chimps slaughtered every year
Source: www.care2.com, 15 September 2010
Four hundred and forty chimpanzees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are being slaughtered each year for bushmeat, estimates Dr. Cleve Hicks, at the University of Amsterdam. "I was astonished to see the sheer quantities of bushmeat being taken out of the forest," says Hicks. "It was really shocking.”
According to an 18-month study of remote human settlements deep in the Congolese jungle, chimpanzees are being subjected to a "wave of killing" by bushmeat hunters.
In order to document the threat posed by bushmeat traders, Hicks and his colleagues conducted regular surveys of bushmeat markets in local towns and on roads on either side of the Ueke River in southern DRC. Altogether, they spent 1 365 days in 10 cities and towns and surveyed 13 140km of road. They recorded chimp carcasses and orphans for sale.
The team saw 44 orphan chimps and 35 carcasses, plus nine leopard skins, 10 okapi skins, parts of 14 elephants, bushmeat from two hippos, 169 monkey carcasses and 69 monkey orphans.
Alice Macharis of the Jane Goodall Institute said: "The increasing level of the bushmeat trade in this region is truly alarming. In the DRC, which has the largest population of chimpanzees in the wild, the bushmeat trade, the illegal commercial hunting of chimpanzees, remains one of the greatest threats to their survival along with loss of habitat due to deforestation."
For full story, please see: www.care2.com/causes/animal-welfare/blog/440-congolese-chimpanzees-slaughtered-every-year/
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3. Bushmeat in Sierra Leone: Grave threat to chimp population
Source: www.timeslive.co.za, 16 September 2010
At a meeting to develop a comprehensive conservation action plan for chimpanzees in the country, the office of the Director-General of the Ministry of Agriculture warned that "the estimated 5 000 chimp population is under grave threat mainly due to the desire of local rural communities for bushmeat."
"As the country stands today, chimps remain endangered in Sierra Leone despite a de facto ban on the possession, hunting and killing of chimpanzees for whatever reason," the ministry added in a statement.
Addressing the event, Director of Forestry Sheku Mansaray noted that "chimps are indicators of the health of the environment. Improper agricultural practices as well as threats from mining and logging are also impacting a toll on the chimps population."
The Programme Director of the Chimpanzee Conservation Sanctuary in Tacugama, Bala Amarasekaran, warned that "if the demand for bushmeat continues, the chimp population will definitely dwindle. It will be a pity as we can use chimps as a flagship species for Sierra Leone."
Amarasekaran disclosed that an international conference on the viability of population habitats for chimpanzees will be held in Sierra Leone in January 2011. According to a National Chimpanzee Census released in August, some 252 out of 507 communities in the country said "they would eat chimpanzee meat if it is available."
"Some reported eating the meat for (untested) medical reasons (such as cures for river blindness and tuberculosis) while others reported killing chimps to protect their farmlands," the survey said.
Bushmeat is traditional to many Sierra Leoneans who eat antelopes, deer and squirrels, but customs border officers told Agence France Presse that chimpanzee meat makes up a large percentage of bushmeat smuggled frequently across the border to neighbouring Guinea and Liberia where it fetches high prices.
For full story, please see: www.timeslive.co.za/africa/article662780.ece/Grave-threat-to-chimps-population-in-Sierra-Leone
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4. Bushmeat in Uganda: Goat project safeguarding wild chimpanzees
Source: BBC Earth News, 3 September 2010
A goat project running in two villages neighbouring the Budongo Forest Reserve in west Uganda is helping to safeguard the lives of wild chimpanzees.
Local hunters are encouraged to give up laying wire snares to catch wild game, in return for receiving goats to rear and breed.
The pilot scheme is the brainchild of the director of the Budongo Conservation Field Station (BCFS), Dr Fred Babweteera.
"It is our philosophy that rather than witch-hunt people, it is better to understand why they are doing something, get down to the root cause, and address the root cause. In this case we discovered that people are actually hunting not for fun. The majority of the people around here hunt for domestic consumption. But a smaller group hunt for sale/commercial purposes. There are lots of markets around where people go for buying bushmeat, mainly those two reasons."
Snare laying is one of the biggest problems conservationists face all over Africa. The wire traps are cheap to buy and difficult to spot in the undergrowth. In East Africa, the snares are used to catch wild game such as antelope or bush pigs. But wild chimpanzees suffer serious limb injuries when they get caught in these traps by accident. Many end up maimed or in worse cases, can die as a result of infection.
This alternative lifestyle has also helped the way many hunters now live. The goats provide regular protein for their families and an income to help send their children to school. Villagers have also been encouraged to share their goats with their neighbours to create a chain reaction.
"It took us about one year to get going," Dr Babweteera says. "First thing we wanted to do was to build confidence among the hunters because they know that it is illegal to hunt, so they thought maybe we wanted to trick them into a group that would be arrested. So we had several meetings where we had to build confidence between both parties."
The BCFS has a veterinarian on hand to monitor the goats to make sure they remain healthy. Dr Babweteera opted for goats instead of launching a piggery due to the swine flue epidemic.
The project is running in the villages of Nyakafunjo and Nyabyeya and has seen a drop in number of snares being collected per month - from 240 a month to five. It is thought that the five are remnants, as hunters lay an average of 400 snares at any one time and often forget where they place them.
Dr Babweteera says he is pleased with the results but is cautious about hailing the project an outright success: "I would not be quick to pop the champagne and say this is the solution because communities differ. I think conservation should be tailor made, that you understand the community and tailor the strategy to that community."
There are 18 villages in the neighbouring area of the Budongo Forest Reserve and it is hoped that the project will be rolled out into another six within the next few years.
For full story, please see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8964000/8964009.stm
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5. Edible Insects: Bugs can solve the food crisis
Source: Arnold van Huis in Science Magazine, 29 September 2010
As early as 1885, the British entomologist Vincent M. Holt wrote a booklet with the title: "Why not eat insects?" It is a good question, as most of the world population does. More than 1 000 insect species are eaten in the tropics, including caterpillars, grasshoppers, beetles, termites, ants, bees, wasps, and true bugs. This is probably because insects in warmer climates are bigger and show more crowding behaviour than in temperate zones, making harvesting from nature easier. It is an erroneous Western assumption that people in the tropics eat insects because they are starving. To the contrary, an insect snack is often considered a delicacy.
Nutritionally, insects are comparable to conventional meat such as pork, beef, mutton, or fish. Depending on the species, insects contain between 30 and 70 percent protein, and are a good source of essential fatty acids, vitamins (in particular the B vitamins) and minerals (such as iron and zinc). The chitinous exoskeleton comprises only a small part of the total biomass (<10 percent) and can even be partially digested, as chitinase has been found in human gastric juices.
The meat crisis may prompt us to look for alternative protein sources. Since 1970, world meat consumption has increased almost three-fold, and is expected to have doubled by 2050. However, already 70 percent of all agricultural land is used for livestock. Further intensification of industrial livestock production could increase health and environmental costs, such as contamination of surface and groundwater with nutrients, heavy metals and pathogens; acidification of ecosystems because of ammonia emissions; and use of huge amounts of fresh water (40 000 litres for 1kg of beef). Besides, high-density animal production systems increase livestock disease incidence, and new, often antibiotic-resistant diseases emerge. Ruminants also emit large amounts of the greenhouse gas methane by enteric fermentation. Although termites, cockroaches and certain beetle species produce methane, most edible insect species do not. Meanwhile, FAO estimates that 18 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions is derived from livestock.
An advantage of insects compared to conventional meat is that they are cold-blooded and do not use energy to maintain a constant high body temperature. For that reason, they convert feed more efficiently to body mass. To produce 1kg of meat, a cricket needs 1.7kg of feed - significantly less than a chicken (2.2), pig (3.6), sheep (6.3), and cow (7.7). Additionally, the edible proportion after processing is much higher for insects - it is 80 percent in crickets - than for pork (70 percent), chicken (65 percent), beef (55 percent), and lamb (35 percent).
Bees and silk worms have been domesticated because of the honey and silk they produce, but they also serve as food. Some insects like palm weevils are semi-domesticated, where people cut palm trees to promote egg-laying. The resulting larvae are considered a delicacy all over the tropics. When collected from nature, the sustainability of harvesting practices becomes an issue. Rearing edible insects under artificial conditions offers another possibility. In Thailand, thousands of households produce crickets either for their own consumption or for the market. In the West, companies produce insects as fish bait and as live feed for domestic and zoo animals such as birds and reptiles. Three insect-rearing companies in The Netherlands have been producing locusts and mealworms (Tenebrionid beetle larvae) for human consumption since 2008. Mechanized rearing procedures should be capable of achieving high production volumes as insects can be reared under crowded conditions and they have high multiplication and development rates. Only insects that are not a threat to a particular environment should be reared; in short, those cleared by quarantine services. However, house crickets and mealworms are not at threat as they are cosmopolitan.
What are the prospects for human entomophagy (the formal term for the practice of eating insects)? In tropical countries, eating insects is already common practice; governments and entrepreneurs should exploit the potential, promote the industry, and develop the entomophagy food chain. Mopane worm production in southern Africa is already a US$85 million business, in which US$10 billion caterpillars are harvested annually. Improved preservation procedures (drying, freeze drying, tinning) would alleviate the current irregular supply.
In Western countries, it may be difficult to change food habits, although we have learned to eat shrimps, oysters and snails. Could insects be made more acceptable by processing them into something unrecognizable (such as the ever-mysterious fish sticks, or hot dogs)? Or, as Wageningen University in The Netherlands is investigating, could we extract, purify and use insect protein as a significant component of the human diet?
So why not eat insects? To convince Western consumers, it would be essential to provide information about the nutritional value, ensure food safety, explain the environmental benefits, develop good recipes, make the product accessible, and establish a regulatory and legislative framework. A taste experience is generally a first step for consumers in crossing the psychological barrier.
For full story, please see: www.the-scientist.com/news/display/57729/#ixzz10zi2Yr45
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6. Edible insects beat hunger in Laos
Source: Al Jazeera English, 14 September 2010
Vientiane - According to the UN, some 40 percent of children under the age of five are severely undernourished in Laos, because of a lack of protein in their diets. But food charities are hoping that a move towards insect farming in the country could help overcome the problem.
FAO, which is supporting efforts in Laos, says insects contain a high protein and vitamin content.
To view video, please visit: www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4VxJecTOkM
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7. Mbokaja (Acrocomia aculeata)
From: Maura Diaz (Universidad Nacional de Asunción, Paraguay), 19 September 2010
El mbokaja (Acrocomia aculeata) es una palmera que pertenece a la familia Arecaceae, se distribuye a lo largo de América tropical y subtropical.
El mbokaja posee propagación sexuada por semillas, las cuales presentan problemas de latencia y crecimiento inicial lento. En condiciones naturales las semillas del mbokaja tardan aproximadamente de uno a dos años en germinar lo que representa una dificultad para la difusión e implantación del cultivo, sumados a esto el casi nulo conocimiento sobre sus requerimientos ecológicos en su etapa juvenil.
En respuesta al problema de latencia debida a sustancias inhibidoras presentes en el endospermo de la semilla que dificulta la reacción del embrión retardándolo, surge la necesidad de aplicar técnicas no tradicionales para la propagación del cultivo como ser el cultivo in vitro en condiciones controladas, para tal efecto se aplicara la técnica de cultivo de embriones, los cuales no poseen latencia y están en condiciones de reaccionar ante la aplicación de las condiciones favorables pero adherido a esta vía alternativa de propagación vía cultivo de embriones va acompañado con considerables pérdidas de explantes debida a la oxidación, en torno a 41% de acuerdo con estudios realizados en el IAN.
La oxidación de los explantes es considerada uno de los aspectos más serios relacionados con el cultivo de tejidos de palmáceas. Estos oscurecimientos han sido atribuidos a la liberación y oxidación de compuesto fenólicos que inhiben el crecimiento de los explantes.
La amplia posibilidad de aprovechamiento energético e industrial hace atractiva la explotación racional del cultivo, principalmente por ser una especie perenne y bien adaptada a condiciones climáticas adversas. Cada parte de la planta tiene una importancia destacada, justificándose la necesidad de investigaciones para aumenta su productividad, o bien, la mejora de la calidad de sus innúmeros productos y subproductos.
En relación al fruto, todas sus partes presentan un amplio aprovechamiento industrial como ser la utilización del pericarpo para la fabricación de raciones destinadas a la alimentación animal, del mesocarpo se obtiene aceite o se destina para la producción de combustibles, del endocarpo se consigue un excelente carbón debido a sus propiedades de alto poder calórico, de la pulpa de la almendra se produce jabones, ración para alimentación animal, pero su valor industrial radica en su contenido de aceite, la cual se destina para consumo humano o en la industrial.
Para mas información, dirigirse a:
Maura Diaz (maisdile@gmail.com)
Ariel Antonio González Duarte (noeledsoid@hotmail.com)
Prof. Dra. Maura Isabel Díaz Lezcano (maisdile@yahoo.es)
Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias/Universidad Nacional de Asunción, Paraguay
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8. Medicinal plants: Report highlights improved harvesting of wild medicines
Source: WWF International, 15 September 2010
Worldwide application of a new standard for sustainable harvesting of wild medicinal, aromatic, dye and food plants and trees is charting new ways to protect the species and their habitats and benefit the communities that depend on them, according to a new report from world wildlife trade monitoring network, TRAFFIC.
In Karnatka, India, it is now possible to collect the resin of the White Palle tree used in traditional Indian medicine and incense without removing the bark and killing the trees that provide it. In Cambodia, a new co-operative has boosted returns to medicinal plant harvesting communities through better harvesting, drying and marketing. In Brazil, a women’s co-operative in Amazonia State and a major natural cosmetics company are aiming to co-operate on the marketing of sustainably harvested products. In Lesotho and South Africa, a harvesting and management strategy for Kalwerbossie, whose tubers are used to treat digestive disorders, will ensure sustainable harvest of the plant, thus providing long term benefits to communities.
“Wild for a cure: ground-truthing a standard for sustainable management of wild plants in the field” details projects ranging from South America to Southern Africa and South-East Asia where new methods were devised to protect key natural resources from the wild while improving the livelihoods and benefits for local people through application of guidelines on sustainable wild collection.
“With around 15 000 of the estimated 50 000-70 000 plant species used for medicine, cosmetics or dietary supplements threatened, the need for developing practical guidelines to ensure supplies are sustainable has never been more urgent,” said Anastasiya Timoshyna, TRAFFIC’s Global Medicinal Plants Programme Leader and co-author of the report.
The project demonstrated sufficient flexibility in the guidelines to allow them to be adapted to meet local conditions, including a variety of governance and land tenure systems in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Cambodia, India, Lesotho, Nepal, and South Africa.
The report notes the importance of ensuring all local stakeholders - from collectors to local organizations, resource management authorities, and businesses - are involved in partnership from the outset, and that clear and realistic market openings should be identified for harvested products and with ways devised to give “added value” to products and a fair share of benefits to the owners of traditional knowledge.
Adequate resources should be allocated for training of local project workers in wild plants’ resource assessment, harvest monitoring, collection and processing techniques and most importantly for protection of their traditional knowledge and benefit-sharing.
“‘Saving Plants that Save Lives and Livelihoods’ project - funded by BMZ - has taken an important step in bridging the gap between words and action to manage wild plants for the future of humankind,” said Dirk Niebel, Germany’s Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). “We are glad to demonstrate just ahead of the forthcoming Convention on Biological Diversity that by supporting TRAFFIC, we were able to contribute to the conservation of key natural plant resources from the wild, while improving the livelihoods of and benefits of local people.”
The International Standard for Sustainable Collection of Wild Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (ISSC-MAP), evaluated in this study has now been combined with an existing FairWild Foundation standard aimed at ensuring trade in medicinal and aromatic plants is conducted fairly. The new FairWild Standard version 2.0 for the sustainable management and trade in wild-collected natural ingredients came into effect on 8 September.
“Germany’s continued commitment to helping guarantee the sustainable use of medicinal plant resources, particularly in countries that depend on them the most, is a model example for integration of conservation and development aid policies.” said Dr Carlos Drews, Director of WWF’s Global Species Programme.
“The newly developed FairWild guidelines are an invaluable tool to support sustainable harvesting and management regimes, a worldwide challenge facing the conservation community” says Jane Smart, Director, IUCN Biodiversity Conservation Group.
For full story, please see:
wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?194954/Sustainable-wild-plant-harvesting-proves-a-global-success
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9. Medicinal plants: Revised FairWild Standard launched
Source: www.fairwild.org, 8 September 2010
FairWild Foundation launches its revised Standard for the sustainable management and trade in wild-collected natural ingredients for food, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals today (8 September). Globally, more than 400 000 tonnes of medicinal and aromatic plants are traded annually, with the great majority of these species harvested from the wild.
“Application of the revised FairWild Standard will ensure that medicinal plants are sustainably managed and harvested, and that those involved in collecting and trading them receive a fair deal for their knowledge and efforts”, says Bert-Jan Ottens, Board member of the FairWild Foundation responsible for Communication and Marketing.
The FairWild Standard is useful not only for companies wishing to certify their products as sustainably traded. Earlier versions of the Standard are already being used by Government agencies in a number of countries as the basis of their natural resource management plans, thereby helping to fulfil their commitments to the Convention on Biological Diversity.
The FairWild Standard Version 2.0 combines all essential elements of the original FairWild Standard, focused on fair trade, and the International Standard for Sustainable Wild Collection of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (ISSC-MAP), which focused on ecological sustainability. Moreover, the revised version incorporates the lessons learned through practical application of the Standard in the field.
For full story, please see:
www.fairwild.org/news/2010/9/8/revised-fairwild-standard-launched.html
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10. Medicinal plants: EU legislation puts herbal medicine under threat
Source: Deutsche-Welle Online, 19 September 2010
With strict European legislation due to come into force next April, will some age-old herbal remedies on sale in health food stores today become, quite literally, a thing of the past?
Industry professionals met in Bologna, Italy last week for a conference held at SANA, the international natural products trade fair, to discuss the future of their sector. From April 2011, all member states will have to comply with an EU directive which specifies that all herbs produced, manufactured and sold in the EU must be classified as either foods or medicines.
Those working in the sector have for a long time been campaigning for regulation and greater control, but the new authorization and licensing requirements have enormous implications for the herbal medicine industry throughout the EU.
Marinella Trovato, President of S.I.S.T.E., the Italian Society for Herbal Science and Technology in Milan, said there is great concern about market ramifications.
"A lot of companies are worried about the possibility that in the future they cannot use a lot of plants for food application." Many small producers and manufacturers of medicinal herbs will no longer be able to afford to do so, unable to cover the cost of authorization licences for medicinal herbs, Trovato added.
UK-trained herbalist, Marco Valussi, speaking at the conference, warned that the terms of the directive would put herbal remedy manufacture in the hands of large pharmaceutical companies, and this was likely to narrow the range of medicinal herbs on the market.
Not all the medicinal plants are, economically speaking, interesting for the big companies," said Valussi, who works in Italy as a consultant in the field of medicinal plants and vegetable-based products. "These companies might decide to focus on maybe five or ten important herbs and leave behind the other ones. So the consumer could have a reduced range of choices."
In Italy, the profession of the herbal practitioner who can treat patients is not legally recognized and herbalists are only qualified to make and sell their products in shops called “erboristerie,” the equivalent of health food stores in the UK and Reformhäuser or Bioläden in Germany. But the new classification will signify a huge loss of business as these stores will no longer be able to sell many of their most popular products, such as passiflora, ginseng and valerian, which will only be available in pharmacies.
Valussi showed concern that some of the less common herbal remedies may disappear completely from the European market. "Obviously, we all want the best quality and lowest risk possible for consumers, but we also want the consumer to have the possibility to use plants." He added that the directive will also put consumers at an economic disadvantage. "Buying at the pharmacy usually means that you pay much more than if you buy at the erboristeria."
Michael McIntyre, a Professor of Herbal Medicine at the University of Middlesex and Chairman of the European Herbal Practitioners Association, said in the UK, where herbal practitioners are allowed to treat patients directly, the implications for their sector are equally worrying.
As a practitioner, he said, he will likely lose access to a large range of medicines that are made up for him currently by manufacturers to his order for individual patients. "My patients are already very alarmed when I tell them that the medicine they have been taking will not be available next year."
Many commonly used Ayurvedic, Chinese and Tibetan herbal mixes, which are perhaps not medically recognized in the EU, will no longer be legally available. The directive aims to safeguard consumers and ensure the quality of commercialized herbal products, but McIntyre believes it will, ironically, have the opposite effect: "Patients or the public who want to use herbal medicines will be forced to go onto the internet and buy from unsafe sources, or indeed visit backstreet practitioners who do not have proper training."
Michael McIntyre is campaigning for statutory regulation of herbal practitioners in the UK, and for herbalists to be given a new pan-European professional status as certified healthcare professionals. According to government surveys, he said, a quarter of the UK population had actually used herbal medicines in the last two years. "It is important that they know that the people that they are going to see are properly trained and accountable, and that is what regulation will do."
As a practitioner with decades of experience, McIntyre believes it is a measure which not only makes sense for the herbal industry and consumers, but also for the EU's public health services. Safe, gentle herbal remedies can be used to treat numerous conditions from Irritable Bowel Syndrome to headaches and insomnia, avoiding the need for prescription medications.
"Drugs are costing huge sums of money and the governments really cannot afford this," McIntyre said, "I really believe that herbal medicine could go a long way to saving the health budgets of all the EU member states."
For full story, please see: www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,6013380,00.html
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11. Mushrooms in Finland: Exceptionally dry summer delayed mushroom crop
Source: www.forest.fi, 24 September 2010
A warm, rainy autumn can still save the mushroom crop which is weeks late. The past summer was exceptionally warm and dry in Finland. The average temperature in July was over five degrees Centigrade above normal in southern and eastern Finland. The previous record-high temperature measured in Finland - in 1914 - was also broken. The new all-time high, measured in central Finland, is 37.8 degrees Centigrade.
July was also dry on the west and south coasts as well as in Eastern Finland. These areas received less than a third of the normal rainfall during July. In August, the average temperatures were two to three degrees above normal and rainfall was about half of what is normal.
Thus, no mushrooms. According to the Finnish Forest Research Institute, there has hardly ever been a time in recent history when so few mushrooms have been seen in Finnish forests like in August this year.
The northern parts of Finland fared better - or worse, depending on your viewpoint - with the weather. The temperatures were lower and the rainfall greater. Thus, from August onwards, the mushroom crop has only been good in Lapland.
In the southern and eastern parts of Finland the mushroom season has started in September and a good deal more slowly. “We had an extremely dry summer and that shows in the forest. We only got the first real rains in September,” says Ms. Riitta Sutinen, Home Economics Advisor at the South Karelian District Association of the Martha Organization.
Sutinen confirms that the crop has been really late in emerging and predicts that the picking season might be short. However, it really depends on the autumn weather. If the autumn is warm and suitably rainy, a good crop is still possible. She says that some areas have already reported generous crops of Ceps, for example.
Sutinen says that interest in mushrooms has not diminished despite the slow emergence of this year’s crop. The Martha Organization provides information on mushrooms by organizing special events throughout the country where different species are exhibited and questions answered, for example. This autumn, the main topic in Sutinen’s area has been False Chanterelles, as they have been more prevalent than usual and people keep bringing them in for identification.
“And during events where we have tables filled with recently picked mushroom species, both edible and non-edible, we get questions from men and women, young and old. This confirms mushroom picking is not a dying hobby.”
Despite the slow start, the picking season will continue for weeks. Depending on frost and species, mushrooms can be picked until the permanent snow cover arrives. Some species even like a bit of frost to propel them into good growth.
www.forest.fi/smyforest/foresteng.nsf/tiedotteetlookup/D1DE0765978F0CCDC22577A80037EF68
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12. Mushrooms in Poland: Poles head to forests for annual mushroom hunt
Source: Reuters India, 28 September 2010
Taking a stroll in a Polish forest this autumn can resemble a visit to the local shopping mall - people jostling each other on all sides, armed with baskets, consumption on their minds.
The visitors are enjoying the traditional Polish pastime of mushroom picking and this year more young people seem to have joined the hunt, encouraged by a bumper crop following an unusually wet spring and summer.
"I never expected mushroom picking to be so relaxing and so exciting at the same time," said Karolina Kulfan, 33, clutching a large basket crammed with "boleti" mushrooms.
"Finding a nice boletus is like winning the lottery," she joked.
The boletus (Boletus edulis), which usually has a white stalk and brown or yellow top, is generally considered the best-tasting mushroom.
Poland is one of the biggest mushroom exporters worldwide and is estimated to provide some 90 percent of the boleti eaten in Europe.
With nearly a third of Polish territory covered by forest, many Poles have easy access to good mushroom picking areas. Families will happily spend a whole weekend searching for mushrooms and the results of their labour is a favourite topic of conversation at work on Monday mornings.
In many rural communities, local people sit for hours by the roadside trying to sell their hoard to passing motorists. Mushroom gathering is also popular in Russia, the Baltic states and some other parts of eastern and southern Europe.
Though Poles pride themselves on their mushroom knowledge and teach their children and grandchildren which ones to avoid, accidents still happen and hospitals receive a steady flow of people during the autumn who have eaten toxic varieties.
For full story, please see: http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-51788020100928
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13. Truffle hunters set to sniff out bumper crop
Source: Independent (UK), 23 September 2010
Gourmets in Italy and beyond are licking their lips in anticipation of a bumper crop this year of the most prized culinary delicacy of all, the white truffle.
The combination of mild weather and a bleak financial climate means the coming months will see lots of high-quality fungus at a - relatively - low price, say experts.
"We are just at the start of the season, and truffle is a strange product, but so far the climatic conditions have been textbook," said Giacomo Oddero, president of the National Centre for Truffle Studies in Alba (Italy), the centre of the truffle trade. "The first indications are excellent and suggest that we will remember this year for a long time to come."
In particular, the relatively cool August, followed by Indian summer weather in September, have helped the white truffle or Magnatum pico to grow readily underground in the forests of the Piemonte region, the heart of white truffle territory, where the season runs from 15 September to 31 January.
The large crop and the economic downturn already appear to be depressing prices of the "white gold" of the forest. Mr Oddero told the Italian newspaper “La Stampa” that the price was currently languishing at "just" €200 (£170) per 100g, compared with the usual price of €400 per 100g. All of which is good news for truffle fanciers.
In previous years ‑ most noticeably inclement, pre-recession 2007, the black year for the white truffle ‑ prices rocketed to €750 per 100g, as overseas millionaires snaffled what little truffle there was, ostentatiously racking up four-figure bills in glitzy restaurants.
The record price paid for a white truffle was set in December 2007, when Macau casino owner Stanley Ho paid US$330 000 (£210,000) for a specimen weighing 1.5kg. He followed it up the next year buying one for US$200 000 (£128,000) that was slightly over 1kg and dug up in Molise, a region in Italy's south.
As organizers prepare for next month's 80th international white truffle trade fair in Alba, few people expect the return of such stratospheric prices. But business is still expected to be brisk, said Mr Oddero.
The truffles, which look like small, shrunken potatoes when they are dug out of the clayish, calcium-rich soil around oak, willow or poplar trees, are creamy-coloured inside. Attempts to grow them commercially have failed.
Despite its aromatic, highly pungent taste, the white truffle is also very delicate; this and its high cost ensures that it is used sparingly and served raw - usually shaved over steaming buttered pasta or salads.
The fungi, which it used to be thought grew where lightning struck, are harvested by experienced gatherers known in Piemonte as “trifolau.”
There are dozens of truffle species, at least eight of which grow in Italy. For people who cannot afford the white variety, the more common but less flavourful black type is a common choice. This has also proved possible to farm and is better suited to cooking.
For full story, please see: www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/truffle-hunters-set-to-sniff-out-bumper-crop-2087048.html
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