Biodiversity Conservation Liberia
Together with the Center for Biodiversity Research (CBR) and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) EFA is partnering in a biodiversity conservation project based on promoting medicinal and aromatic plants in the Rivercess county of Liberia. This project started in January 2010 and will end in December 2010.
There is an urgent need to document and implement conservation actions to save medicinal plants and the indigenous knowledge associated with it, as they are an important resource for meeting the health care needs of the people. In Liberia, there is a great dependence on medicinal plants as the ratio of medical doctors to patient is 0.03 to 1,000 and some 80%-90% of the population rely on traditional medicine. This over-dependence is also creating severe impact on the natural resource base as most medicinal and aromatic plants are collected from the wild, hence nature is being over exploited. As market demands for these products have increased in the face of gaps in the modern medical system, a lot of plants are being threatened, thereby affecting future availability. In addition to destroying the foundations of medicinal plant biodiversity upon which traditional medicine depends, additional income opportunities for sustaining livelihoods in rural areas and for the nation are being lost with their overexploitation. In rural areas where much of the knowledge associated with medicinal plant usage is held, there are fears that much of this knowledge will be lost with the death of the healers who have intimate knowledge of the use of the plants. Documenting this is crucial for future development of traditional medicine in a country where the ratio of doctors to the rest of the population is appallingly low. Moreover, policy dialogue on benefit sharing associated with medicinal plant biodiversity have never really featured at the local and national level, reducing the chances of bringing medicinal plants in the forefront of Liberia’s development agenda. Conservation programs involving ex-situ or in-situ initiatives have not been initiated and yet these are critical for the long-term sustainability of medicinal and aromatic plants in Liberia.
In order to address these problems, EFA in partnership with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Center for Biodiversity Research (CBR), will build on their current “Landscapes and Livelihood Strategy” project in Rivercess County, by increasing opportunities for rural communities through the sustainable utilization of medicinal and aromatic plants. It is hoped that this initiative will also lead to greater protection of biodiversity as well as rehabilitation of degraded lands in the region. The major project site in Rivercess County will be Garpu Town in the Dorbor Clan and at least 10 communities within this clan including Bodaza, Zanway Town, Saykpahyah, Barclay Village, Beh Village, Pokpeh Town, Pokor Town, Powoe’s Town, Vondeh Town and Gbeta Town would be included in the project activities as a beginning point for future national initiatives.
The aim of the project is to document the indigenous knowledge associated with the use of medicinal and aromatic plants by collecting and collating information on such plants. A platform will be created for policy dialogue on benefit sharing with respect to indigenous medicinal plant knowledge at the county level in Liberia, and domestication (ex-situ conservation) programs will be implemented that involve income generation and restoration of depleted medicinal and aromatic plants.
