Assessing the economic value of traditional medicines from tropical rain forests

Current methods for the harvest of medicinal plants from forests and fallows involve both destructive and nondestructive practices. Based on our observations in Belize, the process of gathering medicinal plants often resembles the harvesting of trees for timber, a more destructive approach. Although...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Conservation biology 1992-03, Vol.6 (1), p.128-130
Main Authors: Balick, M.J. (New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY), Mendelsohn, R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions
AMENAGEMENT FORESTIER
ANALISIS ECONOMICO
ANALYSE ECONOMIQUE
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Applied ecology
BELICE
BELIZE
Biological and medical sciences
BOSQUE TROPICAL HUMEDO
CIENCIAS MEDICAS
Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife
COSECHA
Crop harvesting
DRUG PLANTS
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
ECONOMIC EVALUATION
Economic value
FOREST MANAGEMENT
FOREST RESOURCES
FORET TROPICALE HUMIDE
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General pharmacology
HARVESTING
MEDICAL SCIENCES
MEDICINAL PLANTS
NOMENCLATURA
NOMENCLATURE
ORDENACION FORESTAL
Pharmacognosy. Homeopathy. Health food
Pharmacology. Drug treatments
PLANTAS MEDICINALES
PLANTE MEDICINALE
Primary health care
RECOLTE
RECURSOS FORESTALES
RESSOURCE FORESTIERE
SCIENCES MEDICALES
Sustainable economies
Sustainable forest management
TERAPIA
THERAPEUTIQUE
THERAPY
Tonics
Traditional medicine
Tropical forests
TROPICAL MEDICINE
TROPICAL RAIN FORESTS
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Current methods for the harvest of medicinal plants from forests and fallows involve both destructive and nondestructive practices. Based on our observations in Belize, the process of gathering medicinal plants often resembles the harvesting of trees for timber, a more destructive approach. Although this process can be highly destructive for a specific site, provided the harvested area is sufficiently small and that harvests occur over long enough rotations, we suspect that the overall process could be sustainable. It is this approach of long rotations and clearing that we evaluate in this paper. Experiments are underway, however, in Belize to extract medicines more continuously from a plot by removing small amounts of plant material from each tree. As we learn more about the possibilities of this alternative extraction method, it too can be evaluated from both an ecological and an economic viewpoint.
ISSN:0888-8892
1523-1739
DOI:10.1046/j.1523-1739.1992.610128.x