中国药用植物可持续利用战略框架简述

China is the birth-place of Traditional Chines Medicine (TCM) and has a rich diversity of medicinal plant resources. With the rapid increase in consumer demands for crude drugs and natural health products, many medicinal plant species are threatened with extinction from overexploitation and habitat destruction. To ensure the sustainable use of medicinal plant resources, we discuss in this article, a conservation framework consisting of conservation strategies, cultivation practices and various technologies. Conservation strategies include establishing in-situ and ex-situ conservation centers, setting up government policies and regulations, establishing methods for resource surveying and trade monitoring and establishing and enforcing Good Agricultural Practices (GAP). In terms of technologies, we use a remote multi-level sensing system and DNA barcoding technologies as examples to demonstrate their roles in the conservation and sustainable use of medicinal plant resources in China.     

Indigenous Medicinal Plants in Mexico: the Example of the Nahua (Sierra de Zongolica)

As in most peasant cultures medicinal plants are a very important resource for the Nahua of the Sierra de Zongolica (Mexico). Documentation of the current indigenous medicinal uses of 203 plants in this region was conducted during 18 months of fieldwork. The 816 individual reports documented were divided into nine groups of indigenous uses. The frequency of usage of the individual plants reported was employed in the analysis of the ethnobotanical importance of the respective plants. Plants cited more frequently in a group of indigenous uses are regarded as of greater ethnobotanical importance than those cited only by a few informants. Data on phytochemistry, pharmacology and ethnobotany from the scientific literature were used to evaluate possible biological or pharmacological and toxicological effects of some particularly important plants. For most plants detailed studies on these actions are still lacking, which would allow a conclusive evaluation. This ethnobotanical evaluation forms the basis for such studies which have been started on some plants, and for better understanding their potential as minor economic products of the region. These uses may also give incentives to the conservation of the local biodiversity.     

Patterns of use and knowledge of wild edible plants in distinct ecological environments: a case study of a Mapuche community from northwestern Patagonia

The multiple use of distinct ecological environments in the search for wild resources has been practiced since ancestral times in aboriginal communities inhabiting northwestern Patagonia. This paper examines the actual use and knowledge of wild edible plants in a Mapuche community presently settled in one of the most arid areas of Patagonia, far from the temperate forests where their ancestors used to live. The difference between knowledge of and use of wild plants is analyzed emphasizing that these differences could contribute to the understanding of eroding processes believed to be occurring in the community. These objectives are studied quantitatively by utilizing ethnobotanical indices, partially derived from ecological theory. Our results indicate that the Paineo dwellers still utilize multiple ecological gathering environments and have thorough plant knowledge of both native and exotic species. The Andean forest, more than 50km away from this community, is the environment from which the Paineo dwellers know the greatest total richness and the highest diversity of wild edible plants, followed by the Monte–Steppe species and lastly, those growing around their homes. The transmission of wild edible plant knowledge in the Paineo community diminishes with age, and the forest plants are the most vulnerable to loss. Our results have shown that the knowledge and consumption of wild edible plants follows a pattern according to ecological conditions of the gathering environments, as well as the cultural heritage of the Paineo people.     

Indigenous Knowledge and Management of Araucaria Araucana Forest in the Chilean Andes: Implications for Native Forest Conservation

Southern Chile experienced serious deforestation during the past century and it is projected that by the year 2025 Chile will be devoid of native forests. One of the most important endemic tree species of the country and at the same time one of the most endangered ones is Araucaria araucana (Mol.) C. Koch, the monkey-puzzle tree. It grows in the Andes Mountains, homeland of the indigenous Mapuche Pewenche people who depend on this tree. This paper is based on participatory field research with a Mapuche Pewenche community in the southern Chilean Andes on their ecological knowledge, values, use and management of the Araucaria araucana forest. It attempts to reveal how indigenous people and their knowledge contribute to the sustainable management of these forests. The paper (1) illustrates the complexity of indigenous ecological knowledge of Araucaria araucana and its efficacy in native forest management, (2) explores the link between the conservation and use of biodiversity by the indigenous people, and (3) provides answers relevant to native forest management and conservation strategies ex-situ and in-situ incorporating indigenous and scientific knowledge, thus providing a contribution towards integrated natural resource management.     

Land Use and Cover Change as an Indicator of Transformation on Recently Redistributed Farms in Limpopo Province, South Africa

This paper assesses the impact of South Africa's land reform program on land use change in rural areas of Limpopo Province. Land use change was examined on five Communal Property Associations using remotely sensed images and quantitative and qualitative survey techniques. Land was abandoned or used less productively after redistribution. The primary reason for the lack of land use change to more productive states was that the land redistribution policy was not sufficiently sensitive to the diversity of rural livelihoods. Other reasons include farm-level general disorganization, lack of capital and labor, gender inequities, and age distribution. Regional political diseconomies also hindered change, namely poor tenure relations and a persistent urban bias.     

Coppice Harvesting of Fuelwood Species on a South African Common: Utilizing Scientific and Indigenous Knowledge in Community Based Natural Resource Management

The limitations of Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) with respect to the difficulties of comparing local versus scientific knowledge categories within a bounded definition of ‘community’ were investigated by means of a study exploring local indigenous knowledge pertaining to harvesting technique, and the impact of soil and species type on the post-harvest coppice response of popular savanna fuelwood species, among rural inhabitants of the Bushbuckridge region of the Limpopo Province, South Africa. Soils and plants were evaluated chiefly in terms of their perceived ability to retain precipitation, making rainfall a driving force in local understanding of environmental productivity. Some indigenous knowledge showed an agreement with biological data, but overall the variability in responses, as well as the diverse scales at which indigenous and scientific knowledge is directed, were too great to allow for simplistic parallels between local ecological indices to be made. Indigenous environmental knowledge was underscored by the perceived symbolic link between environmental and social degradation. It is recommended that environmental managers incorporate indigenous knowledge as a component of a systems-level approach to natural resource management, where biological, cultural, economic, and symbolic aspects of natural resource use are nested within a broader ecosocial system. This approach to indigenous knowledge is offered as an alternative to the simple scientific evaluation that so often characterizes environmental management.     

A Survey on Use of Rapid Tests and Tuberculosis Diagnostic Practices by Primary Health Care Providers in South Africa: Implications for the Development of New Point-of-Care Tests

Background

Effective infectious disease control requires early diagnosis and treatment initiation. Point-of-care testing offers rapid turn-around-times, facilitating same day clinical management decisions. To maximize the benefits of such POC testing programs, we need to understand how rapid tests are used in everyday clinical practice.

Methods

In this cross-sectional survey study, 400 primary healthcare providers in two cities in South Africa were interviewed on their use of rapid tests in general, and tuberculosis diagnostic practices, between September 2012 and June 2013. Public healthcare facilities were selected using probability-sampling techniques and private healthcare providers were randomly selected from the Health Professional Council of South Africa list. To ascertain differences between the two healthcare sectors 2-sample z-tests were used to compare sample proportions.

Results

The numbers of providers interviewed were equally distributed between the public (n = 200) and private sector (n = 200). The most frequently reported tests in the private sector include blood pressure (99.5%), glucose finger prick (89.5%) and urine dipstick (38.5%); and in the public sector were pregnancy (100%), urine dipstick (100%), blood pressure (100%), glucose finger prick (99%) and HIV rapid test (98%). The majority of TB testing occurs in the public sector, where significantly more providers prefer Xpert MTB/RIF assay, the designated clinical TB diagnostic tool by the national TB program, as compared to the private sector (87% versus 71%, p-value >0.0001). Challenges with regard to TB diagnosis included the long laboratory turn-around-time, difficulty in obtaining sputum samples and lost results. All providers indicated that a new POC test for TB should be rapid and cheap, have good sensitivity and specificity, ease of sample acquisition, detect drug-resistance and work in HIV-infected persons.

Conclusion/significance

The existing centralized laboratory services, poor quality assurance, and lack of staff capacity deter the use of more rapid tests at POC. Further research into the practices and choices of these providers is necessary to aid the development of new POC tests.     

Characterisation and Normalisation Factors for Life Cycle Impact Assessment Mined Abiotic Resources Categories in South Africa: The manufacturing of catalytic converter exhaust systems as a case study (10 pp)

Goal and Background Current Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) procedures have demonstrated certain limitations in the South African manufacturing industry. The aim of this paper is to propose new characterisation and normalisation factors for classified mined abiotic resource depletion categories in the South African context. These factors should reflect the importance of mined resources as they relate to region-specific resource depletion. The method can also be applied to determine global factors. Methods The reserve base (as in 2001) of the most commonly produced minerals in South Africa is used as basis to determine characterisation factors for a non-renewable mineral resources category. The average production of these minerals from 1991 to 2000 is compared to economically Demonstrated and Demonstrated Marginal Reserves (and not ultimate reserves) to obtain the characterisation factors in equivalence units, with platinum as the reference mineral. Similarly, for a non-renewable energy resources category, coal is used in South Africa as equivalent unit as it is the most important fossil fuel for the country. Crude oil and natural gas resources are currently obtained from reserves elsewhere in the world and characterisation factors are therefore determined using global resources and production levels. The normalisation factors are based on the total economic reserves of key South African minerals and world non-renewable energy resources respectively. A case study of the manufacturing of an exhaust system for a standard sedan is used to compare LCIA results for mined abiotic resource categories that are based on current LCIA factors and the new South African factors. Results and Discussion The South African LCIA procedure differs from current methods in that it shows the importance of other mined resources, i.e. iron ore and crude oil, relative to PGMs and coal for the manufacturing life cycle of the exhaust system. With respect to PGMs, the current characterisation factors are based on the concentrations of the metals in the ores and the ultimate reserves, which are erroneous with respect to the actual availability of the mineral resources and the depletion burden placed on these minerals is consequently too high. Conclusions The South African LCIA procedure for mined abiotic resources depletion shows the significance of choosing a method, which is inline with the current situation in the mining industry and its limitations. Recommendations and Outlook It is proposed to similarly investigate the impacts of the use of other natural resource groups. Water, specifically, must receive attention in the characterisation phase of LCIAs in South African LCAs.