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The congress is opened to all the scientists, professionals, all private companies, for International Organisations, Government/Academic Institutions, Non-profit Organisations and Individuals interested by the topics above.

The scientific sessions will take place during three days in the form of oral communications, presentations and discussion.

1-international Colloquium:

         Medicinal Plants/ Health/ environmental and Development

To give a progress report on the recen      contributions at the scientific and technological level in the sector of the PMA,
To target the fields with values added by highlighting the socio-economic and medical importance of the PMA on a regional and international ,
To evaluate and develop the contribution of the PMA in the systems of health,
To encourage the culture, the production, the transformation and the Conservation of the PMA,
Renforcer the capacities of research and development enters the researchers and the speakers (University, Administration, Industrie, Producteurs, Transformateurs, Pharmaciens, Médecins, Agronomes...)

Topics

The program will be centered on the following sets of themes:

1- Ethnobotany and Traditional Medicine,


2-Phytotheroie, Aromathérapie,Phytodrugs and Phytofoods

3-Technology, Quality, Economic and Legal Aspects,

4-Phytochemistry ,

5- Pharmacology, Toxicology, Biology and Biotechnology

6-Biodiversity, Conservation of Medicnal and Aromatic plants Ressources

II- International Workshop:

Sustainable Trade and Conservation of Medicinal Plants Resources.

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION

II.1. INTRODUCTION

Over the years, the importance of specific plant species for primary health care has received some

recognition from official authorities, research and policy institutions.  This acknowledgement has been

extremely vital in efforts to conserve medicinal bio-diversity. But the preservation of such plants has

depended mainly on how indigenous and local communities have treated ecosystems in general.

In fact, traditional healers have not only directed much of their attention to plants of direct medicinal

relevance, but also to the conservation of adjoining areas where non-medicinal species grow.

 The health and diversity of plants in surrounding areas is crucial in providing cover for medicinal

plants.  As such, bio-diversity conservation has largely been an integral part of healing activities.
The collective wisdom on bio-diversity conservation has been embodied in the cultures of indigenous

peoples and passed on from generation to generation.

While international efforts have concentrated on issues of bio-conservation in developing countries,

 no formula has been devised to compensate local communities for the genetic resources, which they

helped to conserve, and which have had significant pharmaceutical spin offs for industrialised countries.

 Most developing countries are situated in the inter-tropical zone, with especially rich and diversified

flora, which constitutes an important reservoir of the world’s bio-diversity. It is thought that the

tropical forests contain approximately half of the world's species. 

In most developing countries of the South, more than 80% of the population relies on plant and animal

based medicines to meet their health care requirements. For the most part, the plants and animals

used in traditional medicine are collected from the wild, and in many cases, demand far exceeds supply.

 As the population grows, demand for traditional medicines will increase, and pressure on natural

resources will become greater than ever.

Many medicinal plants from the South are also valued in selected markets around the World.

The growing demand for natural cosmetics, and herbal and prescription medicine, has resulted in

significant imports of wild plants to developed countries.
At the same time, very little information exists on the local knowledge pertaining to bio-diversity

conservation and management and on the identity of many species in trade, the volumes traded

and the impact of harvest.   
            
The possible uses of African medicinal plants to treat various conditions have been widely documented.

However, knowledge regarding the stage at which plants provide the best material, the locations where

they are available, how they may be harvested with minimal destruction, etc., are not clearly found in

the manuscripts.  If this knowledge dies with elderly practitioners, it may in fact be lost forever.

Bio-prospecting has been practised for many years in different forms but in more recent times,

in particular with the development of the CBD, the issue of sharing of benefits arising from

bio-prospecting, has attained significance. The CBD, in the context of its objectives of conservation,

sustainable use and equitable sharing of benefits arising from use of such resources, places special

 emphasis on the fact that there has to be fair and equitable sharing of benefits with local and

indigenous communities. However, certain critical issues remain unresolved, particularly in relation

to how to go about legalising and formalising. 

Today, tribal and rural women and men conserve and improve biodiversity for public and commercial

good at personal cost. No further time should be lost in ending the present unethical situation where

 such primary conservers live in poverty, while those who utilise their knowledge and the products

of their in-situ on –farm conservation culture become prosperous.

The organisers of the workshop hope to have participants’ views on the right issues in the intellectual

 property, benefit sharing and bio-prospecting field relevant to poor people and developing countries.

Among issues that need consideration by workshop participants include:

How bio-prospecting and intellectual property rights could work better to promote development in

developing countries and reduce poverty.  What is the relationship between Indigenous knowledge,

 benefit sharing and IPRs. How can they best use intellectual property rights to promote health and

 biodiversity conservation? How important are IP, benefit sharing and bio-prospecting practices for

better health, particularly of poor people? In what ways are they important (or not) and why?

 In the light of the above, what sort of proposals for modifications of current practices?

 What changes might one consider in the governance and operations of important institutions

like WTO and WIPO to reflect better the interests of developing countries.  How does one build IP

 capacity in developing countries?  How should we view the evolution of international rules and

practices to take account of the interests of developing countries?  
                                      
II . 2. WORKSHOP CONCEPT AND METHODOLOGY

In many developing countries, creative people are experimenting with local initiatives to improve

the conservation and management of natural resources and the livelihood of those who benefit from

them. Unfortunately, the lessons from one effort are rarely shared with others. Why? The costs

of capturing lessons learned from different parts of the World and sharing them has always been

 very high. Research reports that are commissioned to synthesize lessons learned are typically

years out of date before they are published.

And when these documents are published, photocopying constraints make them difficult to obtain.

 In the end, the thousands of experiences of hard working individuals are lost.

Furthermore even when they are published in time, they do not report on community experiences

 and actions. The reason behind this is that the hard work carried by local communities themselves

without supervision of professionals or scientists is ignored and considered not to be reliable because

 it has not been undertaken using standard scientific methodologies or guidelines. Many organisations

 have been claiming of successes in conservation of medicinal plants. However many people are

not aware of these achievements at the community level. On the other hand most publications have

been reporting on the status of conservation of medicinal plants. There is little knowledge on what is

 going on at the field level.

The International workshop on sustainable use and Conservation of Medicinal Plants Resources is

expected to be practical and down-to-earth forum that allows interactive discussion. Participants are

 invited to look for background documentation on the work that has been already carried out on the

issues to be addressed by the Workshop.

It is expected that the workshop will bring together a multi-disciplinary group representatives

from environmental NGOs, grassroots organisations, research institutions, private companies,

universities and governments. The workshop is seen as a networking opportunity for participants.

The basic format for workshop sessions will be a short presentation by key speakers. This will be

followed by an open discussion with workshop participants.  
The workshop will be held over a 3-day period and divided into a number of distinct sessions,

which provided room for discussion, and sharing of the lessons from the papers presented at the

 workshop and from field experiences. 

The participants will be divided into thematic working groups to review specific topics in detail and

come up with proposals to solve identified problems. Examples of actions and success-stories will

be highlighted to show national and local efforts in promoting sustainable use and conservation

of medicinal plants.   The workshop will examine each topic by considering the link between

medicinal biodiversity conservation, trade, benefit sharing, indigenous knowledge and bio prospecting.

The plenary sessions will be mainly devoted to keynote speeches, paper presentations, discussion

and feedback from working groups. Working group findings for the thematic issues

 (round table discussions) will be presented in the plenary sessions.  

Presentations will last 15 minutes each, with a further 30 minutes for discussion. 
Discussion will be preceded by two theme presentations by selected participants,

followed by two to three support presentations from those participants who had prepared papers

on subject areas falling within these thematic areas.  These presentations will be used to derive

discussion points that provided a basis for the identification of issues for consideration during group

work sessions.  Group work sessions will be then followed by plenary sessions where the findings

from the groups will be presented.  Plenary sessions will also used to identify common
interests among participants on each thematic area.


   II.3. WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES



3.1 To formulate proposals for sustainable use and conservation of medicinal plants;

3.2  To assess the impact of trade in medicinal plants on the conservation of the resource base;

3.3 To identify key challenges experiences and opportunities in promoting medicinal plants and natural products business and bio-prospecting 

3.4  To identify proposals for advancing indigenous knowledge, bio-prospecting and benefit sharing   relating to medicinal plants and natural products. 

3.5 To provide an opportunity for networking with colleagues and for new contacts.


II. 4  Topics


The Workshop will deal with the following 3 main themes:


        1.STATUS OF AND PROPOSALS FOR SUSTAINABLE USE AND CONSERVATION 

            OF MEDICINAL PLANTS

                2.TRADE AND BIPROSPECTING IN MEDICINAL PLANTS

          

3.BIOPROSPECTING, INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE AND   BENEFIT SHARING

The congress is opened to all the scientists,  professionals,  all private companies,

 for International Organisations, Government/Academic Institutions,

Non-profit Organisations and Individuals   interested by the topics above.

The scientific sessions will take place during three days in the form of oral communications, presentations and discussion.

The pre- program of the congress PMA 2002 will be available on the site : 15-01- 2002.

The program of the congress PMA 2002 will be available on the site :

30-03- 2002.