Canadian Medicinal Plant Biodiversity Priority Issues

摘要

In order to promote medicinal plant conservation for the future production of health care products in Canada, the importance of Canadian medicinal plants is outlined and ten issues of particular concern are discussed. Plant-based natural health-care products have a value of about one-half billion dollars in Canada annually, while laboratory-produced drugs in Canada that are based on extracts from organisms, including plants, are worth close to 4 billion dollars in Canada annually. New botanical medicines are needed to combat new diseases. Priority issues include the following. (1) Defining "medicinal plants" for Canadian purposes. The traditional definition of "medicinal plants" needs to be expanded to include plants of nutritional significance, since nutrition is a key health issue and there are numerous native Canadian species important in this regard. (2) Relative importance of nature vs. laboratory as sources of medicinals. The growing reliance on laboratory-synthesized drugs has led to the suggestion that the natural world is of lessening importance as a source of medicinals. However, living species are expected to continue to play essential roles in the expanding markets for drugs and natural health care products. (3) Importance of Canada as a source of medicinal plants. There has been limited interest in searching for new drugs in the relatively limited flora of Canada, compared to "pharmaceutical prospecting" in biodiversity-rich tropical regions. However, Canada possesses significant terrestrial diversity and has the world's longest coastline, with exceptional algal diversity awaiting exploitation. (4) Need to conserve Canada's unique species as potential sources of medicinals. Unique species, i.e., those not closely related to others, tend to have unique chemistry and so are of particular importance as sources of medicinal compounds. Endemic and unique species occurring in Canada deserve conservation and research. (5) Do certain habitats merit priority for protection of medicinal plants? Shady woodland habitats, especially deciduous forests, appear to be superior sources of medicinal plants. These habitats have been greatly reduced in Canada, and are accordingly especially deserving of conservation and research. (6) Strategies for preserving genetic resources. About 110 of Canada's native medical plants are rare but comprehensive status evaluations exist for only 30 of these. Protection of infra-specific genetic variation requires extensive research. Both in situ and ex situ protection of genetic resources of medicinal plants is necessary to ensure conservation and facilitate research. (7) Sustainable wildcrafting. Controls over wildcrafting, i.e., the direct harvesting of living species from nature, are key to sustainable use of native medicinal plants. Codes of ethics for harvesters, as well as legislation and monitoring are essential. With considerable knowledge of and cultural attachment to natural resources, the First Peoples of Canada can play an important role. (8) Balancing the potential harm and benefits of genetic engineering-^sA major threat is the possibility of genetic contamination of wild plants. Given the immense potential of seaweeds to Canada, particular attention needs to be paid to prevent harm to marine ecosystems. (9) Identifying the stakeholders and their roles in medicinal plant conservation. There is a need to partition benefits and responsibilities to stakeholders in a way that allows sustainable exploitation to occur but ensures responsible conservation. Because of the long-term nature of conservation and health care, the heaviest responsibility rests with the Public Sector, but citizens generally, Indigenous Peoples, entrepreneurs, companies, business organizations, and academia all have roles to play. (10) Medicinal biodiversity as part of an irreplaceable world resource. It is important to give a high profile to the health benefits of plants, but because these are not the only benefits a