The 9 Phases of the Medicinal Plant Trail

To tell the story of sustainable harvesting

Iracambi Rainforest Medicine is a project that aims to heal both the forest and the people. As a medicinal plant project its strength lies in its roots of reforestation, and as a conservation project its vitality lives in its focus on the herbal market and its consequent economic viability.

Medicina da mata, the Brazilian name for the project, is made of local farmers and gardeners, herbalists and homeopaths, researchers and ecologists, harvesters and housewives. Each has their voice in the project, their verse in the sustainability song.

The medicinal plant trail is one of the many trails at Iracambi. Telling the story of sustainable harvesting, it lies below the hills of Graminha and follows the plants from the nursery to their forest home and on to the laboratory.

On this journey from research to results they pass through the nine phases of Iracambi Rainforest Medicine.

1. Research
   Gathering information from the community provides input into the selection of locally used indigenous plants. At Iracambi, ethnobotanical research has compiled information on the traditional uses of over 100 indigenous medicinal plants. Scientific research into plant uses, propagation methods, and germination periods is combined with local information to provide our databases of plant information.
   
2. Germination of plants from wild
   Our forest nursery sees the propagation of seed and cuttings taken from the forest. Following the advice of local farmers and herbalists, the seedlings are planted out into the Iracambi Medicinal Plants Forest during the wet season. Our nursery manager continues to collect ethnobotanical and ecological information for the best practices of plant propagation and replanting. The composting bins provide a rich soil mixture in which to propagate the plants, and a nourishing addition to the soil when planting out.
   
3. Monitoring eco-systems
   It is important to know the preferred environment of each medicinal plant. Grown in their natural environment the plant yields higher medicinal quality. Included in the monitoring of the various forest eco-systems is soil sampling and water testing. Here are some examples:
   
   1. Reforestation of degraded areas with shade providers. Emba úba, a pioneer tree, provides both shelter and medicine.
   2. Enrichment planting / intercropping medicinal plant species into existing secondary forest. Pata de vaca is a leguminous medicinal plant that provides nitrogen to the soil. As a medicine it balances blood sugar levels.
   3. Planting specialist species into required areas. Chapéu de couro and Carqueja are both planted out in the swampy areas.
4. Planting out
   We plant out according to the needs of the particular ecosystem as determined by our ecosystem monitoring. We promote biodiversity by combining plants that grow well together to develop a healthy forest habitat. Our aim is to assist in the regeneration of rich forests.
   
5. Agro forestry and natural reforestation
   Agro forestry is an agricultural technique that uses land to establish a multi-species forest canopy that can produce an income. On the medicinal plants trail we aim to combine medicinal species with edible and more immediately lucrative crops. Besides having an ecological niche, the aim is for each species to provide a potential income.
   
6. Sustainable harvesting
   The maximum sustainable yield tells us how much to harvest to allow optimum plant regrowth. This allows us to find the balance between conserving the forest and providing an income from her natural resources. To find the maximum sustainable yield, we are monitoring the re-growth following different severities of harvest.
   
   Sustainable harvesting includes all of the above phases: gathering local and research knowledge for natural plant habitats, effective propagation practices, soil regeneration and planting out according to specific ecological needs of both the individual plants and the forest as a whole. Our work includes harvesting at the right time of year for top medicinal quality.
   
   Local harvesting traditions include recognition of moon phases and the use of propolis to minimize damage caused by bark extraction.
   
7. Certification of ethical sourcing
   This is the meeting point between conservation and medicinal plant harvesting. Iracambi's goals include both reforestation and using a healthy forest to provide an income to local farmers. We are working on the development of a set of standards that can be used to certify plant material and plant products as sustainably harvested. In the immediate future, we plan to contact local, conservation-oriented groups with whom we can work on the development of sustainable harvesting standards and certification.
   
8. Product development
   The overall objective of the medicinal plants project is to break the cycle of forest clearing by providing small farmers with an alternative income from their forests. This income depends on the development of commercially viable products based on sustainable indigenous herbs. The product range, "Iracambi Rainforest Medicine" hopes to illuminate transparency in the market chain between the herbs at their source and the market.
   
9. Education
   Environmental education for families in the surrounding communities is ongoing at Iracambi. The Medicinal Plant team is working with local herbalists and homeopaths and hope to develop further communications with the Syndicate of Rural Workers in the development of a herbal co-operative.
   
   Internationally, the Iracambi Medicinal plants education program seeks to raise awareness for the need for sustainability in the herbal market. Recent workshops have been conducted at the Science Festival in the Royal Botanical Gardens of Edinburgh and the Annual Conference of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists. (April 2003)

To visit our Herbarium, please click here