Traditional medicine

This report is the third in an annual series on emerging trends in China’s wildlife trade. that aim to highlight wildlife trade trends in threatened and at-risk wildlife, with an emphasis on the impact of China’s trade on globally important biodiversity “hotspots”. These hotspots have a crucial influence on the survival of endangered species, where conservation action to reduce wildlife trade threats can bring about the greatest benefit.

Traditional medicine in Viet Nam comprises two forms - Traditional Vietnamese Medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine. Both are thousands of years old. The use of these traditional medicine systems has seen a significant resurgence since Viet Nam’s independence in 1945, promoted by government policies that have enabled the development of both traditional and western medicines.

This published document consists of two separate reports produced between 2005 and 2007. These reports have been maintained as separate reports in order to maintain their respective integrities as source documents. The first report ‘A Preliminary Investigation into the Use and Trade of Wild Plants and Animals in Traditional Medicine Systems in Cambodia’ by Naomi Walston represents a preliminary examination of the use of Cambodia’s wildlife in Traditional Medicine (TM) systems.

This report documents different approaches to conservation of medicinal plants and traditional knowledge in Bolipara union of Thanchi upazila of Bandarban hill district. This initiative involved the collection of baseline data on medicinal plants and their uses, motivating people towards the uses and practices, identification and knowledge sharing with the traditional healers, establishment of an electronic database and carrying out specific conservation measures and awareness activities.

Wild plant species are used for medicine in most countries of the world. A recent survey conducted by members of the Medicinal Plant Specialist Group of the IUCN Species Survival Commission suggests that 72,000 species of higher plants are used medicinally worldwide, approximately 17% of the world’s higher plant flora.

A comprehensive account of the wildlife trade in Laos, this book is the result of two years' work by the authors, with assistance from two local field researchers and input from a wide range of Lao and foreigners (including Vietnamese, Chinese and Thai informants) with first-hand knowledge of the situation.