Forest Wealth and Global Health

Abstract

Forest ecosystems are the arsenal that supplies food and medicines for those who are the poorest members of the global community. These are referred to as “forest dwellers”. However the extent of those who depend on the products of the forest go well beyond these humble forest dwellers. In the modern context the forest ecosystems contribute to the diets and the medicines of even urban populations. This being so the widespread destruction of tropical rainforest ecosystems and the consequent extinction of plant and animal species that is ongoing, brings forth consequences that are of mind-boggling proportions. Though tropical moist rainforets are estimated to cover just only 6% of the surface of the earth, they contain an estimated 50% of all species of plants and animal life. The abundant botanical resources of the rainforests have provided mankind, and even neanderthal man, with food and medicines over several millennia. Yet it is just only 1% of this vast resource that has been scientifically evaluated for medicinal potential. At the same time an estimated 2% of the global rain forest resources are irreparably damaged each year, a rate which seems likely to witness the destruction of a possible 20- 25% of the present species of flora and fauna, in a decade from now..

The rain forest resources are the basis on which the traditional medical systems have thrived. Medical systems such as the old Arabian-Greek systems from which modern western medicine is derived, the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the Ayurvedic, Siddi, and Unani systems, all depend substantially on plants for their therapeutic armoury. Therefore the safeguarding of the resource which is so vital to global health becomes a major reponsibility of mankind.

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