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In 2010, HerbalGram
published an article titled “‘Cinderella’ Schisandra: A Project Linking
Conservation and Local Livelihoods in the Upper Yangtze Ecoregion of China”
that described a collaborative project to harvest southern schisandra (Schisandra
sphenanthera) sustainably in the Upper Yangtze ecoregion, “the highest
priority area for biodiversity conservation in China.”1 That project is
now being honored with a 2012 Equator Prize.2
The sustainable schisandra project is part of the EU China Biodiveristy
Programme (ECBP), which resulted in the establishment of the Shuijing TCM
Producer Association (STPA), now a top producer of southern schisandra. It began
as a joint effort among the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF)-China, The
International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), TRAFFIC Beijing
office, and regional plant producers.2
According to the United Nations’
Equator Initiative, which awards the Equator Prize, the unsustainable
collection of medicinal plants has harmed panda habitats.3 The
schisandra project “aims to develop and implement a strategic model for
biodiversity conservation and sustainable development in the Giant Panda Bear
Conservation Area of Southwest China (Gansu, Shaanxi, and Sichuan provinces) to
the east of the Tibetan Plateau.”4
The Equator Prize is bestowed
biennially upon “outstanding community efforts to reduce poverty through the
conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity,”5 with the aim of
reaching Millennium Development Goals.5 Twenty-five
prizes are given every cycle, each of which receives $5,000.6 Ten of
those efforts are awarded an additional $15,000. In order to be eligible,
project nominees must be at least 3 years old and must display the following:
impact, partnerships, sustainability, innovation and transferability, leadership
and community empowerment, and gender equality and social inclusion.7 An additional medicinal plant-related project — the
Pacari Network in Brazil that joins pharmacies and local herb producers
together to instate self-regulating policies and sustainable harvesting
standards — was also awarded a 2012 prize.8
Traditional Medicinals, Inc. (TMI), a leading manufacturer of medicinal teas in
Sebastopol, California, sources the southern schisandra used in its Everyday
Detox® formulation from STPA. TMI’s Vice President of Sustainability, Josef
Brinckmann, said he first became connected with the project in 2008 when he was
invited to China by ethnoecologist and botanist Anthony Cunningham, PhD, who
was working with the ECBP “to assess and develop systems for sustainable
management of traditional medicinal plants in high biodiversity landscapes of
the Upper Yangtze ecoregion.” Dr. Cunningham and Brinckmann co-wrote the “‘Cinderella’
Schisandra” HerbalGram article.
“I was asked to assist the project
team to establish links between the producer associations and caring buyers who
would be willing to pay a premium for sustainably (ecologicially, economically,
and socially) harvested medicinal plants from the participating project
villages,” said Brinckmann, who noted that his first visit occurred just months
after an earthquake in the region took tens of thousands of lives (e-mail, May 25,
2012).
“We are really pleased that the
implementation of this sustainable wild-harvesting plan for schisandra, that
started with one village in 2008 and scaled out to 22 villages, has been so
successful so far and has earned the recognition of the 2012 Equator Prize.
Throughout the project there has been exemplary commitment and collaboration
amongst all stakeholders: the harvesters, the Shuijing TCM cooperative that
represents them, the Chinese governmental agencies and non-governmental
organizations [such as WWF-China], and finally, the buyers.”
—Ashley
Lindstrom
References
1. Cunningham A, Brinckmann J.
Cinderella Schisandra: a project linking conservation and local livelihoods in
the Upper Yangtze ecoregion of China. HerbalGram. 2010;85:28-39
2. Wildlife landscape project on
sustainable use of wild medicinal plants wins Equator Prize. TRAFFIC website.
Available at: www.traffic.org/home/2012/5/16/panda-landscape-project-on-sustainable-use-of-wild-medicinal.html. Accessed May 16, 2012.
3. Kangmei
Institute of Community Development and Marketing (KM) – China. Equator
Initiative website. Available at: http://equatorinitiative.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=687&Itemid=683. Accessed June 7,
2012.
4. Shuijing TCM Producer Association
“Panda Friendly” Southern Schisandra [fact sheet]. Switzerland: FairWild
Foundation. Available online. Accessed May 22,
2012.
5. What we do. Equator Initiative
website. Available at:
www.equatorinitiative.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=47&Itemid=849. Accessed May 22, 2012.
6. UNDP Equator Prize 2012. Equator
Initiative website. Available at: www.equatorinitiative.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=663&Itemid=756. Accessed May 22, 2012.
7. Equator Prize 2012 Selection Criteria. Equator Initiative website.
Available at: www.equatorinitiative.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=665&Itemid=758. Access May 22, 2012.
8. Pacari Network (Articulação Pacari) – Brazil. Equator Initiative website.
Available at: http://equatorinitiative.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=705&Itemid=683. Accessed June 6, 2012.
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