Hidden Rainforest Medicines

Western medicine owes a great debt to tropical rainforests. Many drugs in common usage have been derived from rainforest plants, or identified through indigenous peoples use of 'natural' medicines. These include plants such as Chinchona, which was used as a basis for treating malaria.

An estimated one in four of all purchases from pharmacies in countries such as Britain contain an active ingredient derived from a tropical forest species.

Products include anaesthetics, contraceptives, enzymes, hormones, laxatives, cough mixtures, antibiotics and antiseptics. These have all been derived from rainforest species. Derivatives from rainforest plants are used to treat cancer, malaria, heart disease, bronchitis, hypertension, dysentery and tuberculosis.

The destruction of rainforests and ensuing loss of wildlife potentially threatens new medical discoveries. The destruction of tribal societies may also mean that traditional knowledge of useful plants is also lost.

Indigenous Knowledge

The knowledge that indigenous population hold is of great value to the rest of humanity.

For example, a recent study found that of 119 commercially useful plant-based drugs available to us in the Western world, 74% of these were in prior use by indigenous communities. The World Health Organisation has listed 21,000 plant species that have reported medical usage in native communities,

Many rainforest tribes have detailed local ecological knowledge, such as how plants and animals interact. Through hundreds or even thousands of years of practice, they also know how to farm or manage the forest sustainably. In some cases, highly sophisticated and efficient 'forest gardening' systems are used to produce food without causing long-term harm to the forest.

Indigenous peoples' knowledge may thus be essential in finding ways to help manage and protect rainforests in the long-term. It may also he essential in any attempts to repair damage that has already been done to many rainforest areas.

However, much indigenous knowledge has been exploited with little or no compensation for the use of this 'intellectual property', and corporations have patented plant varieties that have only arisen through carefull selection over hundreds of years by indigenous people. Such 'genetic piracy' continues to this day.

Rainforests and Their Peoples

Rainforests are the most diverse ecosystems on the planet, as well as being the home to an estimated 50 million indigenous forest people.

However, millions of hectares of these forests are being destroyed every year.

As a result, rainforest people are being displaced, their rights abused and their cultures lost forever.

It is believed that thousands of species of wildlife could become extinct as a result of the destruction. Amongst the species that are disappearing are those that could potentially be of great benefit to humanity, such as in the discovery of new medicines.

The destruction of rainforests is also one of major contributors to global climate change, as many rainforests are burned, releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Rainforest clearance can also disrupt local weather patterns, as well as increasing soil erosion, floods and droughts.

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