Medicinal plants have a very important use in traditional medicine in Indonesia. As most of the medicinal plants are presently collected from the wild without due attention to resource sustainability it is important to undertake activities aimed at the conservation and sustainable use of this valuable natural resource.
The Directorate General of Forest Protection and Nature Conservation of the Ministry of Forestry in Indonesia, initiated a programme to conserve and develop genetic resources of medicinal plants in the buffer zone of and inside the Meru Betiri National Park, in East Java. Since 1992 FAO has contributed to this programme and since 1993, the Bogor Agricultural Technical University and the NGO “Latin” are also collaborating in the field activities in Meru Betiri National Park. The programme is focussed on the following seven species of social and economic importance : Piper retrofractum, Piper cubeba, Rauwolfia serpentina, Parkia roxburghii, Pangium edule, Strychnos ligustrina, Tinospora tuberculata.
The activities include:
For more information please contact:
Dr. Effendi Achmad Sumardja, Director of Conservation Programme, Directorate General of Forest
Protection and Nature Conservation, Jalan Ir. H. Juanda No. 9, Bogor, Indonesia.
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Forest Genetic Resources No. 22. FAO, Rome (1994)