Science Strategy
Sustainable Utilisation - in depth
As the world’s population increases, especially in developing countries, there is a critical need to maximise the effective and sustainable use of our natural resources, especially plants. This programme aims to address this need by documenting the traditional uses of plants and exploring new uses to assist policy makers and communities in realising the potential of their plant diversity and natural resources.
Kew has a long tradition in exploring and documenting the uses made by people of plants and fungi. The scope and importance of this tradition is reflected in the unique literature about the economic uses of plants and fungi available in the libraries at Kew, and the diversity of "useful" plants in the Living Collection and Herbarium. Today the emphasis is not only on collating this information, so that it can be used globally to assist countries in the sustainable utilisation of plants and fungi, but also on exploring how plants and fungi can meet the societal needs of the twenty-first century.
A key objective of the Sustainable Utilisation of Plant Resources Programme is to increase the relevance of, and find practical applications for, the considerable expertise and unique resources encompassed by the Collections, Baseline Plant Diversity Research and Comparative Plant Biology Programmes. The programme seeks to mobilise Kew's capacity towards evaluating current and new uses of plants in day-to-day human activities so as to maximise their effective and sustainable use and conservation.
The projects currently covered by this Programme can be divided into the two interconnected themes: documentation and exploration.
Documenting the uses of plants and fungal resources – Projects in this area aim to collate and disseminate information about the diverse uses made of plants and fungi – for foods and drink, materials, fuels, chemicals, medicinal and pharmaceutical uses, agricultural and environmental uses, and horticultural purposes – in order to increase knowledge about their actual and potential uses and to provide systematic structure underpinning knowledge about useful plants and fungi.
These projects mostly involve compiling data obtained by taxonomists, botanists, mycologists and horticulturists obtained during their systematic based research. Projects also involve research and collating information about the uses of plants and fungi in different formats that meet the needs of different users. One major collection, the Economic Botany Collections, and the associated exhibition (Plants and People) are focused on the uses of plants and fungi.
Exploring the uses of plants and fungi – Many of the projects in this area focus on investigating the diversity of biomolecules in plants and fungi for use as characters in systematic projects (comparative biology) or as leads in agrochemical or pharmaceutical projects. For the biological activity projects, different criteria are used to select plants, but they often involve the use of ethnobotanical information or knowledge about the toxic properties of plants. Biomolecules are isolated from the plants and tested in an array of different biological assays to evaluate their potential use in human health or pest control. The functional role of biomolecules in plants and fungi, especially their role in plant-insect interactions, are also investigated because they provide important guides to potential uses. Other projects investigate the different societal uses of plants as fuels, foods, medicines and fodder crops. We also maintain our links with the horticultural communities who are looking for new and interesting plants. Projects focused on exploring the potential uses of plants and fungi are usually multidisciplinary and involve the experimental skills of the botanists, biologists, natural product chemists, entomologists, taxonomists, horticulturists, plant anatomists and mycologists.
Synergy between Documenting and Exploring - Information gained from Documenting and/or Exploring the uses of plants and fungi is frequently synergistic and has enabled Kew to apply multi-disciplinary expertise to projects that aim to improve the sustainable utilisation of plants by people in developing countries. Multidisciplinary projects further our knowledge about the medicinal, forestry and agricultural uses of plants and fungi and also seek to authenticate plants used by people as medicines, cosmetics, food, poisons and in products such as pot pourri.
Intellectual Property Rights - In order to maximise the benefit of these projects to our collaborators, information providers (e.g. overseas communities and UK ethnic communities) and to Kew, we recognise that we need to protect the relevant Intellectual Property – both for our partners overseas and in the UK, and to protect the primary information held at Kew.
Relevance – As recognised by the CBD the sustainable utilisation of plants, combined with sharing the benefits with those countries to which the plants are native, is a primary mechanism for encouraging conservation. Identification of the uses of plants will assist, and provide the stimulus for, Governments to develop strategies for plant conservation. Exchange of information about the uses and potential uses of plants can further assist developing countries in strengthening the economy of local communities. Indigenous groups can also be encouraged to explore the potential of their own resources and thus conserve them. Within Britain there is also a need to promote links between sustainable use and conservation. Ethnobotanical information about the medicinal uses of plants in the remains of our own rural communities needs to be conserved and collected.
Organisations that trade in plants, and those involved in using plants as medicines, require their plants to be authenticated for quality control and provide suppliers with information about the sustainable harvesting of the crops. Kew can play a key role in the authentication of these plants and therefore promote their sustainable use. Information about the types of plants that can be used for environmental monitoring can also aid in the evaluation of sustainable land use. Information about uses of plants in the databases at Kew is also important to assist others in evaluating the sustainable use of their flora.
Kew’s projects in sustainable utilisation of plant resources have been sponsored by DfID, DTI, Darwin Initiative, the Countryside Agency, English Nature, Scottish Natural Heritage, MAFF, BBSRC and MRC. They cover aspects of the conservation and utilisation of plant diversity, wealth creation and the identification of compounds in plants that can benefit human health or provide new leads for insecticides that could be used as part of Integrated Pest Management Strategies. EU funding also supports projects on technology transfer, environmental monitoring, science training and wealth creation. International government and non-governmental organisations have supported projects that aim to improve the use of plants by local communities as parts of the policies resulting from the CBD and the desire to evaluate and use genetic resources sustainably.
Data about the documented uses of plants have been collated and made available in a variety of different forms, including especially inventory type databases, leaflets, reports and expanded monographs. These data are mainly used by the scientific and horticultural communities as well as by indigenous groups overseas as part of benefit-sharing with collaborating countries. It is also important that information derived from projects on plant uses should be delivered in a way appropriate for the target audience. For example, at a local level, information needs to be in easy-to-understand and well illustrated formats, whereas the SEPASAL database is used mainly by NGOs, the scientific community and Government Departments in developing countries. Centre for Economic Botany research reports are prepared in response to enquiries mainly from the general UK public, business community and the scientific community. Similarly, the Conventions and Policy Section provides information on CITES and CBD issues to international and national government agencies as well as the international scientific community. The majority of users of the biological and phytochemical data generated in the Sustainable Utilisation Programme are from the scientific and business communities.
Connections to Other Kew Programmes – Sustainable utilisation of plants and conservation are closely linked in their ultimate aims. Synergy can occur with the exchange of information between the Programmes so that they feed back to, and support each other as well as the overall aims of our key research spheres.
Sustainable Utilisation Strengths –The primary strengths of Kew’s programmes in the Sustainable Utilisation of Plants programme are the diversity and quality of information on uses already in our collections, the expertise of staff, the library resources, national and international contacts and data and knowledge about the chemistry of plants and their functional roles. In addition, Kew has projects with identified markets and users, access to world-class collections, protected IP and identified “lead” plants and fungi. Unique sets of bioassays and unrivalled data sets on gustatory coding of insects are also in place.
Key Objectives
Maximise the value of Kew's work for the sustainable use of plant diversity by developing the relevance, quality and utility of the information that Kew provides, and improving its dissemination through a focus on service, synthesis, partnership with others and more effective use of technology.
Measure of success:
· Total species use reports, species conservation assessments and species conservation plans supported
Support Kew's activities, and those of policy makers and collaborators in the UK and overseas, in the sustainable use of biodiversity, through partnerships, capacity building, joint research, training and advice.
Measure of success:
· Total staff contact days on projects with UK or overseas collaborators that contribute to the conservation and sustainable use of plant diversity through capacity building, joint research, training and advice.
Strategy for Sustainable Utilisation of Plants – A key objective for the Sustainable Utilisation of Plants Programme is to develop greater focus and integration among existing and new activities by concentrating on Kew's key spheres of operation: Drylands, Wet Tropics, UK and UK Overseas Territories, Monocots and Large-Scale Syntheses of Plant Diversity.
Actions 2006-2011
To help meet our objectives the following general actions have been agreed for the period 2006-2011. More specific actions are set out in the science team documents.
· Continue to research and disseminate information about the economic uses of plants to contribute to the sustainable use targets in the GSPC.
· Continue to undertake projects that illustrate the importance of the sustainable utilisation of plant and fungal resources, especially those that assist with the conservation of biodiversity.