People around the world collect or use medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) for treating and preventing illnesses. The World Health Organization (WHO) has acknowledged the importance of traditional medicines, and particularly in many developing countries, where around 70-95% of the population rely on these medicines for primary care.
Medicinal plants form the basis for these health care systems. Most active mechanisms in modern pharmaceutical drugs were either directly or indirectly derived from natural products, which include plants and other life forms. This still holds despite the advent of synthetic and combinatorial chemistry. Moreover, MAPs and their specimens are used in cosmetic, food and luxury products.
Résolutions
- Conf. 16.6 (Rev. CoP18)* La CITES et les moyens d’existence
- Conf. 16.10 Application de la Convention aux taxons produisant du bois d’agar
- Conf. 13.2 (Rev. CoP14)* Utilisation durable de la diversité biologique : Principes et directives d’Addis-Abeba
- Conf. 11.11 (Rev. CoP18)* Réglementation du commerce des plantes
- Conf. 10.19 (Rev. CoP14)* Les médecines traditionnelles
Décisions
- 18.33 – 18.37 Moyens d’existence*
- 19.239 - 19.240 Taxons produisant du bois d’agar (Aquilaria spp. et Gyrinops spp.)
- 19.241 - 19.242 Boswellia (Boswellia spp.)
- 19.261 - 19.264 Commerce des plantes médicinales et aromatiques
- 18.323 (Rev. CoP19) - 18.326 (Rev. CoP19) Annotation de l’aloès du Cap (Aloe ferox)
- 19.246 - 19.248 Produits contenant des spécimens d’orchidées inscrites à l’Annexe II
Conservation et commerce des espèces de plantes médicinales et aromatiques inscrites à la CITES
Approximately 60,000 MAP species are harvested globally, of which around 1,280 are estimated to be listed in CITES Appendices. MAP cultivation and harvest practices secure valuable income for many rural households; can play a vital role in livelihood diversification for marginalized populations living in remote areas; and is an important factor in the source countries' local economies.
For example, the global revenue from traditional Chinese medicine was USD 83 billion in 2012. Annual expenditures in the traditional medicine sector in the Republic of Korea were USD 7.4 billion in 2009, and private spending for natural products in the United States of America was USD 14.8 billion in 2008. The European market for herbal supplements and herbal medicines is estimated to be worth USD 7.4 billion per year. From 2001 to 2014, annual average growth rates of 2.4% in volume and 9.2% in export value of medicinal plant material were observed, amounting to a threefold increase in global trade in medicinal and aromatic plants since 1999.
The CITES trade database registers 54 million kg of exports of medicinal plant products between 2006 and 2015, mainly derived from 43 species. Forty-seven percent of these exports were sourced from the wild.
Many medicinal and aromatic plant species are threatened with extinction in the wild through overharvesting, habitat loss, climate change, and unregulated or illegal international trade. The importance of trade in CITES-listed MAPs is further illustrated by their share in reported seizures of CITES-listed specimens. Between January and December 2017, 27% of CITES-related seizures reported by the Member States of the European Union (EU) involved medicinal products. Sustainable harvest and legal, well-regulated trade are thus key to ensure the sustainable use of medicinal plants.
Please find sources for this background information in CoP18 Doc. 55 and PC25 Doc. 30.
Information materials for raising awareness of CITES regulations for the medicinal and aromatic plant industry stakeholders and consumers [Decision 19.261]
The following information lists materials were submitted in response to Notification 2023/045. All hyperlinks are functional as of 20 June, 2023. Each document is listed with a descriptive title, and with information on the submitting entity and available languages. The CITES Secretariat does not verify the content or continued functionality of any external documents or websites. The geographical designations employed in this document do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the CITES Secretariat (or the United Nations Environment Program) concerning the legal status of any country, territory, or area, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The responsibility for the contents of each document rests exclusively with its author.