Conservation of Eastern-European medicinal plants: Arnica montana in Romania

Abstract

Today, Southeast Europe is by far the most important European source region of medicinal plants collected from the wild. Bulgaria and Albania in particular, but also Romania, FYROM and other countries provide the European market with considerable amounts of raw material. The destruction or conversion of habitats and an increasing demand for raw material, however, endanger medicinal-plant resources in the region. To develop a model for the sustainable management of medicinal plants collected from the wild, WWF-UK, WWF-DCP (Danube-Carpathian Programme) and the University of Agricultural Science and Veterinary Medicine (USAMV) in Cluj-Napoca have initiated the project ‘Conservation of Eastern-European Medicinal Plants: Arnica montana in Romania’, funded by the Darwin Initiative, UK. The main goal of the project is to develop a model for the sustainable production of and trade in Arnica montana in Gârda-de-Sus resulting in benefits to both biodiversity and livelihoods. As one of the key elements of the project, a Resource Management and Trade Association (RMTA) is planned to be established at community level. The mechanisms and procedures to set up the RMTA will be developed by the local stakeholders (farmers, collectors, people with key functions in the community), in cooperation with the project team from Cluj and WWF-DCP Romania. The sustainable sourcing of arnica and other nontimber forest products (NTFPs) is also hoped to be included in the management system of the Apuseni Natural Park. Key components for successful project implementation are (a) training and capacity building, (b) development of local arnica management and marketing structures, (c) development and construction of arnica drying facilities, (d) research on arnica ecology (including resource inventorying / monitoring), trade-chain analysis, socioeconomic context (including research on community attitudes) and drying methods. All project components will be implemented in parallel as they are interdependent. Regular evaluation of successes, threats, challenges and lessons learnt will enhance targeted and effective project development and implementation