Chief Tembe
Mayor Ncube
Councilors
Traditional healers or practitioners
Members of the community
Members of the media
Ladies and Gentlemen
Sanibonani
I am gratified by the warm welcome from the local leaders and community of Umhlabuyalingana. We are here today to handover the Umhlabuyalingana Conservation of Medicinal Plant project to the local leadership.
The objective of this project is to promote the conservation of our natural resources, especially medicinal plants and also to promote indigenous knowledge.
Conservation of our natural resources is crucial for economic growth and development.
A survey by the World Health Organisation (WHO) indicated that 80 percent of the world's population depends on traditional medicine. In South Africa, the same trend is observed, and the informal trade in indigenous resources for muthi is constantly growing.
Climate change, pollution, competition with invasive species, and other factors that influence ecosystems, species interactions and population dynamics contribute to the decrease in resource availability. These have serious consequences for livelihoods, economies and healthcare systems.
I would like to thank the Traditional healers for the key role played in the conservation of medicinal plants as they would harvest what is required for medicinal purposes not for trade and leave the rest.
They have much to offer in identifying local conservation issues and the development of improved systems for managing medicinal plants. They knew long time ago that it is important to conserve the plants, thus the indigenous knowledge which is closer to my heart.
Our communities know everything in their surroundings but we have not done well to acknowledge them and document that information in our country and in the world. I am committing myself to ensure that indigenous knowledge is documented and published.
Conservation is greatly enhanced when the owners and stewards of medicinal plants receive equitable benefits arising from the use of these resources, and feel that they are properly compensated for the level of effort involved in their contributions.
In the context of medicinal plants, equity entails several major components, including:
- The rights of local communities to control access to these medicinal plants
- Where access has been granted, the rights of the local community to fairly negotiate and enter into material transfer and benefit sharing agreements regarding the sharing of benefits arising from the utilisation of their medicinal plants resources and
- The rights of local communities to protect their indigenous knowledge and be appropriately compensated for any commercial use of their indigenous knowledge.
2010 has been declared as the International Year of Biodiversity as biodiversity is an enabler for economic development and health for the nations. Strategically the world is educating the communities about conservation of our biodiversity.
South Africa is diverse in terms of culture as well as our biological resources and ecology. Thus the reason we are one of the leading countries in awareness and education campaigns on conservation of biodiversity.
The Department of Environmental Affairs' Community Based Natural Resources Management programme has over the years been collaborating with the provincial departments and communities with the intention of economic development on our rural areas and sustainable use of the natural resources leading to safer environment, food security, job creation and a better life for all.
In South Africa 70 percent of the overall population use traditional medicine for primary healthcare and it has been an essential resource for human health from ancient times.
These medicinal plants are used to treat ailments such as coughs, headaches, urinary disorder, throat problems, ulcers, wounds, fever, constipation, cancer and high blood pressure. At the same time, there is a growing appreciation of the value of medicinal plants and their associated traditional knowledge by the modern industries, especially Pharmaceutical industry.
The plant based medicines and cosmetics produced by modern industries are derived from medicinal plants, and majority of them are indigenous and endemic to South
Africa. This makes South Africa an attractive venture for companies seeking novel compounds for different applications e.g. medical, agricultural, horticultural, or environmental.
It is against this background that the Department of Environmental Affairs responded to the funding request submitted for this project by allocating R2,4 million which created 50 jobs and training to the local people.
This project entails building of office block, which will consist of three offices, three storage rooms and two toilets, guard house, establishment and fencing of medicinal plants and vegetable gardens, installation of boreholes, medicinal plant garden, research centre. The project will be completed before end of this year.
The next step now is to facilitate the signing of memorandum of agreement with municipality which will in turn transfer the project to the Phelandaba Community Trust.
The department provided hands on support in the establishment and registration of the trust, members of the Trust have been offered accredited training. They have all the knowledge to run the trust in consultation with the leadership of Phelandaba and the municipality.
The department will continue to provide hands on support and ensure that the handing over process runs smoothly and ensure agreement by all parties. The mayor and I will ensure that there are funds allocated to sustain the project to avoid that it becomes a white elephant.
Lastly I want to appeal to members of the community to visit our water use efficiency
"Blue Bus" parked in the vicinity on site to interact with the officials and learn more about waste management, climate change, the importance of water conservation and water demand management.
In conclusion I would like to thank the local leadership and the entire community for supporting us in the projects we are implementing and also for making time to attend this event.
A special thank you to the officials for the hard work, I know what it takes to organise an event but despite all the challenges the project and the event are successful. Keep up the hard work.
Together we will conserve environment, reduce poverty, create jobs and empower our communities to be able to participate actively and make informed decisions in the management of environment.
Thank you.
Source: Department of Environmental Affairs
