ancient solutions for today's headaches
- promoting medicinal plants in
paraguay
sobrevivencia/friends of the earth
paraguay
In Paraguay , the knowledge of medicinal
plants and their application is very
important. The various indigenous cultures
that coexist in the country still practice
traditional medicine, and rural communities
and even city dwellers use medicinal plants
to cure all kinds of illnesses.
Furthermore, native edible plants are an
important element of the diet of poor rural
communities, contributing to their food
security.
Over the years, however, the growing
dependency upon conventional medicine among
the population has threatened the customs,
traditions and usage of medicinal plants.
Local knowledge about biodiversity and
agricultural practices has been lost due to
widespread forest destruction and the
expansion of largescale agriculture.
Precious medicinal plants are hard to find
due to the loss of their natural ecosystems
and excessive gathering in the dwindling
areas where they still grow naturally.
‘school farms' for local
people
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Friends of the Earth Paraguay has
created two ‘school farms' in the
forested hills of Los Altos .
Ecosystem restoration and
conservation, sustainable agriculture
and non-agricultural production
practices are tested and developed on
these training farms, and capacity is
built among people from the local
communities. Both farms contain
‘living pharmacies,' areas where
native and non-native medicinal
plants utilized in traditional herbal
medicine are cultivated, and where
courses are given to community
members.
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Communities are also assisted in
creating, recreating or maintaining their
own living pharmacies, and in restoring and
conserving the local ecosystems where
native medicinal plants grow naturally.
About 300 species of medicinal plant are
now grown on the farms, and a still
undetermined (pending a detailed botanical
study) number of wild medicinal plant
species are found in the surrounding area.
The use, cultivation and conservation of
the ecosystems of these plants is steadily
increasing among members of the Los Altos
communities.
Friends of the Earth Paraguay's
community forestry project has also
encouraged the revitalization of traditions
and activities such as the celebration of
the Winter Solstice with its indigenous
dances, music and pantomime, the carving of
traditional masks and animal figures from
renewable forest resources, and crafts made
from clay, weaving and palm leaves.
