Worldwide
demand for herbal medicine is increasing. Many people today are returning
to herbal medicine as a result of the greater awareness of health issues,
promoting by new government health policies and a growing distrust in
conventional synthetic medicines.
Modern
medical science is also taking advantage of this vast herbal tradition
in its search for new drug discovery. This research is contributing
enormous scientific literature on herbal actions and is attributing
to the synthesis of herbal wisdom with modern scientific principles.
In particular the world’s rain forests are viewed as some of the last
uncharted territory for new drug discovery.
As
one of the most evolved and diverse ecosystems on earth, the Malaysian
rain forest is a rich source of medicinal herbs. It is believed that
forest dwellers in Southeast Asia use 6,500 different plants to treat
illness. These same rain forests have supplied the western world with
herbs and spices for centuries. Malaysia in particular, with its many
indigenous groups, offers an invaluable source of knowledge in medicinal
plants from the rain forest.
The
main indigenous medicinal systems of Malaysia are Traditional Malay
Medicine, with influences from Java, India and Arabia, and that practiced
by the numerous aboriginal races. Of these, many still live according
to traditional ways in the jungle, with a few still preferring to avoid
influences of civilization altogether and continue to lead a semi-nomadic
existence deep in the rain forests.
All
these races offer invaluable ethnobotanical information. The herbal
knowledge they provide comes from centuries of human experience of trial
and error in herbal action, safety and toxicity. Knowledge that helps
us in our search for cures for disease and food for our growing world
population. We are faced with a race against time, however, as the effects
of rapid development of the rain forests is leading to both the loss
of medicinal species diversity, as well as of the ethnobotanical knowledge
of the indigenous peoples found there. With the passing of each of the
elders, the medicine men and women, a mine of valuable knowledge is
lost forever.
At
Rainforest Herbs we understand the importance of documenting
and promoting ethnobotanical research and the cultivation of medicinal
herbs in their natural rain forest environment, as well as education
in the sustainable collection of raw materials. We firmly believe that
to safeguard and maintain the rain forest ecosystem, the needs of the
present must be met without compromising the needs of future generations.
While the rain forest provides us with the necessary requirements for
our life, the balance must be met whereby development is not at the
expense of the environment and its inhabitants. If developed sustainably,
it will continue to serve the needs of the world for many generations
to come.
"In
the end,
we will conserve only what we love,
we will love only what we understand,
we will understand only what we are taught."
