Green
Medicine
> Working
Group
What
Is The Role of the Medicinal Plant Working Group (MPWG)?
The role of MPWG is to forge partnerships
with industry, government, academia, tribes and environmental organizations
to facilitate sustainable use and conservation of medicinal plants. While
our focus is on medicinals native to the United States, our membership includes
international players, reflecting the fact that medicinal plants face similar
challenges on a global scale. The Medicinal Plant Working Group is part
of the Plant
Conservation Alliance (PCA), a consortium of ten US federal agencies
and more than 225 non-federal cooperators working
collectively on issues associated with native plant extinction and native
habitat restoration. PCA also serves as the North American Plant Specialist
Group of the IUCN Species Survival Commission. The current chairperson
of the MPWG is Patricia DeAngelis, Botanist, Division of Scientific Authority,
U.S. Fish
& Wildlife Service.
What Does The Medicinal Plant
Working Group Do?
The primary focus of the Medicinal
Plant Working Group is facilitating action on behalf of medicinal plants
native to the United States that are of particular conservation concern.
It aims to balance the biological and commercial needs of medicinal plants,
so as to promote sustainable utilization and long-term conservation of native
species. The working group facilitates information sharing among federal,
state, and private organizations. Underway
are
projects to help:
- Generate and share information
regarding species of medicinal and economic importance and conservation
concern;
- Promote appropriate conservation
measures for native medicinal plants;
- Promote sustainable production
of native medicinal plants;
- Increase participation in
native medicinal plant conservation; and
- Encourage active participation
by Tribes and other holders of traditional native medicinal plant knowledge.
You can read more about the
MPWG's action plan in the strategy. MPWG also
holds symposia; information on past symposia can be found here.
How Do I Join The Medicinal
Plant Working Group?
Membership in the Medicinal
Plant Working Group is open to all interested individuals, organizations,
and agencies. If you are interested in participating, please contact Patricia DeAngelis at Patricia_DeAngelis@fws.gov
or write to 4401 N. Fairfax Drive, Room 110, Arlington, VA 22203 for more
information. You can also contact the leaders of MPWG's eight different
committees: Conservation, Elders' Circle, Ethnobotany,
Financial Support, Industry, Information,
Participation, and Sustainable Production. An MPWG contacts list is available as a PDF file here.
The Medicinal Plant Working
Group also has an e-mail discussion list that you can join.
Learn more about listserve
announcements and discussion here. You can also browse publications
and articles
related to MPWG project work, including pilot studies and an annual report.
Information posted on this
web site may be used (i.e., printed, copied, distributed) for educational
purposes without permission, as long as a credit line to the PCA-MPWG
is included. Materials may not be published or sold. For other intended
uses, please contact the MPWG Chair.
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