By Joy Crane

Indigenous trees, their stems partially or entirely stripped of their bark and left to die in Cape Town's Newlands Forest and areas like the upper reaches of the iconic Kirstenbosch Garden, is a sad sight that greets walkers and hikers all too often.

Organisations like Friends of Table Mountains and Newlands Forest Conservation have joined forces with other community groups, companies, media, citizen scientists and the South African National Parks to educate traditional healers about sustainable bark stripping.

Sappi says the traditional medicine trade in South Africa is a significant industry, valued at R2.9 billion annually and accounting for 5.6% of the national health budget. It supports 27 million consumers and provides a livelihood for at least 133,000 people, many of whom are rural women.

DESTRUCTIVE HARVESTING

However, the trade is at risk due to the unsustainable harvesting, often illegally, of indigenous plant material from South Africa's national parks like Newlands, important conservation corridors maintained by forestry companies, and elsewhere involving around 771 species.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 80% of people in Africa use traditional medicine, and over 82% of urban and rural black South Africans rely on these practices.

The report "Economics of the Traditional Medicine Trade in South Africa" (Mander, M; Ntuli, L; Diederichs, N; Mavundle, K) underscores the urgent need to protect tree species used for medicinal purposes. Popular species are becoming locally extinct and are being traded at high prices, raising serious concerns about the future of the traditional medicine trade and its benefits.

SAPPI RTES

In KwaZulu-Natal, the Sappi Rare, Threatened, and Endangered Species (RTES) Programme contributes to conservation efforts.

"By raising awareness about the importance of protecting medicinal plants and the environment, Sappi aims to promote a culture of conservation and sustainability", comments Giovanni Sale, Sustainability Manager, Sappi Southern Africa.

The RTES Programme focuses on species identified by scientific methods and organisations like the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), ensuring these species, especially those used in traditional medicine, are protected from unsustainable harvesting.

PEPPERBARK PROJECT

The Sappi RTES Programme, initiated in 2013, initially focused on the Warburgia salutaris (Pepperbark) project near the western borders of the Kruger National Park (KNP). At that time, the situation was so dire that a grove of these trees in KNP had to be protected by armed guards to protect them from muti poachers.

Since 2015, the KNP and its partners have distributed 85,000 Warburgia salutaris trees, starting with just 40 in the first year. Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife and its partners have distributed 25,000 trees since 2019, achieving an 85% survival rate for the trees planted and monitored by distribution agencies.

Giovanni says the programme adopts a team approach, working with recognised experts, including social ecologists mandated by government legislation, who work directly with traditional healers and their communities. This collaboration makes the extension of the project a natural fit.

"The Sappi Shaw Forestry Research Centre is proud to play an instrumental role in developing new methods to secure better germination and propagation of the Pepper-bark tree. Due to the programme's success, we are extending that support, and other species have been identified for phase two of the project", said Giovanni.

AFRICAN CHERRY, BLACK STINKWOOD AND ASSEGAI TREES

The programme is being extended to include Prunus africana (African Cherry), Ocotea bullata (Black Stinkwood), Vachellia xanthophloea (Fever Tree), and Curtisia dentata (Assegai Tree). The Sappi Shaw research team is conducting trials on African cherry, black stinkwood, and the assegai tree.

Other partnerships and collaborations within the programme include academic institutions, the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) nursery, the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) in Mbombela, and national and regional parks like KNP and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife.

Willem Boshoff, a founder of Newlands Forest Conservation, says Cape beech, Cape holly, assegai, stinkwood, wild peach, red alder, hard pear and other trees are targeted by strippers.

SUSTAINABLE HARVESTING

In an interview with Don Pinnock of Daily Maverick in February, Willem said, "There are two dynamics involved. One is access to traditional medicine that may be cheaper, the other is traditional beliefs.

"Becoming critical of a cultural practice is very sensitive terrain. We're not critical of a practice that has been going on for centuries, we are critical about it being done in a completely unsustainable manner, and then going from unsustainable to extremely destructive. For some, it's simply a commercial criminal enterprise".

Willem told Don they found a solution in Newlands: to paint the trees with diluted PVA. Protecting these species is vital for ensuring that medicinal plants can be used sustainably for future generations while maintaining biodiversity.

• Sources: Sappi press release and Don Pinnock's article "A conversation with the man who paints trees to combat bark stripping", in Daily Maverick 25 Feb 2024.