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As a result of the historical links between Kew and institutes in different parts of Africa, Kew has many herbarium accessions from Africa and supporting information about the distribution and uses of these species. Currently Kew is collating and studying these collections with collaborators in Africa with the aim of supporting many of the objectives outlined in the “Global Strategy for Plant Conservation”, “Africa’s science and technology consolidated plan of action” (New Partnership for Africa’s Development, NEPAD) for biodiversity as outlined in 2005 as well as those in the UN Millennium Development Goals. The African Union Commission and NEPAD have identified their common objectives to develop and use science and technology for the socio-economic transformation of Africa and to improve its integration into the world economy. Better use of the biodiversity within Africa is a fundamental concept that underpins the majority of these initiatives and NEPAD has specifically asked for support to improve the scientific infrastructure and technical capacity within Africa. Our vision at Kew is to see a wide range of species and vegetation types conserved and sustainably used within Africa, through the use of best available information by our African partners and others. Our strategy, therefore, is to make Kew's botanical information (both collections and expertise) much more widely available to a broad range of potential user. This, of course, requires close collaboration with our African partners, particularly in areas of high plant diversity that are being threatened by habitat loss. This talk will provide an overview of some of the projects that involve Kew.

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Co-authors: Beatrice Nyamwamu, Esther Bosibori and Patrick Maundu - Kenya Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge

Encouraging the sustainable use of food plants within traditional food systems maintains both environmental and human health, while promoting cultural identity. The drive to ‘modernise’ is continually reducing agro-biodiversity and dietary diversity in rural Africans through the ‘nutrition transition’ and ‘green revolution’. This ‘modernisation’ is also undermining their cultural heritage and indigenous knowledge, both of which are essential for traditional food systems and the use of biodiversity. African Wild Harvest (AWH) aims to help communities maintain their traditional food plant systems.

BIDII and TATRO Women’s groups were identified with the help of project partners in Kenya. Project outputs were defined and Prior Informed Consent (PIC) obtained through participatory focus group discussions. Further work involved developing the data collection framework and collecting of indigenous knowledge in partnership with community collaborators. The code of ethics of the International Society of Ethnobiology was followed at all times.

PIC enabled communities to participate fully and make specific requests of the project. Communities were responsive to conserving their indigenous knowledge as it was being lost. Over 50 different plant species are use by communities for food, and an additional 10 considered ‘lost’. 22 of those in regular use were fully documented. Communities expressed an interest in publishing their indigenous knowledge, and learning how to better manage their seeds.

The experience of AWH shows that PIC and following recognised ethical guidelines is vital if communities are to fully collaborate in any project. AWH identified a higher than expected diversity in food plants used. The need to conserve skills before they are ‘lost’ was highlighted. Future priorities are to increase communities’ ability to manage seed, and to publish their indigenous knowledge.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Members and Leaders of the BIDII and TATRO Women’s Groups for their participation; Staline Kibet (National Museums of Kenya) for his botanical expertise, and staff at the Rural Outreach Project (Nairobi).

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Co-authors:Ruth Adeka, Staline Kibet, Maryam Imbumi, Patrick Maundu (SEPASAL Node, National Museums of Kenya)

Documenting and disseminating information on plants is a major part of the scientific work of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Documenting the uses of African dryland plants is a focus of the work of SEPASAL (Survey of Economic Plants of Arid and Semi-Arid Lands). Started at Kew in the early 1980s the database contains information on the uses and use-related properties of more than 6500 plant species. Improving the delivery of scientific information to support conservation and sustainable use is a key aim in Kew’s Corporate Plan. To this end, SEPASAL was made available on the internet in 1999. In addition, African institutions have identified the need to document locally held information and develop science capacity to meet conservation and sustainable use objectives, and have formed close partnerships with Kew to assist the knowledge building process. Two regional SEPASAL nodes have been established with partners in Kenya and Namibia. The paper examines the increase in use of SEPASAL and experience to date at the first regional node set up in 2002 at the Kenya Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge (KENRIK), National Museums of Kenya, and examines the uses to which the data have been put in Kenya.

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Co-authors: Steve Davis, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Jan Siemonsma, PROTA; Monique S.J.Simmonds, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

The people of Africa have a celebrated heritage of using the continent’s rich biodiversity, which includes over 7000 plant species of ethnobotanical value within the tropics alone. Contemporary people-plant relationships in tropical Africa reflect this tradition, but there is scope for plants to be more effectively used to alleviate poverty. Among the factors that has impeded this is in the past, is a limited availability of information. The Plant Resources of Tropical Africa (PROTA) Foundation was established to improve access to the data needed to accomplish the sustainable use of plant resources in tropical Africa. The Foundation’s programmes derive from the encyclopaedic PROTA Handbook of botanical monographs, compiled from literature sourced throughout Africa and Europe. This paper discusses the process of interpretation used by PROTA to transform such scientific information into common knowledge of plant use, citing recent examples from PROTA’s initiative on vegetable plants.