Nelson company Up For UN Award

Nelson company Up For UN Award

A Vietnamese aid project instigated by Nelson company Forest Herbs Research Ltd is up for a United Nation¹s award.

The Medicinal Plants Innovation Project, funded by New Zealand Aid, was set up in 2003, and works with hill tribes in the remote Sa Pa region of North Vietnam, aiming to replicate Forest Herbs¹ own success with sustainable harvesting of the New Zealand native horopito, the active in the international anti-yeast line Kolorex.

The project has just been named on the shortlist of ten from 230 international submissions in the prestigious UN backed Seed Initiative awards. (SEED stands for Supporting Entrepreneurs in Environment and Development.)

Forest Herbs¹ International Project Coordinator Chris Wheatley says the Medicinal Plants Innovation Project is at a stage where it is now feasible to turn the initial concept into a commercial reality.

³Two years ago we isolated a tuber that shows promising results in the treatment of melanoma - if scientific research confirms its promise we could have a major success that will be a life changer for the people of Sa Pa as well as an incentive for saving rare plant species,² he says. ³This is a long term project, but in the meantime we are already marketing unique essential oils from native Vietnamese medicinal plants - these are now being sustainably produced, harvested and processed by the hill tribe people.²

The award was submitted by the new company formed to commercialise project results, Sa Pa Essentials, and the local farmer organisation SIMPA.

Dr Wheatley says the project meets the three criteria for the Seed Initiative awards, where the judges are looking for economic, social and environmental benefits.

³We have a sustainable business partnership that offers livelihood options for local ethnic minority people through production of new crops, seasonal employment and links to the expanding tourist industry. The project provides social and community development benefits through the production and marketing of high value natural products, and on the environmental side it provides an incentive for the sustainable production of threatened medicinal plant species and for the conservation of their natural habitat."

The Seed Award finalists were selected after a 10-month process covering 70 countries worldwide. An international jury will now identify the five winning partnerships from the 10 finalists. Dr Wheatley explains that the Medicinal Plants Innovation Project will benefit, whatever happens from here on.

³They now select five winners and five runners-up, eligible for two levels of assistance with the likes of marketing, capacity development, capital investment and Fair Trade certification,² he says. ³This help will be critical in furthering the Sa Pa project¹s development into a business with some impact.²

Partners in the Seed Initiative include the World Conservation Union (IUCN); the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); the governments of the United States of America, Germany, the Netherlands, South Africa, and the United Kingdom; and private sector partner Swiss Re. Finalists for the Seed Awards 2007 include a Tanzanian investigation into alternative fuels from wood waste and an Indian promotion of natural dyes in the textile industry.

The awards ceremony will be held during the high-level segment of the 15th session of the Commission for Sustainable Development in May in New York.

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