The problem

There are two major threats to humankind today: the loss of biodiversity and the loss of traditional knowledge about biodiversity. Both are issues of utmost importance. Any species that becomes extinct is an option for medicine, food, genes, etc., lost forever. Cultures with vast knowledge of their plant resources also are threatened by extinction because of
acculturation. The traditional knowledge of plants has provided our modern society with medicines, food, industrial materials and many other advantages that we take for granted. Ethnobotanical research is providing fundamental information in the search for new drugs, foods, pesticides, natural products, genes and all kinds of chemicals. Ethnobotanical data
provides an extraordinary diversity of important questions for botanical, ecological and anthropological research.

Purpose

To manage the complex information involved in ethnobotanical research, a database system is an excellent approach. Databases can be designed to incorporate many of the intricacies of the real world. For example, the relationships between scientific names and common names vary through time, space and culture. Names come in and out of use. Species referred to by a common name will change from one area to the next, from one time period to the next. Through the use of the right relational data tables and programming, it is possible to provide for those complexities. Furthermore, with relational databases, many individuals can work
separately adding and correcting material that enhances the overall information system. Upon searches, people can then discover information and relationships novel to them from their own data entry and research. For example, the biochemicals found in various species may be entered by various people. Other individuals could enter the medicinal uses made of various species in many different cultures. Still others could find through their data queries a list of biochemicals found in plants effective in the treatment of a certain disease. Further searches can find which ones would affect various aspects of the disease process. The purpose of this project is to develop such a database focusing on the ethnobotany of Kenya.

Outputs and Milestones

The Ethnobotanical database will efficiently provide and preserve
fundamental information in the search for:
• new drugs,
• foods,
• pesticides,
• natural products,
• genes and
• all kinds of chemicals.
• The data in the database will provide an extraordinary diversity of
important questions for research in:
• botany,
• ecology and
• anthropology.

Impact and Beneficiaries

The immediate beneficiaries are the people in rural areas who have no access or prefer to use herbal remedies to modem medicine. The project will enhance transfer of available knowledge in herbal medicine to them. The project will also provide essential information to the pharmaceutical industry on plants with active ingredients and their agronomic practices.
Some of this knowledge will be translated into drugs for different diseases. In other words the project will be bioprospecting for the pharmaceutical industry. The project will also enhance conservation of plants being used and some which might be under the threat of extinction.

Project Location

The database will be based in Nairobi, Kenya but will have activities in all parts of Kenya namely western Kenya (Luo, Luhya), Central Kenya (Kikuyu), Eastern Kenya (Kamba, Meru), Coast (Mijikenda, Taita), Southern Kenya (Masai) and Northern (Turkana), Northeastern Kenya
(Somali/ Borana/ Samburu). Data will be collected from these communities and curated in the database at Nairobi. Collaborators Traditional herbal practitioners, tribal heads, NGOs, Kenya Medical Research Institute, ICIPE, Kenya Agricultural Institute, Kenya Forestry Research Institute, Ministry of Environment and natural resources, universities and Pharmaceutical companies.

Tasks

Step 1

Status	Task	Replies	Last reply	Time needed
	Field study and testing of viable herbal remedies	5	2010-01-15 12:02