‘Illegal Use of Endangered species and the use of miss-identified plants’

This talk will cover a range of issues associated with the trade of endangered species and the need for more information about the identification of plant-derived products entering the trade.

More and more land is being lost to agriculture and urban development, so the pressure on biodiversity increases with many plants becoming endangered. Those species with commercial uses can also be over-harvested. This talk will cover a range of issues associated with the trade of endangered species and the need for more information about the identification of plant-derived products entering the trade. In an age of increased interest in “naturals” as food, in cosmetics and medicines, we need to have the skills to be able to identify the plants we are using. The talk will be illustrated by research projects being undertaken in different parts of the world and highlights the need to maintain skills such as taxonomy along with embracing modern analytical and DNA-barcoding technologies.

Monique Simmonds is Deputy Keeper & Head of Sustainable Uses of Plants Group (Biological Interactions Section and Centre for Economic Botany), Jodrell Laboratory, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Head of Kew Innovation Unit. She studied Agricultural Zoology and Pure Zoology at Leeds University and then went onto undertake a PhD with Prof Wally Blaney at Birkbeck College, University of London. She was then employed by Kew to study animal-plant interactions and has remained at Kew since. She is a visiting Professor at Birkbeck College & School of Pharmacy, University of London and Greenwich University. At Kew she co-ordinates research into the economic uses of plants/fungi, their potential as pharmaceutical, cosmetics and agrochemical leads, and as sources of new sustainable crops. She has extensive experience of working in developing countries, investigating the uses of plants for control of pests as well as improving wellbeing (treatment of HIV, TB and malaria) and poverty alleviation (plants-derived products as sources of income).

Register to tell a friend about this lecture.

Comments

If you would like to comment about this lecture, please register here.

©2003-2006 Niminim Limited. Created by

Any ad revenue is entirely reinvested into the Lecture List's operating fund