Description: According to World Health Organization estimates, some 80 percent of people living in developing countries rely on harvested wild plants for some part of their primary health care. Medicinal Resources of the Tropical Forest stands at the forefront of the dialogue on the subject, opening readers' eyes to the enormous resources of the earth's rain forests and the potential impact of their destruction in terms of human healthto inhabitants of both the developing and the developed world. Covering a wide spectrum of subjects in biodiversity, ethnomedicine, ethnobotany, and pharmacognosy, and including regional work ranging from Africa to Asia, from the Caribbean to Central and South America, the distinguished researchers assembled here offer the most comprehensive survey available of the current literature. Unlike much of the work on the topic, Medicinal Resources of the Tropical Forest provides readers with more than a mere listing of plants and their reputed benefits. The authors call attention to the ways in which the natural habitats of these plants can be protected from damage or destruction. They provide detailed information on establishing drug discovery efforts, laying the groundwork for a basic pool of knowledge for pharmaceutical companies and smaller-scale entrepreneurs. The book also explores the ethical issue of intellectual property rights pertaining to tropical resources and their diverse medicinal uses, with an eye toward promoting economic opportunity in developing countries.

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