We at Naturaleza have formed partnerships with the Kekchi First Nation communities of the Toledo district of southern Belize through their indigenous grass-roots NGO
the Belize Indigenous Training Institute (BITI) and a medicinal plant laboratory directed by Dr. John Arnason (a major Canadian center for the study of medicinal plants, with
over 25 years experience in the area, especially in Central America) at the University of Ottawa, Canada to develop sustainable harvest programming and production of rainforest
phytomedicines and non-timber forestry products in the Kekchi lands of southern Belize.
The Kekchi First Nation communities of the Toledo district of Southern Belize lead a traditional lifestyle in one of the few remaining pristine environments of Central
America. The Maya mountains and adjacent areas of the Toledo district of Southern Belize support a large area of semi-evergreen tropical rainforest. Rainfall is high in this
area and recent surveys show that species richness is high, with new records to Belize that include new undescribed species (Ironmonger et al, 1995). As other areas of Central
America have been largely deforested, this area has become increasingly important as an area for its biodiversity conservation, as it represents a "biodiversity hotspot" for
the region. In a progressive development, the Government of Belize has entered into a co-management agreement with the indigenous Kekchi Maya inhabitants of the area to ensure
sustainable use and management of the area.
Despite its biodiversity riches, the area has many challenges of economic development. It remains one of the poorest areas of Belize with high unemployment. There are
urgent needs for better training, education, delivery of effective primary health care since the villages are far from clinics, maintenance of traditional culture and means to support elders in the community.
One of the innovative ways that members of the Kekchi community are attempting to maintain environmental stewardship over the forest areas, address primary healthcare
and support the elders is through the organization of the Kekchi healers association. The Healer's association and its parent NGO-BITI, are engaged in the rejuvenation and
improvement of traditional Kekchi medicine. The healers provide necessary treatments in remote villages for primary healthcare including treatment of skin infections, gastroenteritis,
and first aid for snake bite et cetera-with more serious cases/illnesses being referred to the district hospital. The healers and BITI have organized the sustainable production and
harvest of rainforest phytomedicines and non-timber forestry products and we at Naturaleza are: assisting them with the development of the appropriate infrastructure, assisting
in the development of an intellectual property strategy to protect traditional plant resources and to keep benefits in Kekchi hands, providing advice and guidance on the ethical
boundaries of alternative and complementary medicine and how to foster good relations with conventional medicine providers, developing action plans for the marketing of Kekchi
products under several types of "ecolabels" and establishing a small-scale commercial export phytomedicine business to generate external income and fresh revenue streams for
the continued preservation of their natural places and their deep cultural traditions. The ecolabels that ensure a better return to the Kekchi healers are, "organically grown",
"indigenous product" and "fair trade". We at Naturaleza and socially/environmentally responsible U.S. based organic herbal companies, including Earth Healers, will spearhead the marketing of these products through our websites.
Development of Kekchi Healer's Center.
The healer's center will provide a place for healers to meet clients, each other and members of the community. It also provides a
cultural presence and status for the indigenous healers and an educational facility for schools and eventually for visitors to Belize. The center will be organized as a cultural
center for traditional healing and complementary health care. It should be noted that the point of the healer's clinic is to disseminate knowledge about the plant medicines
that are the subject of much of the other research, including the marketing of traditional healing services. This would include helping local patients and consumers as well as
clients appreciate the important cultural context in which the plant medicines are embedded. This cultural context itself could be packaged and promoted separately (ex. pamphlets
on traditional Belizean medicine for local and visitor education) and with the plant medicines themselves. This ensures promotion of the culture, rather than violation of if
which some argue occurs when commercial enterprises encounter indigenous peoples.
Improvement of the medicinal plant garden and medicinal plant crops.
Many of the >200 medicinal plants used by the Kekchi healers are rainforest species with low frequency of occurrence and spotty distributions. For this reason, the healers have
already begun a program of medicinal plant cultivation at pristine growing sites and we at Naturaleza are actively seeking organic certification for their lands. An innovative
feature of their site was the transplantation and propagation of forest epiphytes, vines and saplings into an accessible forest area for sustained use. The experimental nature
of this transplantation project is an excellent example of participatory research by the local community.
Small plantations of a few selected, more easily grown medicinals will be established on the cleared areas of their growing sites and a pilot project will develop propagation
for one extremely promising phytomedicine with favorable commercial potential. As part of the effort to improve the quality and scientific basis of the medicinal garden,
an ethnobotancial herbarium will be established. The plants will be identified by botanical collaborators at the Universidad Nacional in Costa Rica.
Pilot Production facility for plant based medicines.
Basic production facilities are now at laboratory scale and can barely accommodate a local market. The critical step to
success in the field is a production facility that can easily produce product in the 100-1000 kg range and we are working with our indigenous partners to create this facility.
Effective plant driers and several other items for this modest scale of production are required for any sustainable effort at producing plant products.
Development of culturally appropriate business activities.Through activities in the local economy managed by the Belize Indigenous Training Institute, sustainable economic
activities in the Kekchi villages, towns and coastal tourist areas will be undertaken. This will lead to a local market for Kekchi medicinals that provides incomes for the healers
and better quality products for traditional medicine consumers.
Improvement of quality and safety of traditional medicine products.The University of Ottawa will undertake an economic botany analysis of the traditional pharmacopoeia.
Economic plant analysis involves development of priority list of biodiversity materials. Using the NAPRALERT database from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and literature cited
therein, profiles of the published ethnomedical, biological activity and phytochemical literature will be assembled for priority species in brief monographs prepared in collaboration
with local students. Monographs are considered essential for raising the credibility of the phytomedicine area in Belize and for developing commercial interest, particularly in the
North American Market. In addition they are a guidance documents for the safe use and eventual regulation of herbal products.
Where it is a priority the University of Ottawa will provide botanical and phytochemcial certifications and appropriate pharmacological evaluation of traditional plants in
support of their safe use. The University of Ottawa and its network of partners will conduct research on selected species to provide an evidence-based foundation to the Kekchi
medicinals and they too are assisting in the development of an intellectual property strategy to protect traditional plant resources and to keep benefits in Kekchi hands.
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