GCRF-BBR: West African bioactive plant products: pipeline for maximising potential

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Plant products are used traditionally for a huge range of applications, including as insect repellents and insecticides, bird, snake and rodent repellents, natural remedies, tanning agents, food preservatives, cosmetics, fertilizers, herbicides, detergents, paints and dyes. This is especially true in Ghana and other West African countries, where the biodiversity of the forest ecosystems represents a valuable natural resource that has potential to support economic and social development of the region. Ghanaian researchers at the University of Cape Coast (UCC) and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) are at the forefront of research into West African traditional plant products but international collaboration is essential to maximise the potential of these undoubtedly useful resources. We have worked closely with academics and regulators in Ghana to identify that a major barrier to effective international collaboration is the absence of coordinated infrastructure to collate and distribute materials and information. This proposal will provide such infrastructure. This will enable researchers at KNUST and UCC to establish a sustainable repository of active plant materials in parallel with a web-based, user compiled database of knowledge and information about useful plant species. The global research community will be able to search for information and request samples to stimulate international collaborations and speed up the development of traditional plant products for the benefit of local communities and beyond. It will clearly be important to accurately identify the species of the plants used. This is often difficult, as plant products are typically processed before use, for example by drying or grinding. We propose to train Ghanaian researchers in DNA identification protocols, and establish this capacity in Ghana for use by academics and regulators in the region and beyond.