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

植物产品传统上被用于广泛的用途，包括用作驱虫剂和杀虫剂、鸟类、蛇和啮齿动物驱避剂、天然药物、制革剂、食品防腐剂、化妆品、化肥、除草剂、洗涤剂、油漆和染料。在加纳和其他西非国家尤其如此，在这些国家，森林生态系统的生物多样性是一种宝贵的自然资源，有可能支持该区域的经济和社会发展。开普敦海岸大学(UCC)和夸梅·恩克鲁玛科技大学(KNUST)的加纳研究人员处于西非传统植物产品研究的前沿，但国际合作对于最大限度地发挥这些毫无疑问有用的资源的潜力至关重要。我们与加纳的学术界和监管者密切合作，以确定有效国际合作的一个主要障碍是缺乏协调的基础设施来整理和分发材料和信息。这项提议将提供这样的基础设施。这将使Knust和UCC的研究人员能够建立一个可持续的活跃植物材料储存库，同时建立一个基于网络的、用户汇编的有用植物物种知识和信息数据库。全球研究界将能够搜索信息和索取样本，以促进国际合作，加快传统植物产品的开发，造福当地社区和其他社区。显然，准确识别所用植物的种类将是很重要的。这通常是困难的，因为植物产品通常在使用前进行加工，例如通过干燥或研磨。我们建议对加纳的研究人员进行DNA鉴定协议方面的培训，并在加纳建立这一能力，供该地区和其他地区的学者和监管机构使用。

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.