About the Project

Collecting plants and herbs requires certain degree of knowledge, as the collector needs to be able to identify herbs correctly, and also know where to find them. This knowledge was often passed down from generation to generation.

Today, and since the middle of the 20th century, due to urbanization, changes in land ownership and lifestyle this traditional knowledge is being lost. Plant collection that does take place is done in an unsustainable manner leading to the decline of a key employment for vulnerable groups as it is often an important source of additional income for the Roma ethnic minority, women and the elderly.

Central Europe used to be and still is among the main exporters of products originating from plants – e.g. medicinal and spice plants - to processors in Western Europe. In Europe it is estimated that about 2000 plants are traded commercially, of which 60-70% are natives. Up to 90% of these species are still collected from the wild


The Goals of the Project:

– To protect and share this declining cultural heritage;
– to improve livelihoods of vulnerable groups in rural parts of Central Europe.

Our partnership wants to set up a capacity building strategy to revive regional cultural
traditions on utilisation of plants to contribute towards strengthening of local communities.

The specific objective is to implement a pilot model by year 2014 that is socially and culturally acceptable, economically-sound and environmentally viable for the collection of wild plants, their processing and use.




Corvinus University of Budapest, Department of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants
http://medplant.uni-corvinus.hu/


WWF Hungary in cooperation with TRAFFIC
www.wwf.hu
http://www.traffic.org/

Village Local Authority Kunadacs
(Dél-Alföld, HU)
www.kunadacs.hu

South-Transdanubian Regional Resource Centre Nonprofit LTD
(Dél-Dunántúl, HU)
www.ddrfk.hu

Association for Development and Promotion of Podkarpackie Voivodeship "PRO CARPATHIA"
(Podkarpackie, PL)
http://www.procarpathia.pl/en/

Development Agency Kozjansko
(Slovenija, SI)
www.ra-kozjansko.si

Institution Fundation BIT Planota
(Slovenija, SI)
www.planota.si

Mendel University in Brno
(Jihovychod, CZ)
http://mendelu.cz/en

Regional Agrarian Chamber of The South Moravian Region Brno
(Jihovychod, CZ)
www.kisjmk.cz


Form more info click HERE