Medicinal Plants of the Argentinian Puna: A Common Property Resource and an Opportunity for Local People

Abstract

"Considering that poverty increased in Argentina due to local currency devaluation (400%) in 2002, the objective of the project Cultivating the Health is to create certified phytomedicines to give them for free to the rural poor. In order to contribute to that objective, I collected and identified the medicinal plants of the Argentinean Puna. The study area is placed in NW Argentina in Salta (Los Andes Department: 25636 Km2) and Jujuy Provinces (Susques Department: 9200 Km2), placed between 3500 and 5000 meters above sea level (m.a.s.l.), near the border with Bolivia and Chile. With the help of 3 medicine women and 18 local guides, 42 species of plants used as medicine by local people, were identified: 1 Pteridaceae, 1 Amaranthaceae, 1 Anacardiaceae, 2 Apiaceae, 13 Asteraceae, 2 Cactaceae, 2 Chenopodiaceae, 1 Ephedraceae, 2 Fabaceae, 1 Krameriaceae, 3 Lamiaceae, 2 Malvaceae, 1 Plantaginaceae, 3 Poaceae, 1 Rosaceae, 2 Solanaceae, 1 Tiphaceae and 4 Verbenaceae. According to their medicinal properties, 10 of those species are offered to tourists, despite one of them Werneria poposa (Asteraceae) is endangered. The traditional knowledge about the use of those plants is being eroded and lost, because now a day is easier for the dwellers to obtain medical attention in primary health care systems. On the other hand, the phytochemical and pharmacological properties of most of those species are little known. There is pharmaceutical information available for only 36 % of the species identified. With the participation of local people, is necessary to define plans for the sustainable use of that common property resource and to clarify the information about products sold and used in the popular medicine from the botanical and pharmaceutical point of view. The intellectual property rights of local people have to be protected properly."