Representatives of eight RCEs discussed and developed projects on ESD and traditional medicine at a two-day planning workshop held in Bangalore on 21-22 November 2009. The workshop was held back-to-back with an international exchange and conference of traditional healers, in which practitioners from eighteen countries participated.

The conference and workshop were organised by FRLHT (Foundation for the Revitalization of Local Health Traditions), ETC-Compas, UNU-IAS and other partners.

The RCE Planning Workshop on Traditional Medicine and Health follows meetings of the thematic group on health held in Kotabaru in May 2008 and in Yokohama in January and August 2009. It was held to integrate existing traditional medical resources in selected RCEs to develop sustainable health care, to deliberate upon issues related to ESD, health and traditional medicine, and to develop a global framework for RCE activities on the topic.

Participating RCEs Cairo, Cebu, Kodagu, Kyrgyzstan, Makana, Penang, Yogyakarta and Bangalore, presented ideas for projects related to primary health care, medicinal plant conservation and sustainable livelihoods through traditional medicine, and discussed potential collaboration.

For further information
Unnikrishnan Payyappalli
Yokohama National University and FRLHT
unnipm@yahoo.com

Sampreethi Aipanjiguly
ESD Programme, UNU-IAS
aipanjiguly@ias.unu.edu