<B>Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Mauritius</B>

<B> You have published a book on medicinal herbs ?Lesser-known and underutilised plant resources?. Can you tell us more about it? </B>

The rationale for writing this book is based on observation that many plant resources are marginalised. I have given the statistics on the use of plant resources and we found that we are reducing our food base on fewer plants. Plants traditionally used by the population are marginalised. So there is a unit within the Food and Agriculture Organisation known as the global forum for under-utilized species which addresses this issue because we must increase the base of plants which feed the world and those which have medicinal properties. This unit has funded me for this publication.

<B>When did you become interested in medicinal herbs and what motivated you? </B>

I have always been interested in plants, but I have really focused on medicinal herbs since I joined the University of Mauritius (UoM) 17 years ago. When I was trying to refocus my research work, I turned to phytochemistry, another aspect of organic chemistry, one way of looking at biological chemistry and biologically active molecules. And ?medicinal plants? are a very nice area, which combines useful plants and this aspect of organic chemistry. But it turned out to be an interesting multi-disciplinary research project bringing on board ethno botany, biochemistry, chemistry or pharmacology.

<B>Do Mauritians have a good knowledge of medicinal herbs? </B>

They do! And in a survey we found that over 600 plants are used by common people to treat themselves. What is interesting is that, when two French doctors ?Daruty and Bouton? did a survey in the 1800s, they found that only one endemic plant was used by the population. When we did the survey again in the 1990s we found that 15% of the 600 plants were endemic. This provides an interesting perspective from the ethno-botanical point of view because it means that people have been experimenting on our flora ever since they emigrated from the African and American subcontinents. So, we do have a Mauritian pharmacopoeia and we need to value this!

<B> Is there enough research in this field? </B>

At the UoM we have started sensitizing people on this issue. But in research there are always plenty of things to do. I think we have started on the right foot but we need more infrastructure and more money. Furthermore, we should not forget that, because demand is so great, our medicinal plants could easily become an avenue for commercial exploitation.

<B>What could be done to raise Mauritians? awareness about medicinal herbs? </B>

We need to start adding value to what exists already. I mean producing medicinal herbs for local consumption acceptable to the Mauritian population. We know people use medicinal herbs, look for it and want to be treated by herbal remedies. So, we need to provide them in a form available throughout the year in a standard and convenient way of access. By this I mean producing herbal medicines on a commercial basis. Moreover, we must educate people on the benefits and potential side-effects of medicinal plants.

<B> What are your future projects in this field? </B>

I already have a few interesting projects. One is at the level of the African continent under the umbrella of an association just set up and known as ?Association of African Medicinal Plants Standards.? It is funded by Center for Development of Enterprise. We have already prepared 23 monographs of the trading standards for medicinal plants. The reason this is that we need trading standards for the successful commercialization of plants. We hope to bring the number of monographs to 50 to put African medicinal plants on the world market. The fall-out of this project will be beneficial for Mauritius!