Siberut's medicinal plants face extinction

Siberut's medicinal plants face extinction

Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, Contributor/Padang

Forty-eight-year-old Taroi Satoinang and three other men make their way along a forest path near Muntei village on South Siberut island.

Wearing a traditional costume -- a crown of reddish leaves and flowers, necklace and a beaded red bracelet -- Taroi leads the men in a chant.

Taroi is a traditional healer, or kerei. He is on his way into the forest to find medicinal plants for his patients.

On Siberut, in the Mentawai Islands regency, West Sumatra, a kerei depends on his herbal concoctions and magic powers when treating sick people. Although the island has a modern community health center, about 80 percent of the island's population of 25,000 people still rely on kerei for their medical treatment.

Kerei, are still popular because they are knowledgeable about medicinal plants and can treat various kinds of ailments, ranging from headaches, influenza to malaria and wounds caused by snake bites and gashes. They also have special herbal concoctions that can be used as contraceptives.

Research conducted by the Center for the Study of Medicinal Plants of Andalas University in Padang has shown that while many kerei may believe what they are doing is magic, they are also using plants with properties recognized by modern medicine.

In cooperation with the Siberut National Park authority, the center conducted pharmacological research in Rokdok, a hamlet in South Siberut on the outskirts of the park in October 2002.

With the help of several kerei and other locals, the researchers collected 209 species of medicinal plants, which kerei usually use to treat sick people. As many as 154 species have been identified, belonging to 53 plant families.

"Interestingly, kerei have knowledge of the medical efficacy of about 85 percent or 176 species of these medicinal plants," center head Dr. Amri Bakhtiar, a pharmacologist, said.

Amri said studies had shown the Mentawai people's traditional knowledge of medicinal plants was better than many other tribes in Sumatra.

After finding out how the locals made use of medicinal plants -- ethnobotatic research -- the center took the plants to the laboratory to identify the chemicals found in them, in what is called phytochemical research.

So far, this research had only identified the general categories of the chemical substances and more studies would be conducted to identify the plants' chemical compounds, Amri said.

The 209 species of plants the team had collected were usually used to combat about 30 ailments. The most frequently used plants are rubiaceae (20 species), zingiberaceae (19 species) and euphorbiaceae (14 species). The most common illnesses that kerei deal with are colic, kidney stones and a number of female ailments -- period pain, menopause and illnesses connected with pregnancy.

While some of these species are used individually, most are used to prepare herbal concoctions. The team also conducted tests of 56 species and found 28 species were active and that seven of these were highly active.

Medicinal plants with outstanding antimicrobial and pharmacological qualities would be preserved and subjected to further studies. Many could be developed into new forms of modern drugs, he said.

However, there is still a lot more to discover about the plants on Siberut. Of the 209 different plant types the team had collected not all have yet been classified and many are only grouped in general plant families or genus. Some plants could be completely new species, Amri said.

One plant, the sigoik-goik has drawn great interest because of its unique features. Similar looking to a cassiavera plant, the stem is used to give fragrance to a drink. "I believe this plant must be preserved and cultivated," Amri said.

Rokdok is only one of 62 hamlets on Siberut Island. In most of these hamlets the locals rely on kerei for their medical treatment.

There is still relatively little known about how kerei from different areas use these plants. The fact that kerei traditionally consider it taboo to reveal the formula of their concoctions to non-kerei does not make the research any easier.

Then there is the problem of the disappearing habitat for kerei and their medicinal plants. Kerei only make use of the plants collected from forest areas close to their hamlets. They do not cultivate these plants, so any destruction of forests means the loss of their medicines.

For a kerei, the forest is the pulse of life. "The disappearance of forest areas because of logging means our death," says Taroi, who hates the forestry operations on Siberut.

Amri said he had asked the forestry ministry and the Mentawai administration to view Siberut island as an important biological treasure. They had issued forestry concessions anyway, he said.

"There are still a lot of things we need to learn about Siberut forests. We must also learn how medicinal plant species are distributed across Mentawai. Full-scale exploitation of these forests must be prevented," he said.