Overview of Taiwan＇s Indigenous Ethnopharmacology in the Perspective of Traditional Knowledge Protection

• Published in: 中国结合医学杂志：英文版 no. 12; pp. 949 - 954
• Main Author: 郭菁菁 潘威 陈美婉 王春明 王一涛
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: 传统医学; 传统知识; 保护生物多样性; 保护电流; 台湾地区; 土著; 民族; 药物学
• ISSN: 1672-0415; 1993-0402

Ethnopharmacology, the study of ethnic use of drugs, opens up the crucial gateway to understanding and promoting traditional medicine in the new age. Taiwan is a unique region where traditional medicine and herbal therapeutics have been benefiting its people of multiple races for centuries. This article overviews Taiwan＇s indigenous traditional medicine and the emerging status of ethnopharmacology study, and outlines the globa~ scenario of the inheritance and development of traditional medicine. In such a scope of knowledge protection, this article particularly highlights the challenges with bioprospecting and biopiracy, and summarizes the current measures for protection of traditional knowledge in Taiwan. Finally, based upon these analyses, we propose rational strategies for promoting Taiwan＇s ethnopharmacology, from multiple angles of resource, economy, policy and law. We conclude that four measures, namely （1） protecting the natural environment of biodiversity, （2） avoiding unnecessary conflicts caused by bioprospecting and biopiracy, （3） strengthening the international collaboration, and （4） upgrading the legal system of traditional intelligence, would be the right paths for Taiwan to protect its invaluable heritage of traditional medicine and the knowledge of ethnoDharmacoloov therein.