Medicinal Resources of the Tropical Forest: Biodiversity and Its Importance to Human Health

According to World Health Organization estimates, 80 percent of people living in developing countries rely on wild harvested plants for some aspect of their primary health care. This text aims to open readers' eyes to the enormous resources of the Earth's rainforests and the potential impact of their destruction in terms of human health, as well as the modern-day usefulness of traditional herbal remedies.

Michael J. Balick is director and philecology curator at the New York Botanical Garden Institute of Economic Botany, and adjunct professor in forestry at Yale University and the City University of New York.

Elaine Elisabetsky is professor at the Laboratório de Ethnofarmacologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil.

Saraah A. Laird is research fellow at the Rainforest Alliance, and former director of the Rainforest Alliance’s Periwinkle Project.