Genetic conservation and sustainable use of Indonesian medicinal plants

As a biodiversity hotspot and the centre of origin of many cultivated plants, including medicinal plant species, Indonesia is a country of precious value to its own people and the world at large. However, Indonesia faces the issues of severe population growth, land conversion, deforestation and climate change that threatens its biological richness. Considering the importance of these species, well-planned and pro-active research efforts, are essential to ensuring their long-term conservation and sustainable utilisation. The empiric chapters in this thesis represented some of these efforts, consisted of prioritisation of species on the checklist according to defined criteria, in situ and ex situ gap-analysis, a climate change risk assessment, and the study of DNA barcoding for medicinal plant species. These priority listings nominate 233 medicinal plant species in need of conservation and appropriate utilisation. The gap analysis resulted in the determination of where in situ and ex situ conservation of priority medicinal plants in Indonesia should be done and provided some related recommendation. In addition, based on climate change analysis, the total of 28 priority species are identified to be more threatened in the future and become species target for highest conservation action. Meanwhile, according to DNA barcoding study, we found that matK can be the core DNA barcoding and might be supported with ITS2 and rbcL. New DNA barcoding regions of studied Indonesian medicinal plants have also been provided. Generally, the results of this project will lead to a recommendation that supports National Priority Program included in the Mid-Term National Development Plans of Indonesia and in meeting the expectations of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), particularly the Aichi targets and the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC). Besides, this result is fully in line with Indonesia’s National Policy on Traditional Medicines, known by the acronym KOTRANAS (Kebijakan Obat Tradisional Nasional)