Can External Interventions in the Field of Traditional Medicine Help Conserve Natural Resources and Enhance Ancestral Heritage?

In Madagascar some development programs interested in local medical knowledge have been working simultaneously to enhance the life of people and conserve the natural habitat. A study of these practices casts a different light on their work. After presenting several misconceptions concerning traditional medicine, I discuss the use of local taboos by development organisations as a means for conserving natural environment. Secondly I examine attempts to plant medicinal garens to stem the loss of natural habitat, and finally, I discuss misunderstandings concerning the notion of development and the selective screening of therapeutic practices. I suggest in conclusion that programs should primarly be less concerned with assessing the immediate prcaticalities of the proposed action and more concerned with an understanding of the soical whole