Managing Environmental Issues Simulation
Managing Environmental Issues Simulation
Colney and Pitts is a California based pharmaceutical company generating annual sales of $50 million. It is the chief producer in America of herbal remedies for prostate illnesses like prostate cancer, prostatitis, benign prostatic hypertrophy, incontinence, dysuria, polyuria and nycturia. The company has learned that the Pygeum or Prunus Africana can be found in Aberdares mountain ranges in eastern highlands of Kenya. With this information, the company wants to build a manufacturing plant near the mountain ranges.
It has been known that the Pygeum or Prunus Africana can be used as an alternative medicine for patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (Edgar, Levin, Constantinou, & Denis, 2007, p. 459). The herbal medication has shown some positive results in in vitro studies and mouse models. There were also some clinical trials that were conducted to investigate the effectiveness of Pygeum for treating benign prostatic hyperplasia by comparing it with a placebo. Studies found that there were improvements in the patients in terms of their symptoms after taking the drug compared to those who got the placebo.
There were also several patients who experienced reduced urinary retention and incontinence after taking the herbal drug (Shenouda et al., 2007, p. 75). With this information, the company wants to reproduce and manufacture this drug by harvesting Prunus Africana from Aberdares. However, the company knows that aside from the environmental effects of this project, the people who are living around the mountain will also be affected.
The Kikuyu tribe is the largest tribe in the country and occupies the mountain range and they will be the primary tribe to be affected by this project. As part of its contract with the Kenyan government, the company has offered to implement several development measures for the Kikuyu tribe in return for their permission for the company to harvest trees. Aside from helping the community, the company has also budgeted $250,000 for the developmental activities in the region which will also involve protecting and preserving the area. With that the company wants to propose the following measures to be done in order to preserve the area and also help the natives of the place.
The very first project the company will be doing is planting more trees. The company believes that it is the best way to conserve the forest biodiversity. Furthermore, by planting trees, this will also help preserve the areas which were destroyed by poachers. There were also reports that the decreasing abundance of Prunus Africana gives the tree a possibility of extinction. That is why it is very important that for the business to sustain and also for the preservation. Since there is a demand for the yield from this tree, harvesting this species could lead to extinction. This could not just have a negative effect on the economic livelihoods of farmers and the company, but it can also narrow the options for those patients who are suffering from prostate illnesses (Otieno, 2012).
The next priority of the company is the welfare of the tribe since they are the people who will mostly affected by this project. One of the company’s proposals is to relocate the natives to another mountain range since the project could disturb their natural habitat. With this, the company will bear all the expenses needed in rebuilding their hutments and also the company will give them financial compensation for their additional needs. The company also wants to give some of the people in the tribe necessary training so that they could also work in the industry. The company will teach then various modern methods of harvesting which will also empower them to be employed with other similar companies.
Aside from relocation and training, the company will also provide infrastructure like roads so that the people from the tribes will have easy access to the city to be able to help them reduce their travel time whenever they would need to go to the city for trade and work. Including in this proposal is the building of permanent houses for the tribe which will help them in their social and economic development.
The International Center of Ethnobotanical Research raised some important issues regarding the project. The organization would like the company to address issues like extinction of Prunus Africana, deforestation that will result in erosion of some areas and affecting tribal settlements and destroying the natural vegetation of the area. With that, the company has agreed to the organization’s proposal that the company will adopt the technology of marcotting.
Marcotting is also called air layering and it is very easily performed and requires less skills. This is a way of plant breeding in which a certain part of an aerial stem grows roots while it is still attached to its parent plant. This will then detach soon as an independent plant (Bareja, 2010). This has evolved as a common means of vegetative propagations in a number of natural environments, and the company is willing to adopt this technology in producing Prunus Africana. Marcotting has been already used in West and Central African regions, which is why; the company is willing to try this technology in order to prevent the extinction of the species.
EcoSmiles, who has been actively preserving the forests, also demanded that the company should make sure that the forests in the area are preserved. Plant poaching is also a primary problem in the country. For this reason, the company agreed to help the Kenyan government to check poaching within the area. Poaching is one of the primary reasons of the population decline of numerous endangered species and animals.
Unfortunately, studies showed that Prunus Africana is one of the plants that are in trouble of being extinct. Today, there are numerous animals which are being poached in Africa and this includes rhinos and elephants. These animals are being hunted for their horns, husks and pelts. Aside from animals, there has been a recent wave of plant poaching that has caused detrimental effects of some of the endangered plant species. These plants from wild ginger and cycad plant which are found in South Africa to the ginseng and Venus fly traps are all under the threat at the hands of these poachers (Vallery, 2015).
Colney and Pitts is a company who does not only want to help the people around the area but also the environment. With these proposals, the company hopes that they could operate and produce their products peacefully without negatively affecting nature or the tribe. By giving training to the people from the tribe and by creating infrastructures the company wants to provide livelihood to its people in order for them to develop economic ties not only to the companies but also to other markets as well.
References
Bareja, B. G. (2010). Marcotting Methods in Plant Propagation. Retrieved from http://www.cropsreview.com/marcotting.html
Edgar, A. D., Levin, R., Constantinou, C. E., & Denis, L. (2007). A critical review of the pharmacology of the plant extract ofPygeum africanum in the treatment of LUTS.Neurourology and Urodynamics, 26(4), 456-63. doi:10.1002/nau.20136
Otieno, Y. (2012, March 28). Unsustainable harvesting of Prunus africana tree threatens treatment of prostate disorders | World Agroforestry Centre. Retrieved from http://www.worldagroforestry.org/newsroom/press-releases/unsustainable-harvesting-prunus-africana-tree-threatens-treatment-prostate-d
Shenouda, N. S., Sakla, M. S., Newton, L. G., Besch-Williford, C., Greenberg, N. M., MacDonald, R. S., & Lubahn, D. B. (2007). Phytosterol Pygeum africanum regulates prostate cancer in vitro and in vivo. Endocrine, 31(1), 72-81. doi:10.1007/s12020-007-0014-y
Vallery, A. (2015, February 18). 3 Plants We Are Losing to Poachers Yes, Plant Poaching Exists! | One Green Planet. Retrieved from http://www.onegreenplanet.org/environment/plant-poaching/
