CJB - Cooperation

Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la Ville de Genève

Cooperation in the SOUTH

Educative series South-North
Medicinal plants of the Botanical Garden of Asuncion

Over many years the CJB has developed, on the basis of their collections (the herbarium and library) and their world renowned expertise on the understanding and management of the plant world (Flore du Paraguay, Flore des Alpes, Flore de Corse), an active policy of "botany applied to durable development", based on Ethnobotany.

The programmes which have resulted, developed from the chosen research themes of the institution (South America, Africa), use the "synergies north-south and south-south".

They systematically contain the following elements:

A cultural convention signed between the municipalities concerned and the City of Geneva
Green spaces (often Botanical Gardens) as privileged places for visiting, understanding and interpreting by members of the public
Traditional Ethnobotanical knowledge and environmental educational as transmitters of social education.
? Some clear references about the A21 of Rio: thoughtful utilisation of natural resources; democratic participation; central role of women, youth, the local community and the indigenous population; the fight against poverty; conservation and the environment; the prime importance of ethics and public health education.

The objectives of these programmes are, through the recognition of the value of traditional knowledge linked to the use of these plants, a better understanding of the value of the heritage of plants and of their conservation.

Different programmes of cooperation, financed mostly by the "Fonds de développment de la Ville de Genève", have begun on this basis: Asuncion (Paraguay), La Paz (Bolivia), Dakar Abidjan (Ivory Coast), Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) et Patos – Paraiba (Brazil). These projects function regionally in the network "south-south."