8. ASPECTOS LEGALES Y REGULATORIOS
8.3 Normas de Derecho Internacional Público
Among the Serbian people, particularly in rural regions, there is a strong belief in the power of medicinal herbs. This is linked to traditions originating over the past centuries whereby the majority of the population, faced by a lack of organized health care and support, turned to nature when faced with ailments, most frequent- ly treating themselves with medicinal plants, minerals, and animal products. The sound knowledge of ethnobotany and ethnomedicine in these areas is also a result of the specific geographical position, the great biological diversity, and ethnic and cultural differences.
A large number of plants have a wide variety of uses in many households either in their fresh state or more commonly when dried. The inhabitants of the rural parts of Serbia treat numerous complaints with herbal preparations, accelerate the healing of wounds and other skin damage with balms, and ease the discomfort associated with other serious, often “incurable” illnesses.
Additionally, medicinal plants make up an important part of both domestic and foreign trade. The high quality of plant material from Serbia has ensured commer- cial success in West European markets for several decades. More recently, medicinal plants have been at the heart of numerous programs and economic initiatives aimed at developing rural areas. Medicinal plants in their fresh or dried form, extracted me- dicinal substances used as pharmaceutical raw materials, nursery and seed material, and in vitro cultures for regeneration and multiplication, all have commercial value.
Time has shown that nature is the best pharmacy, with its medicines not interfer- ing with the course of nature, but instead stimulating it and keeping it in equilib- rium. However, medicinal plants should be used intelligently and rationally, and care should be taken to preserve them for future generations. Unfortunately, over the past few decades, rural regions of Serbia have witnessed trends of permanent depopulation, which will probably cause a partial loss of traditional knowledge. In the future, the ethnobotanical heritage of Serbia should be promoted in a broader sense, through it taking a special role in conservation opportunities as well as the economic initiatives in the region. This entails not only ensuring the development of
6 Wild Mediterranean Plants in Rural Serbia 111
rural areas while protecting and maintaining biodiversity and preserving traditional cultures but also helping science to find new raw materials.
Acknowledgments This work was supported by Ministry for Education, Science and Technologi-
cal Development of Serbia (Grant No. 173018).
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