Farid, M. A.

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168 Environmental Conservationcomplexity of the Sahelian climatic situation is stressed.This will be small consolation to the people of the Sahel;but perhaps administrators will appreciate the need tosee their exploitation policies against a realistic climaticbackcloth, rather than be tempted to think that a seriesof 'bad luck' events have confounded their resource-management policies.The initial issue of this promising Journal alsocontains articles on the chemical characteristics of adesert stream, the effect of stones as modifiers of desertenvironments, litter in desert ecosystems, species diversityin mesic and xeric communities, and the decompositionprocess in semi-arid regions. One article deals with waterlaw in an oasis which, in terms of 'fair dealing', makesfascinating reading.The Journal is produced to a high standard andpromises to combine science and socio-economic topicsin a most interesting manner. It is one of the morewelcome additions to the journal list.Michael J. Chadwick(York, United Kingdom)Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Edited by L. RIVIER& J. G. BRUHN, Elsevier Sequoia, Lausanne, Switzer-land: Volume 1, No. 1, pp. 1-97+, illustr., 24 X 16X 0.8 cm, January 1979.The arrival of an important new scientific journal isalways a major event—especially when it relates to anew discipline. Research workers in this field can nowfind an authoritative outlet for their discoveries, and itwas to fill this growing need that this Journal was con-ceived, and eventually came to fruition through the ini-tiative of an eminent British pharmacist, C. B. Holliday,FPS, FLS, with two of the younger generation of workersin this discipline—Dr L. Rivier, of the University ofLausanne, and Dr J. G. Bruhn, of the Swedish MedicalResearch Council's Department of Toxicology in Stock-holm—acting as joint editors.As defined by the Editors, the scope of the new jour-nal is a multidisciplinary one devoted to bioscientificresearch on indigenous drugs, and is concerned with theobservation, description, and experimental investigation,of such drugs and their biological activities. The factthat among its illustrious advisory editors are such namesas Farnsworth, Swain, Wilbert, and Schultes, will ensurethe new journal's acceptance by research workers in thisfield.This first issue of the journal, apart from the editorialand the short communications, presents four articles ofhigh scientific standard and documented with compre-hensive references; they deal respectively with the inter-disciplinary appraisal of Jaborandi, the hallucinogenicplants of the Tarahumara, the herbal remedies of theMaritime Indians, and the assessment of cocaine in theblood of coco-chewers.This journal has started at the right time, when thereis an increasing interest in research on ethnobotany andtraditional medicine, which has been promoted recentlyby the World Health Organization. It is a fact that manyvaluable drugs of today (e.g. atropine, digitalis, andreserpine),have been introduced into the pharmacopoeiasof the world after investigating folk remedies. The dis-covery of medicinal herbs and their effective usagesin treating common ailments, have become of increasingimportance in the world of medical opinion—particularlyto offer the hundreds of millions of sick people indeveloping countries a cheap, safe, and effective, remedy.In this context the table, given in this issue, of the plantsemployed by Indian herbalists together with their uses(pp. 53—63), will be of great interest to research workersin traditional medicine.This new quarterly Journal is published by ElsevierSequoia SA, P.O. Box 851, 1001 Lausanne 1, Switzer-land. The subscription rate (including postage) is 150Sw. Frs per annum (approx. US$79).M. A. Farid(Grand-Saconnex, Switzerland)World List of National Parks and Equivalent ReservesDr Jean-Paul Harroy, Professor at the Free Universityof Brussels, formerly Governor and Resident General ofRwanda-Urundi and Author of the United NationsList of National Parks and Equivalent Reserves whichwas published in French in 1967 and in English in1971 (with an addendum in 1972), and his collaborator,the undersigned, are currently preparing a new editionof this book which described some 1200 'good' nationalparks and reserves in 140 countries of the world.The new book, which will probably be entitled'World List of National Parks and Equivalent Reserves',will no longer be an IUCN or U.N. publication but willbe printed as before by Hayez, Brussels, with IUCNagreement. It is a private venture to face the numerousdemands for a new edition of the 'World List', which isnow out of print.Every country of the world will be represented inthe new book, including those not belonging to the U.N.Those countries that do not yet have a protected areadeserving to be fully described as such will be men-tioned, with their projects or first attempts to createsome kind of nature reserve or reserves. This is the casefor instance with Egypt, Iraq, Burundi, and some others.A full description, including administrative data,information on the fauna and flora, and details of touristfacilities available, will be given for the protected areasanswering selective criteria. These criteria will remain thesame as for the U.N. List printed in 1971. To be includedin the book, the parks and reserves should have aminimum size, a strictly protected status, and adequatesupervisory staff and budget. It is expected that some1,500 protected areas will be described in the bookunder preparation. New national entries will includeSouth Korea (which now has a good network of nationalparks), Cyprus, Afghanistan, China, and countries notbelonging to the U.N.—such as East Germany, NorthKorea, etc.The book is expected to be published in 1981. Itwill be available from Hayez Imprimeurs-Editeurs,4 rue Fin, 1080 Brussels.Jacqueline Henricot(Brussels, Belgium)https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0376892900002903Downloaded from https:/www.cambridge.org/core. University of Basel Library, on 11 Jul 2017 at 12:16:26, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at

Book Review: Journal of Ethnopharmacology: Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Edited by RivierL. & BruhnJ. G., Elsevier Sequoia, Lausanne, Switzerland: Volume 1, No. 1, pp. 1-97+, illustr., 24 × 16 × 0.8 cm, 01 1979. --- Either ISSN or Journal title must be supplied

Book Review: Journal of Ethnopharmacology: Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Edited by RivierL. & BruhnJ. G., Elsevier Sequoia, Lausanne, Switzerland: Volume 1, No. 1, pp. 1-97+, illustr., 24 × 16 × 0.8 cm, 01 1979. --- Either ISSN or Journal title must be supplied

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