An Ethno-Pharmacologic Survey of Medicinal Plants in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review for Establishing Medicinal Plant Park Research Project in the Case of West and South West Oromia Forest Ecologic Areas, West Ethiopia

Background and objective: Globally the estimate of medicinal plant species range from 35,000-50,000 species and out of this about 4000-6000 species have entered the world market of medicinal plants, however, only about one hundred species having been used as a source of modern drugs. Ethiopia is endowed with rich flora, having more than 6,500 species of vascular plants; out of which an estimated 12% are endemic and about 887 species are used as medicinal plants to treat nearly 300 physical and mental disorders. Around 1000 identified medicinal plant species are reported in the Ethiopian flora; however, others are still not identified. About 300 of these species are frequently mentioned by different authors. Researchers estimated that about 60% of the flora to be medicinal and most sources give about 10% of the vascular flora to be medicinal. Modernization and acculturation have contributed in making the younger generation unwilling to practice and retain traditional knowledge. Environmental degradation, charcoal making, collection of fuel wood construction materials and the need for agricultural land resulted in major threat to medicinal plants and indigenous knowledge. Therefore, this study will focus on gathering and documenting use and management of traditional medicinal plants and the associated ethnomedicinal and ethnopharmacologic knowledge through an ethno-pharmacologic survey of medicinal plants in west and south west Ethiopia. Methods and materials: A systematic review for establishing medicinal plant park research project in west and south west Oromia forest ecologic areas, west Ethiopia. This is believed to add up to the country’s database of medicinal plants and in documenting indigenous knowledge of the people and for the establishment of medicinal plant park/ garden in the wollega university or in west and south west Oromia forest ecologic areas. Review of published literature on ethno-botany/ethno-pharmacologic survey of medicinal plants from 1990 to 2020. The documented medicinal plants will be isolated through in-situ and ex-situ conservation for the purpose of establishing medicinal plant parks at west and south west forest ecologic areas. Results: Our systematic review identified 627 records through the database search and 5 additional records through the manual search for gray literature. After duplicates were removed, 491 studies were screened based on their titles and abstracts. 486 articles were assessed for eligibility. As a result of this assessment, 486 studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the systematic review. Eventhough majority of the research paper have been carried out ethnomedicinal and ethnopharmacological studie intensively,they did not change their finding in to projects for the sustainability of the medicinal plants and the indigeneous knowledge of traditional healers. Conclusion and Recommendation: An intensive ethnomedicinal and ethnopharmacolgical studies of medicinal plant have been carred out in west and south west Ethiopia, where most forest ecologic areas laocated. In-situ and ex-situ conservation of these medicinal plants are a crucial importance for further ethno-pharmacologic trial and massive production of herbal remedies Keywords: Ethnomedicine; Ethnopharmacology; Medicinal plant; Medicinal plant park; Forest ecologic areas; Oromia, Ethiopia