Sustainable use appears more and more a fundamental element, if not indispensable, for conservation programs in developing countries. Controversial causes need to be fought for when legitimate. Demonstrating the obvious need to include sustainable use in conservation programs might be achieved more efficiently by starting with wild species everybody will agree to use.

The Emergency Massage Team in New York City had a mission to give a fifteen-minute chair massage and aromatherapy treatment for stress and respiratory problems relief to firemen, policemen, heavy equipment operators, counselors and volunteers from around the world, all of whom are working through the devastation and grief at Ground Zero in New York City. Aromatherapy helped and was much appreciated.

Many different essential oils can be used in aromatherapy. It is a gentle but effective oil, to include in a respiratory blend, for massage application, spritzer and direct inhalation. This oil is the Aromatic Ravensare, produced under Label CBD's supervision in Madagascar, in the Indian Ocean. The distillation process, through which this oil is produced, uses the leaves of a forest tree, which is Ravensara aromatica, endemic to the island.

Label CBD stands for "Conservation - Biodiversity - Development". The Aromatic Ravensare essential oil is produced by local populations involved a conservation project, which was been set up by a local private NGO by the name of "Man And The Environment". Deforestation caused by slash and burn agriculture is the major threat to the incredible diversity of endemic species to the island's. This destructive practice by local populations is mainly linked to their incredible level of poverty (less than 150 $ US income per capita per year). Enhancing the value to the forest through the sustainable use of its resources has shown to be a key approach to revert the tendency, and to achieve environmental conservation.

There are many medicinal plants in the threatened forests of Madagascar (12 of them constitute the base for some western drugs), but the use of the Aromatic Ravensare is the first example of the direct use of a forest plant to help people in the United State. Transfer of the stainless still distillation techniques has been passed on the local people, and the oils are now produced directly in the forest from fresh leaves. The medicinal essential oils then go to the quality control and sustainable use verification of the Label CBD and are exported for direct use.

The launching of the Aromatic Ravensare essential oil production for forest conservation, is to assist in providing more sustainable produced Aromatic Ravensare, for the de-toxifying and respiratory blends used to improve the health and well being of people. It is also helping in making a direct link between the very poor people from some of the most threatened forests of the world and suffering people in the richest country of the world. It is also a great opportunity to show the need to preserve forest and to work together to promote their wise and sustainable use.

The Aromatic Ravensare tree has been used in Madagascar for generations for its tonic and anti-viral properties, its essential oil, has, moreover, proved to be a great anti-stress. Man And The Environment has now been able to set up the first private reserves within the eastern forest with the local population's participation.

Let's hope that the Label CBD controlled Aromatic Ravensare essential oil will be used by more and more people and raise increasing awareness on the need for the conservation of Madagascar's Natural resources, described as a "pearl of the aromatherapy".

For further information, we invite you to visit http://www.MATE.mg