Aspects of African Biodiversity

Professor Jacob Midiwo is at the Department of Chemistry, University of Nairobi, Kenya, Africa Dr John Clough is at Syngenta, Bracknell, UK

This is a book of the proceedings of the Pan Africa Chemistry Network (PACN) Biodiversity Conference held at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, on 10-12 September 2008. One of the key activities of the RSC/Syngenta PACN is to connect African scientists through a cycle of conferences and workshops. This conference held at the University of Nairobi was the first of these. It brought together 150 delegates from 12 African countries - Botswana, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe - as well as from the UK and Brazil. The lectures covered topics such as making the best use of the diversity of Africa's plants in agriculture and medicine whilst benefiting communities in Africa; the chemistry and biological activity of natural products; agricultural practices for Africa; genetic diversity in farm animals and crop plants; analysis and the environment; understanding crop protection chemicals in the African context; water quality; conservation and the impact of tourism on biodiversity; biofuels; and the processing and use of waste materials. The resulting book, Aspects of African Biodiversity: Proceedings of the Pan Africa Chemistry Network Biodiversity Conference, Nairobi, 10-12 September 2008, provides a valuable overview of many aspects of biodiversity in Africa.

1. Challenges and opportunities for Africa: an overview of key themes from the PACN biodiversity conference; 2. Exploring the therapeutic potentials of African medicinal plants; 3. Natural products from plant biodiversity and their use in the treatment of neglected diseases; 4. In vitro and in vivo antiplasmodial activity of Kenyan medicinal plants; 5. Anti-larval activity of crude plant extracts from vitex schiliebenii and vitex payos (verbenaceae); 6. Natural products as leads for new and innovative crop protection chemicals; 7. Exploiting phytochemical diversity to control pests of agriculture and vectors of human and animal disease; 8. Root chemicals could offer opportunities for breeding for sweet potato resistance to the weevil cylas puncticollis boheman (coleoptera: apionidae); 9. The role of biotechnology in meeting the biodiversity conservation challenge of Africa; 10. Farmers as a treasure chest of biodiversity - the case of sorghum [sorghum bicolor (l.) Moench] in Ethiopia, a five decade analysis; 11. Delivery of appropriate cattle genotypes to eastern African smallholder farmers through in-vitro embryo production technologies - the technical procedures, prospects and challenges; 12. Levels of some nutrients and non-essential metals in cows' whole milk from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; 13. Water, water everywhere and when found not fit to drink; 14. Foundation for analytical science and technology in Africa and its role in the preservation of endangered species; 15. Jua kali metallurgical industries as point sources of the heavy metals lead and cadmium to aquatic systems in Kenyan urban areas; 16. An assessment of effluent treatment to reduce heavy metal levels in effluent from a battery manufacturing concern; 17. Spectroscopic detection of gaseous ammonia in the environment; 18. Jatropha curcas l. As a source for the production of biodiesel in Kenya; 19. Jatropha biodiesel as an alternative transport fuel in Zimbabwe; 20. Biomass, bio-based products and bioenergy; 21. Municipal solid waste as a resource rather than a waste. A preliminary study of biomass from Githurai market, an open market in the outskirts of Nairobi city; Subject Index