Seabuckthorn Research viaISA－an International Gateway

Heikki Kallio

（Department of Biochemistry and Food Chemistry，University of Turku，F(xiàn)inland.heikki.kallio＠utu.fi）

Asian people and nations have an extremely long history in exploitation of the health promoting properties of seabuckthorn.The Four Books of Pharmacopoeia published in China as early as from 773to 783A.D.，"The rGyud bzi"，form already a document of the importance of the plant.Later，the Introduction to Pharmacology，"Jing Zhu Ben Cao"，published in 1835，gave a more detailed description of the advantages of the berry.In addition to China，especially Russia and India have quite a long and an independent history of seabuckthorn research and utilization.

The research reached more international dimensions about thirty years ago.Eg.China and Finland had by that time active contacts in the area of plant biology when Professor Arne Rousi published the article“The Genus Hippopha？LA Taxonomic Study”.This may have started the count－down for more detailed system－biological investigations.

What ever the nutrition and food related achievements concerning the berry are，the keyissue is clearly in fighting against soil erosion.It became evident that much more could be reached by collecting the separate activities in a big，international basket and by shaking it vigorously.In 1988the book“Seabuckthorn Abstracts”was published in China.It contained already close to 800abstracts the majority of them being from China or Russia but significantly also from India and some western countries.The three－volume“Multipurpose Wonder Plant”edited by Dr Virendra Singh from India updated the common knowledge lately.

ISA

The clearly dominating target is fighting against erosion－not only in China but also in Russia，India，Nepal and some other countries.This slow process has brought new life to the whole biosphere，flora and fauna in the afforested areas.Only in China the treated area is clearly more than the areal size of Finland or Japan.Pine is one of the trees that clearly benefit of the mixed vegetation.

Who has been responsible of the progress in afforestation？The practical executor is typically government or a local government responsible of distribution of resources for seabuckthorn plantations.In China the governmental authority is the Ministry of Water Resources and one of its tools ISA，our International Seabuckthorn Association.The multidisciplinary goals require commitment of a wide variety of scientists，technologists and economists.Without this combined network we would waste our time.

This is the platform where the ISA started from.The key goal of ICRTS，nowadays ISA，has been the multidisciplinary globalization of research and exploitation of seabuckthorn.This is a demanding task due to the increasing activities and interest on practically all the continents.Have we achieved anything yet？The biannual conferences have been successfully organized not only in Asia but also in Europe and America.It seems that this forum encourages individual scientists，authorities and business people to focus more actively in the topic.

However，as a scientific discipline the seabuckthorn research is still a very marginal issue and is only seldom financed via any typical academic channels.Also the product development and marketing are far behind those of the more common berries and fruits.Fighting against soil erosion may be regarded as a sort of success.At the same time we have achieved common potential for commercialization of berry products and other natural resources.

ISA today

Potential of seabuckthorn in reforestation，plant breeding，landscaping，food processing and healthcare is much higher than yet reached.When e.g.clinical nutrition or other biological trials have been carefully conducted based on existing knowledge，positive results have often been reached.New，scientific activities and new applicable results are the common goal.The members of ISA should definitely have more capacity to crate new joined activities.The major role of ISA is not to organize practical projects but to open the gates for cooperation.

The theme of this 5th ISA conference in Qinghai is“Developing Seabuckthorn for the Harmonious Ecosystem and Healthy Life”.The decision clearly shows that we don’t want to focus on a few topics only.The wide perspective made it possible to get this many people here together.At the same time this unfocused strategy makes it extremely demanding to form wider international networks on targeted research projects.

ISA wants to reward the pioneers of seabuckthorn research and exploitation in this meeting and the local organizers have nicely prepared the issue.Thus ISA should have more and more an encouraging role in development.Have we，members of ISA，been able to convince the Chinese ministry and our own governments and Academia about the global potential of ISA.My opinion is no，we have not.

ISA and future

The major role of ISA is to activate all the member organizations and，especially individuals to take advantage of the membership of ISA.Everybody has the possibility to easily find and contact colleagues around the word in order to create new joint，focused sea buckthorn projects and their financing.In addition to common international scientific journals，ISA is available as an active distributor of all sea buckthorn information.This role is worth to be strengthened and activated.It is also possible that ISA would technically activate selected，international research and development projects.

Remember－this is our organization.