For more than 5,000 years the population of China has relied on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and increasingly people around the world are turning to this kind of alternative treatment.

Today, we have the most rapid extinction of endangered species in history and conservationists are convinced that traditional medicine is at least partly responsible for their destruction.

This week's Earth Report takes a look at the link between traditional medicine and endangered species, and how two disparate communities are trying to work together before more wild plants and animals get sick to death.

The holistic approach?

TCM is an ancient practice moving into the modern world. It's the fastest growing traditional medicine on earth and it's big business.

Unfortunately, as Chinese medicine becomes more popular around the world and the belief in this ancient health system grows, certain plant and animal species, including the rhinoceros and the tiger, are put under extreme pressure.

Species and habitats

The conservation movement has for several decades been attacking industries responsible for the destruction of wildlife. They point to the destruction of habitats as the single most devastating reason for the endangerment of species. With more than 20 hectares of forest destroyed every minute, entire eco-systems are threatened.

Law and enforcement

In an effort to prevent the trafficking of endangered plant and animal species governments came together to form CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

To some degree CITES has worked but not as well as had been hoped. The people responsible for policing it have watched much of the trade be driven underground and controlled by organised crime.

Worth more than 20 billion dollars annually worldwide, Interpol rates this trade second only to narcotics - even bigger than gun running or gold and silver smuggling. Laws, it seems, are just not enough.

Although Interpol has set up a special working group on wildlife crime, it's the buyers of these products that need to be part of the solution.

Communicating solutions

In a conference sponsored by WWF, conservationists and TCM practitioners came together to discuss how the trade in endangered species could be controlled. For the first time Chinese government officials openly discussed with their opposite numbers from the conservation community all aspects of the controversy.

Many conservationists were pleasantly surprised to see that TCM practitioners had a long-term approach to their resources - cultivating and harvesting rare plant species and finding alternatives to endangered wildlife. But cultivation and substitution alone will not save critically endangered species.

Conservationists have realised that if endangered species used in traditional medicines are ever going to be saved the traditional medicine communities themselves must take the lead in their protection. This is proving to be an effective strategy, forging new friendships between former adversaries and bringing new hope to the protection of some of the earth's most critically endangered wildlife.