Why medicinal plants may fade out

'Why medicinal plants may fade out' 


CHENNAI: Going by the threat of extinction of many medicinal plants in the country are facing, traditional herbal formulations may soon become history. Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve in Tirunelveli district is home to 58 out of 122 endemic and threatened medicinal plant species found in the Western Ghats and other parts of peninsular India, says a book, 'Biodiversity Governance For Managing Endemic And Threatened Medicinal Plants In India - A Geoinformatic Approach'. Brought out by the National Biodiversity Authority, it aims to lay a roadmap for conservation of medicinal plants.
Indiscriminate harvesting of medicinal plants for commercial exploitation is wreaking havoc with the forest ecosystem and many of them face the threat of extinction, says the author, Manoj Kumar Sarkar, a senior Tamil Nadu cadre IFS officer.
India is next only to China in exporting medicinal plants and herbal products. With more than 50,000 herbal formulations and an industrial turnover of 4,200 crore per annum, the industry is projected to grow at 20-30% in the country. Still, India accounts for a meagre share of the $62 billion global market because only 15% of its produce is cultivated. "The balance 85% is exploited from the wild and there is no effort to replenish this forest resource," he said.

Sarkar said, "Along with biodiversity and sustainable management of natural resources of forests becoming a global concern in the 1980's and 90's, there was an upsurge in the production of plant-based medicines and herbal products. It is estimated that more than 70% of people worldwide rely chiefly on traditional, largely herbal, medicine to meet their primary healthcare needs".

There is hardly any effort to protect medicinal plants, shrubs, herbs, climbers and grasses which constitute 66% of the flora. India is rich with floral diversity and is estimated to have about 45,000 plant species. About one-sixth of them have medicinal value. But almost 1,000 species of medicinal plants suffer from various degrees of threat, including genetic loss forever. Still there is no policy formulation for resource management in this sector. Much of the effort is concentrated on promoting tree species of commercial value like firewood, he lamented.

In the absence of specific laws to protect medicinal plants indiscriminately harvested from forests, it is not possible to book such offenders outside forest boundary even if they are caught with the loot. Moreover, the country lacks skill and expertise to identify such loot through biochemical tests. "To conserve threatened medicinal plants, we need to create an inventory of resources, assess species-specific threat status, bring in effective regulations, have short-term and long-term planning and involve all stakeholders in their implementation," said Sarkar.

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