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Without a trace

Without a trace THE home-made concoction that cured your stomach ache may soon be unavailable. More than 150 of the known species of medicinal plants in India have already become extinct due to unsustainable methods of harvesting and many more face the threat of extinction. The loss is great because in India, even today, at least 300 million people use medicinal herbs and plants for primary health care.

The crisis is exemplified by the madhunashini - a plant that once grew in abundance in the foothills of the Western Ghats. Village doctors are convinced that it is a surefire remedy for diabetes and was earlier used extensively to treat patients. But now the plant can only be found in some patches of forest land in Karnataka and is now labeled as a 'critically endangered' species by botanists.

Nevertheless, a plan of action is not forthcoming as the government is still groping in the dark. "We are still looking for answers," admitted T K A Nair, secretary, ministry of environment and forests (MEF), while addressing the inaugural session of the National Consultation for Medicinal Plants Conservation Policy, organised in Chennai recently.

This 'consultation meeting' included practitioners of Ayurvedic, Siddha and Unani systems of medicine, representatives of research institutes and top brass of the forest department. Organised by the Bangalore-based Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health and Traditions (FRLHT), the purpose of the meeting was to provide the policy-makers an insight into the issues involved and chalk out a conservation strategy.

Addressing the meeting, M S Swaminathan, an eminent agricultural scientist, said, "Let us find a way to conserve in an ecologically sustainable manner and balance conservation with commercialisation, for medicinal plants spell big business now. According to the latest World Health Organization estimates, the industry is worth us $14 billion per annum. We must take the maximum advantage of this trend and ensure that the local communities enjoy the benefits of this largescale commercialisation." Darshan Shankar, director

, FRLHT, said, "First we must identify the user groups and get a clear idea of their individual demand, that is, how many types of species and how much of them do they use."

According to Shankar, there are four prominent consumer groups. One group comprises the local communities. Around one million village healers, commonly known as nattu vaidyas, treat the local communities in various parts of the country and they are aware of the medicinal properties of 7,500 species. But there is very little data available on these species.

The second group of users is the practitioners of Indian systems of medicine (ism) - Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani.

"We have records of approximately six lakh of them operating in India, and they are, going by the records provided by them, using about 700 species of plants to prepare their various medicines," revealed Shankar. There is, however, no official list or any comprehensive inventory of the raw materials consumed by them.

These two groups establish the fact that the Indian medical heritage consists of two separate systems of knowledge - one is the codified stream, that is, Ayurvedic, Sidha and Unani systems of medicine, which have scriptures documenting the basic tenets of these disciplines; and the other is the folk stream where nattu vaidyas practice medicine based on knowledge passed orally through several generations.

The third and probably the least demanding category is the urban house-hold section. The city folks are familiar with about 20 of the most commonly known species, like tulsi (occimum), neem and turmeric (haldi) for home-brewed medicines and potions.

The most intensive consumers are the bio resource-based industries, which, says Shankar, command business worth Rs 1,000 crore per year. Interestingly, there are no records available on the type of plants they use and how much of them. At least 90 per cent of the plant species used in this industry are culled from the wild. Very little attempt has been made to regenerate these species through cultivation. As a result, overharvesting continues to have a disastrous impact on these resources. Though Ayurvedic scriptures contain references to approximately 1,700 medicinal plants, the last Nighantu (Ayurvedic scripture providing generic classifications of the plants and their properties) was written 200 years ago. As Shankar pointed out, it is time we update it now, before the knowledge is lost forever.

According to Shankar, the need of the hour is a multi- dimensional conservation effort involving research institutes, concerned ministries, the industry, financial institutes and NGOS.

Step by step
The Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP) is conducting research on genetic improvement and production of seeds of endangered,,' medicinal plants. The Gene Banks for Medicinal and Aromatic Plants organised by the G-15, a group of 15 developing nations in Asia, Latin America and Africa, is an international conservation programme where India plays a key role. Launched in September 1991, it promotes a conservation strategy that focuses on preserving and enhancing plant species in artificial conditions.

But should a conservation strategy limit itself to merely storing and replacating medicinal plants? The Delhi-based National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources is known to possess one of the best-equipped gene banks in the country. But, as its director, K P S Chandel, said, "We have a wealth of germplasms in our gene banks and we are keen that the industry should make use of them. But first they must be made aware of the medicinal properties of these resources. And I have tried in vain to identify a research laboratory which is willing to screen the germplasms.

It is important to have the possible medicinal properties of plants ratified by reputed research institutes. Medics practising Ayurvedic, Siddha, Unani and even Tibetan systems of medicine have for long complained about the poor quality of medicines provided by the traditional medicines manufacturers' lobby. As Hakeen Khalifuttalla, chair-person of the Unani Pharmacopec Committee, said, "There is no way we can check their quality, and very often we are dumped with spurious drugs."

There are some set norms on how the herbs should be collected. "But most often the manufacturers are either not aware or pay little attention to such details and the products they come up with are definitely sub-standard," complained Khdifutalla.

According to Shanta Shastry, director of the department of ISM, a wing of the ministry of health, the issues that need to be tackled immediately are: collecting data on the commercial potential of plants and evolving cultivation techniques accordingly, so that there is no scope for over -harvesting, and developing a full-fledged standardisation process for the drugs to augment their credibility in the market. "We have set up the Central Scheme for Cultivation of Medicinal Plants and are spending around Rs 5.35 crore in our efforts to protect these plants," she said. The department of ISM also plans to set up a chain for artificially created forests, gene banks and herbariums to offset the ill-effects of over-harvesting - the inevitable aftermath of largescale commercialisation.

Collection and cultivation of medicinal plants is a specialised task and the local communities, who have for generations nurtured the resources in their habitat, are best equipped for this task, says Darshan Shankar. With the demand for medicinal plant extracts skyrocketing, this will provide them a steady source of income and give them an incentive to conserve. Towards this end, FRLHT launched a mega-project in July '93, called Strengthening the Medicinal Plants Resource Base in India in the Context of Primary Health Care.

It represents the first attempt to bring together local communities and the forest department in spearheading a conservation initiative. The project is on in full swing across Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. "But the resources we are conserving are not open for direct harvesting. Our main objective is to improve the conservation status of certain species and to provide employment for the local people, " warned V R Chitrapu, chief conservator of forests, Tamil Nadu, who is actively involved in the project.

Which way?
A week after the National Consultation for Medicinal Plants Conservation Policy meeting, another experts team assembled in Lucknow to identify medicinal plant species which need to be protected. The meeting, scheduled under the Biodiversity Conservation Prioritisation Project (BCPP), was jointly organised by the World Wide Fund For Nature-India (WWF) and the Conservation Breeding Specialist Group (CBSG), a wing of the World Conservation Union (IUCN).

"The objective of the BCPP is to document priority areas (sites), species and strategies for biodiversity conservation in India," informed A R K Shastry, director, Biodiversity Conservation Programme of the WWF, New Delhi. "We wanted to identify the plants and divide them under the four cate- gories that have been set by the IUCN," said Shastry. These are: critically endangered, vulnerable and low-risk. A list of resource persons, mainly botanists and scientists who have a track record of in-depth and sustained field research in various parts of the country, was chalked out.

"We divided this team of experts into four groups based on different resource-rich regions of the north, east, central and northeastern India," said Sudipto Chatterjee, senior programme officer, WWF. Southern India was excluded as the FRLHT is already working on documenting the species in this region.

The team of experts have so far identified 75 species of medicinal plants under different categories. The organisers plan to send this list to all govern- ment research institutes and NGOS working at the field level on conservation programmes. "I hope it will help them to work in a more focused and effective manner," said Shastry.

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