Good Food is First Food. It is not junk food. It is the food that connects nature and nutrition with livelihoods. This food is good for our health; it comes from the rich biodiversity of our regions; it provides employment to people. Most importantly, cooking and eating give us pleasure. …
The term bioprospecting has been widely used to assess the economic potential of different plant species and their value-addition. Our folklore with embedded cultural heritage has tremendous possibilities and potential for bioprospecting. Among the over 8000 species of flowering plants growing in the Himalaya, nearly 4000 are identified from the …
Resource-rich Nagaland is plagued by bio-piracy, with rare medicinal herbs, orchids and other endangered species being smuggled out of the State, NGOs have claimed. Many plants are being taken away by pharmaceutical companies through middlemen who engage locals to collect naturally grown species for paltry sums, Thomas Rengma, Media Secretary …
Plants are an integral part of life and culture. Folk songs give an idea of plants growing in the surrounding environs of tribal's and throw light on plant-based practices in usage in various spheres of their lives, including the material benefits derived and recreational opportunities offered. This article talks about …
Local bodies and their representatives have a crucial and paramount role to play in the protection of biodiversity and in the conservation of fauna and flora, according to National Biodiversity Authority chairman S Kannaiyan. There were 15,000 different types of medicinal plants in the country, and 429 varieties were facing …
The first meeting of an expert committee on medicinal plants has urged the Forest Department to submit a report, within a month, on in situ conservation and preservation of medicinal plants in natural habitats. Talking to reporters on Tuesday, S. Kannaiyan, Chairman, National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), said a threat assessment …
The battles lines in the power struggle over seeds are shifting in Europe. Authorities are dropping plans to push US-led "first generation' genetically modified organisms (GMOs), so that European companies can develop "covert' GMOs and new "double-locked' seeds instead. In 2008, the Sarkozy regime will use the French presidency of …
Late last month the Svalbard Global Seed Vault opened in Longyearbyen, on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen. The facility is nothing less than a Noah's ark of plants for the 21st century, aiming to preserve the world's crop biodiversity while we still have a fighting chance.
Medicinal plants harvested from the wild remain of immense importance for the well-being of millions of people around the world. Providing both a relief from illness and a source of income, over 70,000 plant species are thought to be medicinal. Loss of habitat combined with over-harvesting threatens the survival of …
In Kerala, the homestead farming is the most prevalent type of land use system covering about 88% of the total landholding and about 41% of the total cultivable area of the state. Despite the fact that these homegardens are playing negligible role in conserving wild species diversity outside the protected …
