ENVIS Forestry Bulletin	Vol.7,No.2; YEAR-2007

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	MEDICINAL PLANTS SPECIAL
	Sustainable Development of Medicinal Plant Resources in India
	Medicinal Plants: Green Gold for Human Health, Well-Being and Environment
	Environmental Ups and Downs
	Medicinal Plant Resources of Meghalaya: Endemism, Threat Status and Consumption Pattern
	Growing of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants in Agroforestry: Wimco’s Experience
	Medicinal Plants Diversity within Tarkeshwar Sacred Grove in Garhwal Himalaya
	Viewpoint: Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine: A Comparative Overview
	Studies on Genetic Variability in Asparagus racemosus (WILLD.) for Different Traits of Economic Value
	Enhancement of Forest Productivity through Sustainable Management of Microstylis wallichii
	Status of Collectors, Cultivators and Marketing of Medicinal Plants in Uttarakhand
	Collection and Marketing of Medicinal Plants in Uttarakhand
	Dominant Medicinal Plant Species in Pangi Valley: A Study of Their Ecological Profile, Trends in Trade and Contribution to State Royalty
	Consumption and Production Pattern of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants in Himachal Pradesh: A Situational Review
	Bioactive Principles of Some Forest Plants
	Antidiabetic Activity of Polygonatum verticillatum (Linn.) Allioni in Streptozotocine Induced Non-Insulin Dependent Diabetic Rats
	Germination Behaviour of Large Cardamom (Amomum subulatum Roxb.) in Different Altitudinal Gradients of Uttarakhand Himalaya
	Altitudinal Gradients of Uttarakhand Himalaya 103 Select Bibliography on Medicinal Plants
	Milestone: Charaka
	ENVIS CENTRE ON FORESTRY
	FOREST RESEARCH INSTITUTE
	(INDIAN COUNCIL OF FORESTRY RESEARCH AND EDUCATION)
	DEHRADUN

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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF MEDICINAL PLANT RESOURCES IN INDIA

Chandra Prakash Kala and Bikram Singh Sajwan
National Medicinal Plants Board, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,
Govt. of India, New Delhi - 110 001

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Introduction

R.B.S. Rawat
International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Kathmandu, Nepal

T he influence of bio–surrounding played a pivotal role in the evolution of health care system. This was possible by observations through trials on animals, preference of plants by animals and gradually application of these plants on human beings. That is how; they developed systematic codes in their own way. The traditional systems of medicine are normally found in the countries with long history and ancient culture. With gradual development and progress, human being became more health conscious. The desire for better quality of life, led to proper and effective services for health. People started exploring more and more health care options for rejuvenation. Ancient medical manuscripts have proved that throughout human history people relied on specific natural products and plants to promote and maintain good health and to fight diseases.

The current resurgence of interest in traditional medicine and plant drugs occurring world wide, particularly in the West, is not as revolutionary as it may seem. The pharmaceutical industry, for example, has long recognized the therapeutic value of plants that have been used in traditional medicine for centuries, and a large proportion of the pharmaceutical drugs used today are derived from plants or their ‘active principles’. Numerous plants occurring in India have yielded drugs of major importance to modern medicine. A very small proportion of Indian medicinal plants are lower plants like lichens, ferns, algae, etc. The majority of medicinal plants are higher ones. The major families in which medicinal plants occur are Acanthaceae, Apiaceae, Asteraceae, Convolvulaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Fabaceae, Lamiaceae, Malvaceae, Poaceae, Rubiaceae, Rosaceae and Solanaceae (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. Distribution of medicinal plants by major families

Drugs are derived from trees, shrubs and herbs and even from primitive kinds of plants which do not fall into the above categories (Fig. 2). They are made from fruits (senna, makoy, Datura, etc.), flowers (dhak, kachnar), leaves (senna, datura, sadabahar, anantmool, etc.), stems (mulethi, adarak, dioscorea and lahsun), roots (Costus, sarpgandha, sadabahar, ginseng, etc.), seeds (isabgol, bhed, gunja and Nux vomica) and even bark (Cinchona, and arjun) (Fig. 3).

Fig. 2. Break up of life forms in medicinal plants

India is endowed with an estimated 47,000 species of plants, including about 15,000 species of wild flowering plants. Of these, approximately 5,000 species are endemic and 2,500 species, representing over 1,000 genera and 250 families, are used in traditional medicine (Jain, 1991). India’s plant richness arises from the complexity and diversity of its geological history, soils, topography and climate, which have created an exceptional variety of biomes and specialized habitats within the country’s 329 m ha land area (Kendrick, 1989).

The indigenous systems of medicine practiced in India are based mainly on the use of plants. Charaka Samhita (1,000 B.C.-100 A.D.) records the use of 2,000 plant based remedies. Ancient medicine was not solely based on empiricism and this is evident from the fact that some medicinal plants, which were used in ancient times still find place in modern therapy.

Fig. 3. Part utilization in medicinal plants

The Indian systems of medicine and Homoeopathy covers both the systems, which originated in India and outside but got adopted in India in course of time. These systems are Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani, Yoga, Naturopathy, Sowa-rigpa and Homoeopathy. Originating from the Vedas, Ayurveda is the oldest surviving Indian medical system, which is more than 5,000 years old.

A few years ago, the WHO issued an appeal, “Save Plants to Save Life”. It was because of realization that to achieve the goal of “Health for all” there is need for a global movement for conservation of medicinal plants and revitalization of the native health traditions.

The Indian systems of medicine is associated with the use of medicinal plants and herbs for human, livestock and plant health and also in textiles, perfumery and cosmetics. These millennia-old traditional systems today use across the various systems i.e. folk and codified around 8,000 species of plant and are closely depending on the availability of medicinal plants. (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4. Plants (species number) used in various Indian systems of medicine

The features of Indian systems of medicine, namely, their diversity and flexibility, accessibility, affordability, a broad acceptance by a section of the general public, comparatively low cost, a low level of technological input and growing economic value have great potential. According to the WHO, over 80 per cent of the world’s population relies on traditional systems of medicine, largely plant based, to meet their primary healthcare needs. It is also estimated that about 500 million people in India wholly or partially rely on traditional systems for their healthcare (Anon., 2003 ).

The MAPs sector plays a pivotal role in the livelihood security of the poor and marginalized families especially living in the rural areas by generating jobs and improving the Primary Health Care system.

Presently, medicinal plants play a very important role in the modern economy and health. NTFPs account for 70 per cent of India’s forest product exports and the demand for phytochemicals is expected to increase in future as a new frontier for trade. There are only 880 medicinal plants that are involved in all India trade. Forty eight medicinal plants are exported to foreign countries and 42 medicinal plant species are imported. Thus, India has the oldest, richest and most diverse cultural traditions in the use of medicinal plants (Table 1).

Benefits and Challenges

Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MAPs): Experience of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Programme in Asia (MAPPA)

Traditional, affordable health care
South Asia is home to many rich, traditional systems of medicine. Ayurvedic methods date back to 5000 B.C. Along with the Unani, Siddha and Tibetan systems, they remain an important source of everyday health and livelihood for tens of millions of people. Medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs), including trees, shrubs, grasses and vines, are a central resource for these traditional health systems, as well as for pharmaceutical (or allopathic) medicines. There are more than 8,000 plant species in South Asia with known medicinal uses.

Medicinal plants are an accessible, affordable and culturally appropriate source of primary health care for more than 80 per cent of Asia’s population (WHO). Marginalized, rural and indigenous people, who can not afford or access formal health care systems, are especially dependent on these, culturally familiar, technically simple, financially affordable and generally effective traditional medicines. As such, there is widespread interest in promoting traditional health systems to meet primary health care needs. This is especially true in South Asia, as prices of modern medicines spiral and governments find it increasingly difficult to meet the cost of pharmaceutical-based health care. Throughout the region, there is strong and sustained public support for the protection and promotion of the cultural and spiritual values of traditional medicines.

Widespread demand for MAPs
Conservative estimates put the monetary value of MAP-related global trade at over 60 billion USD (Govt. of India, 2000; Nagpal and Karki, 2004). With increasing popular demand for medicinal plants, both in South Asia and internationally, this trade is expected to grow to 5 trillion by the year 2050 (FRLHT, 1996). Besides health benefits, MAPs also provide crucial livelihood options for millions of rural people in South Asia, particularly women, tribal peoples, and the very poor. India is the centre of South Asia’s export trade in medicinal plants, and in this country alone, it is estimated that the collection and processing of medicinal plants contributes to at least 35 million workdays of employment a year. Unfortunately, while demand rises, inequitable trade practices have meant that only a small margin of the profits from MAPs trickle down to the collectors and harvesters. Highly developed illegal trading networks in Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, India and Myanmar control the raw MAPs trade, through lax border controls. Despite this, no regional collaboration in implementing international covenants relating to biodiversity exists to stem this growing illegal market.

Impacts of commercialization
The expansion of unregulated trade and commercial use of MAPs poses a major threat to biodiversity in the region. Local communities tend to collect the highest value or most popular plant species, leading to over-harvesting and species extinction. Even when MAP species are safely cultivated, if done with mono-cropping systems, local biodiversity can be weakened. Finally, as 95 per cent of MAPs are harvested and collected in wild, the alarming levels of deforestation and ecosystem degradation in the region are also contributing to a decline in MAPs. Combined, all of these factors have severely reduced the availability of medicinal plant ingredients and the overall environmental sustainability of the region. Along with the deterioration of resources, the cultural heritage surrounding MAP use is being eroded. Unstandardized expertise and knowledge of traditional systems of medicine, as well as inadequate processing and storage facilities, can result in ineffective or unsafe treatments. The absence of institutional support, appropriate validation systems and quality control protocol for indigenous health practices threaten valuable MAP knowledge and use practices, as well as public health.

ICIMOD’s strategy in the sector
The Himalayan range, popularly known as the Hindu Kush-Himalaya, is one of the world’s richest ecosystems in terms of biodiversity (Bhattarai and Karki, 2004). This is due to the extreme altitudinal variations with concurrent changes in temperature and precipitation and differences in soil conditions, which have combined to create striking vertical zones in the natural vegetation. No other part of the world is vertically and horizontally as diverse as the Hindu Kush-Himalayan mountain ranges. Rising from the plains of the Indian sub-continent to the highest peaks of the world, altitudinal sequences determine a great variety of natural ecosystems. And the rainfall patterns vary from the very arid zones of Afghanistan in the west to zones with extremely humid conditions in the east.

The range covers a length of about 3,500 km stretching from Afghanistan through Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan and Yunan in China to Bangladesh and Myanmar, and provides a home and protection to more than 12,500 species of higher plants (Dobremez, 1996) and between 7,000-7,500 species of medicinal plants (Shengji, 1998, 2005). The region is also the home to 150 million people who depend on its immense natural resources for their livelihood.

The livelihood of the majority of the people of the HKH depends primarily on subsistence agriculture and natural resources. Mountain households are neither able to generate economic surplus from subsistence activities nor are they able to find stable off-farm employment opportunities. Unless employment and income opportunities are developed locally, the traditional reliance on subsistence activities are unlikely to alleviate the chronic and growing poverty in the mountain areas.

Himalayan medicinal plant resources in health and livelihoods
There are 120 pure chemical substances extracted from 90 species of higher plants that are used as prescription drugs in modern medicine or allopathy throughout the world (Bhattarai and Karki, 2004a). Many of these plants are indigenous to the Himalayan region., viz. Aconitum spp., Colchicum autumnale, Podophyllum hexandrum, Datura stramonium, Hyoscymus niger, Mucuna pruriens,Picrorhiza spp., Swertia chirata,Taxus wallichiana, etc., to mention a few. The demand for these resources has been continuously increasing, providing broader opportunities for the medicinal plant-based economic development. In addition, herbal medicine is becoming even more popular in rich countries, where the demand is being fueled by an outburst of consumer interest in natural products.

Wild plant resources have always been the major component of the life supporting systems including access to health care and livelihood options for majority of the Himalayan rural communities. The adjoining forests, pastures and other medicinal plant habitats have long been fulfilling the major part of their health care and livelihood needs. The rural poor and marginalized communities earn their livelihood from the medicinal plants sector in three ways:

The economic assistance provided by the forest resources to the rural households in the region and their linkages with the conservation and sustainability norms have seldom been calculated in the monetary terms or in the conservation and management contexts. However, Browder (1992) and Godoy (1993) have cited many examples, based on their studies in South America, of non-timber forest products used primarily by local communities that are also depleted by unsustainable extraction.

The Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Programme in Asia (MAPPA) was launched in 1998 by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), New Delhi, India and later devolved to the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Kathmandu, Nepal in August, 2005.

MAPPA has a vision to develop, provide, and promote wise practices in the MAP sector by safeguarding the ecosystem for the poor and marginalized people in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan and South Asian regions. Its goals are to generate MAP-based additional income and employment opportunities for improvement in the quality of life of people in fragile uplands of the Hindu Kush-Himalayan region on sustainable basis. MAPPA is on a mission to develop, provide, and promote appropriate wise practices, critical information, sound technologies, ethical trade and enterprise activities, appropriate conservation and development solutions and proper institutionalization to benefit women, poor, indigenous people and the environment.

The MAPPA-ICIMOD through strategic research, collaboration and networking, plan to develop strategies, methods and options for sustainable conservation and use of MAP resources. The research program covers three principal themes:

i. conservation of biodiversity through sustainable use;
ii. expansion of livelihood opportunities; and
iii. safe and effective traditional medicine system for primary health care.

Identified research areas include locally viable conservation methods, sustainable and equitable commercialization strategies and technologies and improved options for safe and effective health care systems. Research activities will strive to complement and build on on-going research work to more comprehensively address research problems, generate more effective research results, and accomplish greater impacts.

IDRC-MAPPA in collaboration with WWF-India, organized an Expert Consultation on Medicinal Plants Species Prioritization for South Asia in September. 1997 in New Delhi, India. The participants included researchers and experts from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The objective was to examine key issues facing the medicinal plant sector in south Asia, focusing on the rationale and need for selecting general criteria for the prioritization of medicinal and aromatic plant species used for livelihood support and primary health care from a regional perspective.

A list of thirty priority species for South Asia was selected by the participating experts, which is given below in Table 2.

Different institutions including national governments, universities, research institutes and NGOs are actively involved in the process of resource mobilization and innovations. Cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) has been proposed to be a viable option to diversify farming practices to produce quality MAPs while conserving them in wild. Although a number of institutions have developed cultivation technologies for many species of MAPs, about 90 per cent of the harvests are still coming from the wild. It has been observed that research efforts are primarily science driven but activities are carried out on-station and experience of communities is not fully capitalized. The linkages between researchers and extensions workers seem either very weak or non-existent. As a result, the diffusion of developed technologies has been extremely limited. Unless buy back arrangements and other incentives are provided to the farmers, cultivation will continue to be a dream for many years to come.

At the same time, markets for herbal products are becoming extremely quality conscious. Therefore, need to incorporate quality standards at each level in the production and consumption chain adhering to Good Agriculture Practice (GAP) and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) norms is necessary. The challenge lies for different stakeholders in the entire chain to conform to mandatory and voluntary specifications to produce standardized drugs and other herbal products.

Conclusion

In South Asia, the traditional and modern medical systems have always co-existed. However, the traditional systems are frequently labeled as merely alternative or complementary, when, at least from the Indian perspective, the reverse is the reality, i.e. conventional medicine is complimentary to local health systems. Therefore, one of the key tasks, in this era of globalization and international trade, is to assure respect of local values and needs which in this context refers to the traditional and often cross-cultural health systems. It is the duty of not only the government and the NGOs, but also the medical service industry to see that there exists an integrated holistic healthcare system so as to offer the best care for the people. It can be possible by assisting conservation, supporting sustainable production, processing and supply of MPs, with attention on regional socio-economic growth for small farmers and quality assurance in equitable manner The sector may further be improved in collaboration with community-based organizations and public private partnership. Dissemination of information and effective networking among all types of stakeholders are crucial factors to be considered with priority.

Poverty eradication and the reversal of environment degradation are two of the greatest globalchallenges. The challenges are inextricably linked and are reflected in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted at the Millennium Summit in September 2000. The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), held in Johannesburg in 2002, reaffirmed the MDGs and clearly established the link between poverty and ecosystem management. As a result, national, regional and international development policies are increasingly becoming aligned towards ensuring that efforts and assistance target both these goals.

MDGs relevant to the trade in NWFP are:

In the broader sense, medicinal plants can also contribute to the realization of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) through more general impacts associated with their economic value. Especially for people at the bottom of economic ladder, medicinal plants represent a new economic opportunity with the potential to find a adequate standard of living and help disadvantaged people break free of ‘the poverty trap’. The ways in which the wise use of medicinal plants can contribute to specific goals of the MDG are improving general health, empowering women and disadvantaged groups, and reversing the loss of environmental resources.

References

T he IPCC headed by Dr. R.K. Pachauri, Director General, TERI has been jointly awarded 2007 Nobel Prize for Peace alongwith Al Gore, Ex-Vice President of the USA. This marks global recognition of the vision, leadership and zeal of Dr. Pachauri and his team to lay the foundation for measures to counteract effects of climate change.