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Vinson Kurian

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Nov. 3

THE International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) has featured in its `Red List of Threatened Species' at least 319 terrestrial plant species of known medicinal value and traced to India.

These are among an increasing number of plant species facing extinction in the wild in the short or medium term, according to Dr John A. Parrotta, National Program Leader in International Science Issues at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Dr Parrotta has made these observations in a paper being presented at the four-day World Ayurveda Congress (WAC) that is currently in session in Kochi.

Of the 319 terrestrial plant species identified, a significant proportion is used in traditional systems of medicine, including ayurveda. Threatened and endangered higher plants in South India include 36 medicinally important species (20), including such well-known species as Saraca asoca (Asoka), Pterocarpus santalinus (Raktachandana) and Rauvolfia serpentina (Sarpagandha). Considering that the conservation status of only a very small percentage of plant species has been assessed, the total number of threatened medicinal plant species in India can be projected to be in the hundreds, Dr Parrotta surmised.

Current rates of forest loss, forest degradation and depletion (or loss) of wild populations of medicinal plants represent a serious threat to the future of traditional medicine.

The well-being of the majority of the world's population who depend directly on plant drugs for their health care needs would also get badly hit in the process. So too, the capacity of forests to provide a broad spectrum of essential environmental goods and services.

Reversing these trends, and thereby ensuring the future supply of high-quality plant drugs, is a monumental task, but one that is compatible with the larger number of local, national and international efforts aimed at fulfilling the notable objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Dr Parrotta said.

The resolution of challenges related to the conservation and sustainable use of medicinal plant resources is a major test for the CBD, its Global Strategy for Plant Conservation and the network of local-to-global organisations and initiatives that will determine the success of the CBD.

The growing recognition of the importance of forest biological diversity in meeting local (and increasingly global) health care needs provides an important opportunity for conservationists, traditional medicine proponents, local communities and others to work together to develop mutually-supporting solutions to problems associated with forest loss and biodiversity erosion.

"Sustained and coordinated efforts are needed to transform currently unsustainable practices of medicinal plant `mining' from wild sources to more ecologically sustainable, socially acceptable and economically equitable production and utilisation systems. This will require appropriate action, and changes, by the full range of society's `stakeholders' involved in the conservation, production, management, marketing, processing and use of medicinal plants and their derivatives,'' Dr Parrotta stated.

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