Environment law project

On

CONSERVATIONAL OF MEDICINAL PLANTS

IN INDIA: A CRITICAL STUDY

Submitted To:

Mrs. RAJPUT SHRADDHA BHAUSINGH

Assistant professor
Faculty of environment law

Submitted by:

MUSKAN KHATRI
Roll no. 87
Semester IV; Section B
B.A. L.L.B.(Hons.)

Submitted on:

18th march, 2019

HIDYATULLAH NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

Uparwara Post, Abhanpur, Atal Nagar, Raipur (C.G.) - 492002
 DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY

I,MUSKAN KHATRI, have undergone research of the project work titled

“CONSERVATION OF MEDICINAL PLANTS IN INDIA: A CRITICAL STUDY”, as
a student of Public International Law. I hereby declare that this Research Project has been
prepared by student for academic purpose only, and is outcome of investigation and
preparation done by me under the able guidance and supervision of Mrs Rajput Shraddha
Bhausingh, Assissant Professor, Faculty of Environment Law, Hidayatullah National Law
University, Raipur. The author endorses certain views as his own and give due credit to the
jurists wherever required.

Muskan khatri
Roll no. 87
Semester IV, Section B

2
 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

This is to certify that Muskan Khatri ,Roll no. 87, student of Semester IV; Section B, B.A.
L.L.B. (Hons.), Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur has undergone research of this
project work titled” Conservation Of Medicinal Plants In India: A Critical Study” in partial
fulfilment of subject of Environment Law.

Place: Atal Nagar

Date: 18.03.2019 Shraddha Rajput
Assistant Professor
(Faculty – Environmental Law)
Hidayatullah National Law University, Atal Nagar, Chhattisgarh

3
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I, Muskan Khatri, would like to humbly present this project To Mrs. Shraddha Bhaupratap
Rajput. I would first of all like to express my most sincere gratitude to Mrs. Shraddha
Bhausingh Rajput for her encouragement and guidance regarding several aspects of this
project. I am thankful for being given the opportunity of doing a project “Conservation of
Medicinal Plants In India: A Critical Study ” .I am thankful to the library staff as well as
the IT lab staff for all the conveniences they have provided me with, which have played a
major role in the completion of this paper. I would like to thank God for keeping me in good
health and senses to complete this project. Last but definitely not the least; I am thankful to
my seniors for all their support, tips and valuable advice whenever needed. I present this
project with a humble heart.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY………………………………………………………..2
CERTIFICAATE OF ORIGINALITY………………………………………………………..3
INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………………….5

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
PROBLEM OF STUDY……………………………………………………..… 7
RATIONALE………………………………………………………………...… 7
OBJECTIVE…………………………………………………………………… 7
REVIEW OF LITERATURE……………………………………………...….. 9
CONCEPTS ANDD VARIABLES…………………………………………....11
HYPOTHESIS…………………………………………………………………12
NATURE OF STUDY……………………………………………………...….12
SOURCES OF DATA………………………………………………………....12
METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION……………………………………...…12
TIMIT LIMIT………………………………………………………………….13
CONTRIBUTION……………………………………………………………..13
LIMITATION OF STUDY……………………………………………………13
CHAPTERISATION…………………………………………………………..13
CHAPTER 1: NEED OF CONSERVATION OF MEDICINAL PLANTS
IN INDIA………………………………………………………………………14
CHAPTER 2: CONSERVATION STRATEGIES…………………………….17
CHAPTER 3: RESOURCE MANAGEMENT………………………………..23
CHAPTER 4: CONSERVATION: INITIATIVE BY UNDP AND
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA…………………………………………………..26
CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………..…….29
BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………...…30

5
 INTRODUCTION

India is one of the world’s top 12 megadiversity countries with 10 biogeographic regions; in
addition it has over 40 sites which are known for their high endemism and genetic diversity in
their updated list of world’s biodiversity hotspots, included two from India. The climatic and
altitudinal variations, coupled with varied ecological habitats of this country, have
contributed to the development of an immensely rich vegetation with a unique diversity in
medicinal plants which provides an important source of medicinal raw materials for
traditional medicine systems as well as for pharmaceutical industries in the country and
abroad.
As a result of the increasing demand for medicinal plants, most of which is still met by wild
collection, a constant pressure is created on existing resources, leading to continuous
depletion of some of the species in the forests, and at the Biodiversity and Conservation, at
same time forest land is losing its natural flora at an alarming rate – 1.5 m.ha. every year –
and what is left at present is only 8% against a mandatory 33% of the geographical area.
Survey reports also show that supplies of some of the medicinal raw materials are running
short in the pharmaceutical industries in India. To control the situation, various measures like
commercial cultivation, habitat conservation, setting up of natural reserves, implementation
of laws for restricting the export of plants, etc., have been taken up. Resource development
by cultivation and conservation of useful medicinal plants is, therefore, a matter of serious
concern. Initiatives have been taken in this respect at various Government and non-
Government sectors, and documentation of these works has become a necessary part of the
programme. With rapid advancement in information technology, storage and retrieval of data
using electronic devices are felt to be more useful than publishing in journals or books,
because this helps in speeding up the searching process for relevant material.

Medicinal plant conservation – Indian scenario

India has more than one fourth (8000) of the world’s known medicinal plant species
(30,000), of which 90% are found in forest habitats. Along with the awareness of the need for
biodiversity conservation, conservation of medicinal plants in particular is one of the most
burning issues faced today in India. Through conservation, plant species are preserved and
protected from various environmental hazards, including those caused by human interference.
6
This process also allows a plant’s natural regeneration in its own habitat. Conservation at the
site where plants occur naturally, i.e., ‘habitat conservation’ or ‘in situ conservation’, is the
most common method of conservation. In addition to this, with the help of advanced
technologies applied in conservation research, cultivation of germplasms away from their
original habitats has become a common practice. This method, known as ‘ex situ
conservation’, has gained significant importance because it is used for safeguarding species
that are at risk of destruction, replacement and genetic distortion. At present, about 10 million
hectares, i.e., 4.5% of the geographical area of India, are under the in situ conservation
programme which includes setting up of 2706 biosphere reserves, sanctuaries, national parks,
sacred groves and protected areas. The ex situ conservation programmes involve collection,
preservation, multiplication and dissemination of economically important, endemic, rare and
threatened species germplasms.

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 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

1. Problem of study:

The project deals with major problem in conservation of medicinal plants is that the modern
medicines are getting more interested in herbal medicinal plants, due to which there is rise in
demand of medicinal medicines in western world. Others factors lure in exploitation of
medicinal plants are urbanisation, pollution, habital destruction.

2. Rationale:

The basic reason for which I selected this problem is to create awareness about exploitation
of medicinal plants, which is increasing at an alarmimg rate. The urbanisation, exportation
and increase in large numbers of persons, who are using Indian medicinal plants to cure,
habital destruction and pollution, etc are some of major reasons for which conservation of
medicinal plants of India is necessary.

3. Objectives:

 To conserve the bio-diversity of Medicinal Plants.

 Encourage and support the sustainable cultivation and collection of medicinal plants
of good quality in ways that respect and support the conservation of medicinal plants
and the environment in general.
 To conserve globally and nationally significant medicinal plants, their habitats,
species and genomes and promote their sustainable use.

8
4. Review of Literature:

 Advances in Medicinal Plants:

by K. Janardhan Reddy (Author), Bir Bahadur (Author), B.
Bhadraiah (Author), M.L.N. (Eds.) Rao (Author)

Medicinal plants are nature's hidden and to a large extent unexplored treasure. Although they
have been used as a source of safe and effective medicine since time immemorial, this
potential resource has hardly been commercially tapped. India is endowed with about 8000
species of medicinal plants. Considering the current market size and future growth prospects,
there is a huge requirement for cultivation of medicinal plants in India. Medicinal plant
biodiversity, conservation and commercial exploitation offers promising avenues of self-
employment and business opportunities particularly in the rural areas preventing mass exodus
of manpower to cities. Advances in Medicinal Plants is a result of a national seminar held to
address challenging opportunities in the field of medicinal plants. The papers presented were
on a wide range of topics, including strategies for conserving medicinal plant biodiversity,
GIS mapping of medicinal plant diversity and cultivation of important medicinal crops.

 Conservation of Medicinal Plants:

by Olayiwola Akerele (Editor), Vernon Heywood (Editor), Hugh Synge (Editor)

Nearly all cultures, from ancient times to today, have used plants as a source of medicine. In
many developing countries, traditional medicine is still the mainstay of health care and most
of the drugs and cures used come from plants. In developed countries many people are
turning to herbal remedies. With this widespread use has come the assumption that plants
identified as having medicinal qualities will be available on a continuing basis. However no
concerted effort has been made to ensure this and in the face of the threats of increasing
demand, a vastly increasing human population and extensive forest destruction, there can be
no guarantee that we will continue to benefit indefinitely from this valuable resource. In light
of this situation the World Health Organisation held a meeting in 1988. This book is the
outcome of that meeting, detailing in a series of papers by leading experts the problems of
which need to be addressed, the existing experiences from a range of countries and the future
direction which must be taken to ensure the conservation of the world's medicinal plants.

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  Cultivation Of Medicinal Plants In Uttarakhand:

Ghayur Alam, Lucian Peppelenbos

Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 44, No. 10, pp. 99-104

Due to excessive extraction of medicinal plant species in high altitude areas, Uttarakhand has
seen a serious depletion of its biological resources. The state government has introduced
policies to promote the conservation of these species and encourage farmers to cultivate them
and supplement their incomes. This paper examines the impact of the Uttarakhand
government's promotional policies and also looks at a project that has built a supply chain to
cultivate these plants for export to Europe.

 Valuation Of Medicinal Plants For Pharmaceutical Uses:

Pushpam Kumar

Current Science Association, Vol. 86, No. 7, pp. 930-937

This paper attempts to review the literature and the emerging policy issues on valuation of
plant diversity for pharmaceutical uses. Some of the acclaimed valuation works done in the
last 15 years (1985–2000) have been considered for this purpose. Their methodologies have
been scrutinized, findings evaluated and policy recommendations examined. Since these
studies were meant to address different concerns, it is difficult to arrive at a general
conclusion. However, the value of a medicinal plant varies from $ 0.2 to $ 340 million per
annum. Conservation of biodiversity based on the benefits of medicinal plants or
bioprospecting is the subject of dissenting views. A conservation strategy on the basis of the
benefits of bioprospecting alone will need detailed area-specific study instead of a general
and large landscape valuation.

 Marketing Of Wild Medicinal Plants: Tribal Economy In India:

S. K. Datta ; Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 36, No. 38 , pp. 3598-3602

The extensive knowledge of medicine available from Indian forests lies only with the tribal
societies that inhabit such regions. Ensuring an end to the age-old exploitation of tribal
societies at the hands of intermediates and by the effective intervention of state governments
10
and NGOs, the tribal economy based on sale and production of wild medicinal plants can
truly thrive from its integration with the market economy.

 Conservation of medicinal plants of Western Ghats, India and its

sustainable utilization through in vitro technology

Peringattulli Narayanan Krishnan, S. W. Decruse, R. K. Radha

In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology. Plant, Vol. 47, No. 1, Biodiversity
, pp. 110-122

Climate change, alien species, and use of land for intensive farming and development are
causing severe threat to the plant genetic diversity worldwide. Hence, conservation of
biodiversity is considered fundamental and also provides the livelihoods to millions of people
worldwide. Medicinal plants play a key role in the treatment of a number of diseases, and
they are only the source of medicine for majority of people in the developing world. The
tropical regions of the world supply the bulk of current global demand for "natural medicine,"
albeit with increasing threat to populations in the world and its genetic diversity. India is a
major center of origin and diversity of crop and medicinal plants. India poses out 20,000
species of higher plants, one third of it being endemic and 500 species are categorized to have
medicinal value. The Western Ghats is one of the major repositories of medicinal plants. It
harbors around 4,000 species of higher plants of which 450 species are threatened. Currently,
the number of species added to the red list category in this region is increasing, and the
valuable genetic resources are being lost at a rapid rate. Demand for medicinal plants is
increasing, and this leads to unscrupulous collection from the wild and adulteration of
supplies.

5. Concepts And Variables:

Conceptual Variables are often expressed in general, theoretical, subjective or qualitative

terms. The research hypothesis is usually start at this level, for example here we have
conservation of medicinal plants in India. To measure conceptual variables, an objective
definition is often required. This may involve having an easily available validated instrument,
inferring an operational variable from theory, establishing consensus of all three.
11
6. Hypothesis:
With growing interest in medicinal plants, the need of the hour is a long term strategy to
conserve and sustainably harvest these plant products. With the increase in sophisticated
research facilities, and the growing interest of the western world in plant products, more and
more such discoveries will be made, leading to commercialisation and perhaps
overexploitation of the plants. Therefore, its sustainable or resource management is
necessary.

7. Nature Of Study:
Nature of study is descriptive and slightly analytical in nature.

8. Sources Of Data:
Data researched are secondary sources of data which include books, websites and articles.
The data base referred is not copied from any other source and genuine and if cited, the
authority has been properly cited.

9. Method Of Data Collection:

This project is based on descriptive Research, which included collection of materials from
library and nearby sources. It includes secondary data sources. This also includes web search.
This project work has been carried out following the descriptive analytical approach. The
sources of data used are secondary. It is largely based on the analysis of various articles and
books on the issue. At the same time, efforts have been made to study the relevance and effects
of these ideas themselves, trace their origins, analyze them from a neutral viewpoint and look at
their applicability. Books & other references as guided by faculty of Public International Law
were primarily helpful for the completion of this project.

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10. Time Limit:
I, Muskan Khatri, started working on this project from 1st March 2019 to 7th March 2019, so it
took me 7 total of days to complete the project research on the topic conservation of
medicinal plants in India.

11. Contribution :

My project would mainly aim at different undergraduate student and various faculty of
different colleges regarding subject concerned as this is a research based project where in I
have put my sole efforts and it will definitely help the law as wel as student of other colleges
to help cite the project or include some points from this research into theirs or various
websites can post blogs while including information on their website so it mainly focuses on
students teacher website managers and researchers.

12. Limitation Of Study:

The inclusion criteria of research is medicinal plants, its conservation or sustainable use. It
has detailed description of strategy of conservation, sustainable use or resource management,
consistent to three items consistently.

13. Chapterisation:

Chapter 1: NEED OF CONSERVATION OF MEDICINAL PLANTS IN INDIA.

Chapter 2: CONSERVATION STRATEGIES.
Chapter 3: RESOURCE MANAGEMENT.
Chapter 3: CONSERVATION: INITIATIVE BY UNDP AND GOVERNMENT OF
INDIA.

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 Chapter I

NEED OF CONSERVATION
With growing interest in medicinal plants, the need of the hour is a long term strategy to
conserve and sustainably harvest these plant products.

The use of medicinal plants in India and many other developing countries can be considered a
living tradition. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that the primary health
care needs of approximately 80 per cent of the developing world’s population are met by
traditional medicine. Traditional medicine systems range from the Ayurvedic, Unani, Siddha
and Tibetan in India, the Kampo in Japan, the Jamu in Indonesia, and many more. The
traditional systems of medicine largely depend on natural resources for their medicines, out
of which plants form the bulk of the medicine. The Natural Products Alert (NAPRALERT)
databases at the University of Illinois document the ethnomedicinal uses for more than 9,000
species1.

Plant use in traditional Indian health systems goes back a long way. Ancient medical texts
bear evidence of the use of plants for veterinary use, for plant health and also for textiles
(vegetable dyes), cosmetics and perfume. This kind of use is prevalent even today. The All
India Ethnobiology Survey carried out by the Ministry of Environment and Forests estimates
that over 7,500 species of plants are estimated to be used by 4,635 ethnic communities for
human and veterinary health care across the country (Foundation for the Revitalisation of
Local Health Traditions or FRLHT, 1997). A recent study of the codified medical texts of
Ayurveda reveal that approximately 1,700 species of plants are documented for their
medicinal properties and mode of action and over 10,000 herbal drug formulations are
recorded2. Rigorous inventories from the Unani, Siddha or the Tibetan medical systems also
would yield more information on plant use.

Medicinal plants like many other natural resources are doomed to extinction unless fire-
fighting measures are deployed. Why has the destruction of a resource that has been
traditionally utilised over the years suddenly accelerated? The reasons for this are many.

1
Jaya Vikas Kurhekar. Conservation of Biodiversity with Reference to Indigenous Herbal Therapeutic
Agents. Journal of Applied & Environmental Microbiology. 2014.
2
M Abdul Kareem; Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions, 1997.

14
In a complete turnaround, modern medicine is getting more interested in medicinal plant
therapies and as a result the demand for medicinal plant products in the western world is on
the rise. Drug laboratories are today analysing more and more plant products as remedies for
the ever growing list of diseases. Some of the existing major life saving drugs are plant
derived. Take the example of reserpine - a drug commonly used to control high blood
pressure and as an effective tranquiliser. Reserpine was isolated from the raw
plant Rauvolfia extract and used in western medicine in 1952. Interestingly, the powdered
root of Rauvolfia has been in use in India for at least 2,000 years to treat mental illness. This
root, 35 years since it gave the world its first tranquiliser, has become both medically and
economically extremely important. The US alone dispenses over 22 million prescriptions for
reserpine.

With the increase in sophisticated research facilities, and the growing interest of the western
world in plant products, more and more such discoveries will be made, leading to
commercialisation and perhaps overexploitation of the plants. There is also the fear that with
commercialisation there will be less left for local consumption.

Another threat medicinal plants face is that of habitat destruction. Under the Forest
(Conservation) Act, 1980 and the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, medicinal plants do get
some amount of protection. But a lot of medicinal plants grow away from the protected areas
domain and since there is no consolidated strategy for medicinal plants, a lot of them just
disappear without even the knowledge of it. Within protected areas also, the lack of a
focussed conservation strategy could cause a depletion of this valuable resource. Along with
this, is an increased threat to the availability of medical plants. Over 95 per cent of the
medicinal plants used by the Indian pharmaceutical industry are today collected from the
wild3. Over 70 per cent of the plant collections involve the use of roots, bark, wood, stem and
in some areas the whole plant, leading to destructive harvesting. If not carefully monitored,
this practice could lead to the depletion of genetic stocks and ultimately to the diversity of
medicinal plants.

With the onset of urbanisation and the lure of jobs to urban areas; also with the spread of
allopathic primary health care to remote rural areas, traditional knowledge is being lost and
traditional systems eroding. The loss of ethnobotanical knowledge in particular has also

3
id

15
accelerated the depletion of plants of medicinal value. Indigenous communities, because of
their intimate knowledge of the ecosystem and elements therein, knew how to harvest plants
while the species could maintain its population at natural or near natural levels and ensure
that the level of harvest will not change the species composition. With this loss of traditional
knowledge, we are fast losing the ethical means which ensure a sustainable harvest.

Threats to Medicinal Plants:

There are different primary and secondary factors that pose threat to many medicinal plants.
The threats are degradation of habitat due to expanding human activity, forest decline,
destructive collection of plant species, invasion of exotic species that compete with native
species, increased spread of diseases, industrialization, over exploitation, human
socioeconomic change and upheaval, changes in agricultural practices, excessive use of
agrochemicals, natural and manmade calamities, genetic erosion etc., In South India, it is
estimated that about 70-80 out of the estimated 300 medicinal plants are either endangered or
threatened. Hence, there is a necessity to strike a balance between conservation and
utilization of these medicinal plants4.

4
PE Rajasekharan, S Ganeshan, Conservation of medicinal plant biodiversity: an Indian perspective, Journal of
Tropical Medicinal Plants.
16
 Chapter II
CONSERVATION STRATEGIES

The two main strategies are ex situ (protection of species outside their natural habitats) and in
situ (in their natural surroundings) conservation. There is a need for coordinated conservation
efforts based on these strategies. More information is required on medicinal plant production,
utilization, trade, monitoring the stock of medicinal plants, development of sustainable
harvesting practices, preservation of traditional knowledge and intellectual property rights.
World Conservation Union (formerly known as the International Union for Conservation of
Nature and Natural Resources) categorized plants Red Data List Categories"5, based on the
detailed knowledge of the population dynamics and genetics of the species "viz., extinct,
extinct in wild, threatened (critically endangered, endangered and vulnerable) and low risk
(conservation dependent, near threatened and least concern) and indeterminate where the data
is insufficient. Conservationists focus their attention exclusively on species extinction rather
than genetic erosion within individual gene pools, and the latter may be of equal importance
in terms of loss of biodiversity6. Hence, it is imperative that viable strategies to conserve the
population and genetic resources of medicinally important species is a must to avoid further
loss. Ongoing efforts in India include both in situ and ex situ conservation measures viz, plant
tissue culture, introduction of new crop genetic resources, research in habitat restoration,
pollution abatement, seed storage and tissue banking etc7.

1. In Situ Conservation:
Most medicinal plants are endemic species, and their medicinal properties are mainly because
of the presence of secondary metabolites that respond to stimuli in natural environments, and
that may not be expressed under culture conditions89. In situ conservation of whole
communities allows us to protect indigenous plants and maintain natural communities, along

5
International Union For Conservation Of Nature(IUCN), The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 2015.
6
Volis S, Blecher M. Quasi in situ: a bridge between ex situ and in situ conservation of plants. Biodivers
Conservation.
7
id
8
Figueiredo MSL, Grelle CEV. Predicting global abundance of a threatened species from its occurrence:
implications for conservation planning. Divers Distrib.
17
with their intricate network of relationships10. Additionally, in situ conservation increases the
amount of diversity that can be conserved11, and strengthens the link between resource
conservation and sustainable use. In situ conservation efforts worldwide have focused on
establishing protected areas and taking an approach that is ecosystem-oriented, rather than

9
Coley PD, Heller MV, Aizprua R, Arauz B, Flores N, Correa M, Gupta M, Solis PN, Ortega-Barría E, Romero
LI, Gómez B, Ramos M, Cubilla-Rios L, Capson TL, Kursar TA. Using ecological criteria to design plant
collection strategies for drug discovery. Front Ecol Environ. 2003.
10
Gepts P. Plant genetic resources conservation and utilization: the accomplishments and future of a societal
insurance policy.
11
Forest F, Grenyer R, Rouget M, Davies TJ, Cowling RM, Faith DP, Balmford A, Manning JC, Proche S,
Bank M, Reeves G, Terry AJ, Savolainen V. Preserving the evolutionary potential of floras in biodiversity
hotspots. Nature. 2007.
18
species-oriented. Successful in situ conservation depends on rules, regulations, and potential
compliance of medicinal plants within growth habitats12.

1.1. Natural Reserves:

The degradation and destruction of habitats is a major cause of the loss of medicinal plant
resources. Natural reserves are protected areas of important wild resources created to
preserve and restore biodiversity. Around the world, more than 12,700 protected areas have
been established, accounting for 13.2 million km2, or 8.81 % of the Earth’s land surface.
Conserving medicinal plants by protecting key natural habitats requires assessing the
contributions and ecosystem functions of individual habitats13.

1.2. Wild nurseries:

It is impossible to designate every natural wild plant habitat as a protected area, owing to cost
considerations and competing land uses. A wild nursery is established for species-oriented
cultivating and domesticating of endangered medicinal plants in a protected area, natural
habitat, or a place that is only a short distance from where the plants naturally grow.
Although the populations of many wild species are under heavy pressure because of
overexploitation, habitat degradation and invasive species, wild nurseries can provide an
effective approach for in situ conservation of medicinal plants that are endemic, endangered,
and in-demand14.

2. Ex Situ Conservation:
Ex situ conservation is not always sharply separated from in situ conservation, but it is an
effective complement to it, especially for those overexploited and endangered medicinal
plants with slow growth, low abundance, and high susceptibility to replanting diseases. Ex
situ conservation aims to cultivate and naturalize threatened species to ensure their continued

12
Soule ME, Estes JA, Miller B, Honnold DL. Strongly interacting species: conservation policy, management,
and ethics. Bioscience.
13
Liu J, Linderman M, Ouyang Z, An L, Yang J, Zhang H. Ecological degradation in protected areas: the case
of Wolong Nature Reserve for giant pandas. Science.
14
Liu C, Yu H, Chen SL. Framework for sustainable use of medicinal plants in China. Zhi Wu Fen Lei Yu Zi
Yuan Xue Bao. 2011.
19
survival and sometimes to produce large quantities of planting material used in the creation of
drugs, and it is often an immediate action taken to sustain medicinal plant resources. Many
species of previously wild medicinal plants can not only retain high potency when grown in
gardens far away from the habitats where they naturally occur, but can have their
reproductive materials selected and stored in seed banks for future replanting15.

2.1. In Vitro Regeneration:

In vitro regeneration include plant/explant growth, maintenance under disease free condition,
retention of regenerative potential, genetic stability, and ensuring that there is no damage to
the live material. It offers a number of advantages over the in vivo method:

a) great savings in storage space and time

b) possibility of maintaining species for which seed preservation is impossible or unsuitable

c) disease-free transport and exchange of germplasm, since cultures are maintained under
phytosanitary conditions16

In vitro multiplication protocols for fast propagation of a number of red listed medicinal,
aromatic and recalcitrant taxa that are difficult to propagate through conventional means
would be very useful. Usually, shoot tips or axillary buds are cultured on a nutrient medium
containing

(i) high levels of cytokinins or

(ii) low concentrations of auxin coupled with high-cytokinin content. Somatic
embryos, or even axillary buds are encapsulated in hydrosoluble gels to form
'artificial seeds' and have used for rapid propagation of the species.

Even more important is the reintroduction of in vitro raised material into their natural habitat
and monitoring its performance over several years, to ensure fidelity with respect to active
compounds or the marker chemical, vis-a-vis the parents17.

15
Hamilton AC. Medicinal plants, conservation and livelihoods. Biodivers Conserv. 2004.
16
Siddique I and Anis M [2007a].In vitro shoot multiplication andplantlet regeneration from nodal explants of
Cassia angustifolia(Vahl.): A medicinal plant, Acta Physiol Plant.
17
id
20
The cell culture process itself can result in genetic changes in the regenerated plants. These
heritable genetic changes are termed as somaclonal variation. The presence of an
undifferentiated callus phase in the regeneration protocol enhances the chances for
somaclonal variation among the regenerated plants. These variations can result from simple
DNA sequence differences. The cell environment appears to induce a very high frequency of
such mutations. Other types of changes that frequently occur in regenerated plants could be
due to chromosomal, structural and number changes due to rearrangements in multi-gene
families, gene silencing due to changes in DNA methylation, action of jumping genes etc.
Hence, it is necessary to avoid the use of auxin and auxin like substances in the meristem
multiplication protocols. It is also mandatory to check the fidelity of the plants multiplied
from the meristem cultures and plants multiplied from cryo preserved meristems by using
RAPD markers.

2.2. Cryobanks For Conservation:

Cryopreservation of plant cells and meristems is an important tool for longterm storage of
germplasm or experimental material without genetic alteration using a minimum space and
maintenance. The development of methods to store apical meristems in liquid nitrogen
successfully is needed to aid in the conservation of genetic resources. Cryobanks are basically
meant for storage of germplasm. For longterm preservation, cryogenic storage at ultra low
temperatures under liquid nitrogen (- 150 to -196°C) is the method of choice. Relatively new
to plants, cryopreservation has followed advances made in the mammalian systems is
achieved either through slow cooling or vitrification. Encapsulation/dehydration is another
new technique that offers practical advantages. It is based on the technology originally
developed for production of synthetic seeds, i.e., somatic embryos encapsulated in a
hydrosoluble gel. Several types of in-vitro raised materials such as meristems/shoot tips, cell
suspensions, protoplasts, somatic embryos and pollen embryos of medicinal and aromatic
species have been studied from the cryopreservation perspective18.

2.3. Low Temperature Germplasm Storage:

Preservation by under-cooling has recently been applied to plant tissue cultures. The
objective of this approach is to maintain tissues at low temperatures (-10 to -20 °C) but in the

18
id
21
absence of ice crystallization. The plant tissues are immersed in immiscible oil and the
emulsion thus formed can be under cooled to relatively low temperatures thereby
circumventing ice formation, one of the most injurious consequences of low temperature
storage. Although good recovery has been reported in certain species, this 9 has only been
achieved using a temperature of -10° C and for relatively short storage periods (6-48 hours).
Recently, vitrification, simplified freezing, and encapsulation-dehydration methods have been
used for storage of valuable germplasm. These new procedures may replace freeze-induced
cell dehydration by removal of all or of a major part of freezable water from cells at room
temperature or at 0° C. In the encapsulationdehydration technique, extraction of water results
in progressive osmotic dehydration, additional loss of water is obtained by evaporation and
the subsequent increase of sucrose concentration in the beads. In the technique, preculturing
encapsulated meristems in medium enriched with sucrose before dehydration induces
resistance to dehydration and deep-freezing. The vitrification procedure for cryopreserving
meristems involves preculture and/or loading and osmotic dehydration by short exposure of
meristems to highly concentrated mixture of cryoprotectants. The encapsulation-dehydration
technique is easy to handle and alleviates dehydration process.

2.4. Seed Storage Modules:

Usually seeds, being natural perennating structures of plants, represent a condition of
suspended animation of embryos, and are best suited for storage. By suitably altering their
moisture content (5-8%), they can be maintained for relatively long periods at low
temperatures (-18 °C or lower). However, in several species, rhizome/bulb or some other
vegetative part may be the site of storage of active ingredients, and often, such species do not
set seed. If seeds set, they may be sterile or recalcitrant i.e., intolerant of reduction in
moisture or temperature, or, otherwise 10 unsuitable for storage. It is now possible to store
materials other than seed, such as pollen or clones obtained from elite genotypes/cell lines
with special attributes, in-vitro raised tissues/organs, or, genetically transformed material19.

19
Vines G [2004]. Herbal harvests with a future: Towards asustainable source for medicinal plants, Plant life
International.www.plantlife.org.uk.

22
 Chapter III

SUSTAINABLE USE OF MEDICINAL

PLANTS

1. Cultivation Practice:
Although wild-harvested resources of medicinal plants are widely considered more
efficacious than those that are cultivated, domestic cultivation is a widely used and generally
accepted practice20. Cultivation provides the opportunity to use new techniques to solve
problems encountered in the production of medicinal plants, such as toxic components,
pesticide contamination, low contents of active ingredients, and the misidentification of
botanical origin21. Cultivation under controlled growth conditions can improve the yields of
active compounds, which are almost invariably secondary metabolites, and ensures
production stability. Cultivation practices are designed to provide optimal levels of water,
nutrients, optional additives, and environmental factors including temperature, light and
humidity to obtain improved yields of target products22. Moreover, increased cultivation
contributes to decreases in the harvest volume of medicinal plants, benefits the recovery of
their wild resources, and decreases their prices to a more reasonable range.23

2. Good Agricultural Practices (GAP):

Good agricultural practices (GAP) for medicinal plants have been formulated to regulate
production, ensure quality, and facilitate the standardization of herbal drugs24. A GAP
approach ensures high quality, safe and pollution-free herbal drugs (or crude drugs) by
applying available knowledge to address various problems. GAP include comprehensive
items, such as the ecological environment of production sites, germplasm, cultivation,

20
Gepts P. Plant genetic resources conservation and utilization: the accomplishments and future of a societal
insurance policy. Crop Sci. 2006.
21
Raina R, Chand R, Sharma YP. Conservation strategies of some important medicinal plants. Int J Med
Aromat Plant. 2011
22
Liu C, Yu H, Chen SL. Framework for sustainable use of medicinal plants in China. Zhi Wu Fen Lei Yu Zi
Yuan Xue Bao. 2011
23
Hamilton AC. Medicinal plants, conservation and livelihoods. Biodivers Conserv. 2004.
24
Chan K, Shaw D, Simmonds MS, Leon CJ, Xu Q, Lu A, Sutherland I, Ignatova S, Zhu YP, Verpoorte R,
Williamson EM, Duezk P. Good practice in reviewing and publishing studies on herbal medicine, with special
emphasis on traditional Chinese medicine and Chinese materia medica. J Ethnopharmacol.
23
collection, and quality aspects of pesticide detection, macroscopic or microscopic
authentication, chemical identification of bioactive compounds, and inspection of metal
elements25. Many countries actively promote the implementation of GAP. For example,
Chinese authorities have promoted GAP for the growth of commonly used herbal drugs in
regions where those medicinal plants are traditionally cultivated26.

Organic farming has received increasing attention for its ability to create integrated, humane,
and environmentally and economically sustainable production systems for medicinal
plants2728. The aims of organic farming of medicinal plants include producing material with
better quality and high productivity, and ensuring the conservation and sustainable utilization
of those plants. The defining characteristic of organic farming is the non-use of synthetic
fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, which are not allowed according to many current
organic certification standards in Europe and North America29. Organic farming is benign to
the environment, and relies upon farm-derived renewable resources to maintain biological
processes of medicinal plants and ecological balance of habitates. The use of organic
fertilizers continuously supplies soil nutrients and improves soil stability, significantly
affecting the growth of medicinal plants and the biosynthesis of essential substances. For
example, when organic fertilizers were applied, the biomass yield of Chrysanthemum
balsamita was increased and its essential oil content was high relative to those free from
organic fertilizers30. Organic farming of medicinal plants is becoming increasingly important
in the long-term development and sustainability of medicinal plants.

3. Sustainable Use:
For medicinal plants with limited abundance and slow growth, destructive harvesting
generally results in resource exhaustion and even species extinction. Therefore, the
sustainable use of medicinal plants should be considered, and good harvesting practices must
be formulated. Root and whole-plant harvesting is more destructive to medicinal plants (e.g.
herbs, shrubs and trees) than collecting their leaves and flowers or buds. For herbal drugs
made of whole plants or roots, using their leaves as a remedy can be a benign alternative. For

25
Makunga NP, Philander LE, Smith M. Current perspectives on an emerging formal natural products sector in
South Africa. J Ethnopharmacol.
26
Ma J, Rong K, Cheng K. Research and practice on biodiversity in situ conservation in China: progress and
prospect. Sheng Wu Duo Yang Xing. 2012
27
Rigby D, Cáceres D. Organic farming and the sustainability of agricultural systems. Agr Syst.
28
Macilwain C. Organic: is it the future of farming? Nature.
29
Rigby D, Cáceres D. Organic farming and the sustainability of agricultural systems.
30
Suresh B. Organic farming: status, issues and prospects—a review. Agr Econ Res Rev.
24
example, Wang et al.31 discovered that extracts from ginseng leaf-stems and roots have
similar pharmacological activities, but ginseng leaf-stem has the advantage of being a more
sustainable resource.

31
Wang HW, Peng DC, Xie JT. Ginseng leaf-stem: bioactive constituents and pharmacological functions. Chin
Med. 2009.
25
 Chapter IV

CONSERVATION: INITIAVE BY
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA AND UNDP
India has a rich resource base of medicinal plants, plush with about 8,000
different species. According to the Government of India (GoI), traditional
medicines are the sole means of health care for about 65 percent of the
population.

This is the basis of the UNDP India and GoI initiative on ‘Conservation of Medicinal
Plants for Health and Livelihood Security’ – the need to revitalize local health
traditions. The project that began in December 2005 is being implemented in eight
states - Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, West Bengal,
Rajasthan and Orissa. The Foundation for Revitalization of Local Health Traditions
(FRLHT), in Bangalore, is the local partner. FRLHT has undertaken several efforts
through this initiative to ensure the strengthening of India’s traditional medicine
system. The revival was initiated by “building conservation through use”, in the words
of the Former Joint Director of FRLHT, Mr. Giridhar Kinhal.

“Traditional medicines are better. I have never taken English medicin es. Only if my
children repeatedly fall ill do I administer English medicines to them”, says Anjana
Devi, a resident of Suganahalli in Tumkur district of Karnataka. Now Anjana Devi
does not have to forage for the ingredients of traditional medicines; she c an easily
avail of the very same formulae at the local government Primary Health Centre (PHC).
PHCs usually only administer allopathic medicine. FRLHT is promoting traditional
medicines at 22 PHCs in Karnataka. These PHCs are operated through a Public -
Private-Partnership between the Government of Karnataka and a local NGO – the
Karuna Trust. The 22 PHCs were taken up by the Karuna Trust based on low health
indicators.

26
Promoting traditional medicines

Each of the 22 PHC areas, covering a radius of 3-5 km, and serving up to 30,000
people, was surveyed for common illnesses. From each individual survey, only the
most common 3-4 ailments were prioritized for the respective health centres.
Following were some of the criteria for the prioritization: illnesses affe cting women;
maximum of three days for cure and least number of days of wage loss. The traditional
formulae for the prioritized ailments were sanctioned by registered Ayurveda (another
Indian medicinal system) experts and practitioners. Now doctors at the PHCs have
been instructed by FRLHT and the Karuna Trust to offer patients the option of
traditional medicine for the selected ailments.

“Promoting traditional medicines through government health centres gives the Indian
medicinal heritage a status equal to allopathic medicine,” according to Dr. Venkat Rao
of the Karuna Trust. “Usually patients prefer allopathic medicines but they are willing
to try traditional medicines because of my recommendation. Once the traditional
medicine cures them, they are happy and recommends it to others in the community”,
says Dr. Rupa at the Suganahalli PHC.

Rangamma, is a health centre ‘arogyamitra’, which translates to ‘Health Friend’.

Arogyamitras have been deployed in each of the PHCs as part of the initiative. They
assist the doctor in administering traditional medicines. Ninety per cent of the
arogyamitras are women with some experience in traditional medicine. Rangamma’s
grandfather was a traditional healer and she has always been interested in the family
tradition. Placed in the Suganahalli PHC, she is a strong advocate for traditional
medicines: “I not only encourage patients coming to the PHC to use traditional
medicine; I also attend self-help group meetings to advocate this medicine. People
who didn’t use traditional medicines are opening up to the concept”.

Improved health care security

PHCs under the project also have demo gardens of medicinal plants and nurseries. The
arogyamitra tends to both, the garden and the nursery. Residents in the PHC area can
request for saplings from the nursery, which are provided free of cost. This promotes
home gardens thus strengthening the traditional medicinal system within families; also
strengthening the communities’ self-reliance in health care. Finally, to ensure that this
27
system is sustained through the communities and the local governance structures , a
knowledge register of the traditional medicines in the area is maintained at the
Panchayat (local government administration). Even as communities within the 22 PHC
areas have begun accepting traditional medicines more enthusiastically, partners such
as FRLHT are also working with the State Governments and Forest Departments in the
conservation of medicinal plants. Their efforts are promoting the further revitalization
of India’s traditional medicinal heritage. These initiatives, in the long -term, will
improve the health care security.

28
 CONCLUSION

In the modern world, human depend upon various applied science branches. It needs to study
the pure science for basic advanced research. In the last few centuries human totally faced
challenged of many uncurable diseases. These types of diseases are occurred by
environmental and artificial transformation. Many researchers try to find out the medicines,
but not get successful results to cure the diseases. The tribal people have the some sort of
medicines to overcome the problem on uncurable diseases. For the getting the type of
conserved and authenticate information, it is necessary collect from them. This unexplored
knowledge will come to our civilization world from collecting the data in ethnobotanical
survey.
This type of knowledge is helpful for innovative drug discovery. The observation and study
of local practitioners, they search for the various uncontrolled diseases. This type of diseases
will control by applying the various local weeds. These weeds occur in the civil society or
abundantly found in the forest in the rainy seasons. For their health care tribals were still
dependent on congenital knowledge, rendering a cheaper biological safe and alternative
accessible to the elevated cost pharmaceutical cures. The potential gain of plant deduced
medications constitute a honoring field of explore, in countries especially India in which
plant resources have a rich biodiversity of matched with a elevated preponderance and form
of infective diseases where of the biodiversity can be carried out by sustainable utilization.
Thus to preserve the traditional knowledge of this plant resources endemic in this area proper
documentation is important.
These types of plants collect and authenticate from authorized botanical agencies and try to
find out the new compounds with various solvent systems. These polar to non polar solvents
will extract sort of new compounds. This innovate the new drugs and this enormous store of
informations are being eroded as a result of human’s unsustainable action at present. The
rapid changes are just as irreversible as the release of species, the release of traditional
knowledge within culture undergoing. The various uses of plants before some of these plants
are eliminated from the field, or earlier these inhabitant changes over to modern remedies;
hence exertions should be made.

29
 REFERENCES

 Farnsworth, NR and DD Soejarto. 1991. Global Importance of Medicinal Plants.

Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
 Foundation for the Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions. 1997. Conserving a
National Resource. Need for a National Policy and National Programme on
Medicinal Plants Conservation Draft of Madras Consultation (unpublished)
 Jha, AK. Medicinal Plants : Poor Regulation Blocks Conservation. 1996.
Economic and Political Weekly. December 23, 1996. pp 3,270
 Srivastava, J, J Lambert, N Vietmeyer. 1995. Medicinal Plants. A Growing Role
in Development. The World Bank, Washington, DC

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