Development of Sustainable Strategies for Protection and Conservation of Medicinal Plants

This project is supported by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt. of India. The project is carried out in the tribal belt of Southern Rajasthan for the rural development with the aim to develop strategies for the protection and proper utilization of medicinal plants. IES employs indigenous techniques to sustain the local medicinal and aromatic gene pool with the goal to enhance the dissemination of information to tribal and local people regarding the conservation, protection, and marketing of medicinal plants.

Background and Objectives

The Indian Environmental Society, in association with the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt. of India is implementing a project on “Development of Sustainable Strategies for Protection and Conservation of Medicinal Plants in Tribal Belt of Southern Rajasthan for the Rural Development”. The project area lies in the South Western region of Rajasthan, the second largest state in India. Some of the districts included in the project are Udaipur, Dungarpur, Banswara, Chittorgarh, and Sirohi. The region has a large number of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MAPs), which have been conserved for ages by about 25 percent population of tribal people in the area. The area is mostly inhabited by tribal comprising ‘ meenas’, ‘garsiyas’, and ‘kathodis’. However, during the last few years the exploitation of these resources has increased incidentally, consequently causing extinction of many important species of medicinal plants. In this regard, IES initiated the present study with the goal of understanding the perception, knowledge of local people regarding MAPs and their methodology of harvesting and conservation and to promote future strategies for their conservation and sustainable use. IES employs indigenous techniques to sustain the local medicinal and aromatic gene pool. Through this project, an attempt has been made by the Society for sustainable utilization and conservation of Medicinal Plants growing in the tribal belt of Southern Rajasthan and also for the financial betterment of the tribals living there.

The objectives of the project are as follows:

• To identify medicinal plants used by rural and tribal people with their scientific names and features.
• To identify the details of medicinal plants in order to supply a comprehensive understanding to researchers, NGOs, health care workers, private companies, conservation and development agencies, policy makers and other interested stakeholders.
• To provide a proper framework and knowledge base about the sustainable utilization of medicinal plants for the development of tribals.
• To understand perception and knowledge of local community about medicinal plants and their different uses.
• To document the present harvesting and conservation practices followed by local people.
• To confirm the efficacy of these medicinal plants.

Achievements

The project staff has made an extensive survey in the project area and identified 58 local species of medicinal and aromatic importance. The Society has collected the related information on the existing medicinal plants, which has been compiled in the form of the booklet. The information has been collected from various sources on the work done on medicinal plants available in the five districts of the study area. This includes distribution, number of species and genera, economic values, present condition of Medicinal Plants etc. Research and survey of the project area has further helped in identification of some of the species of medicinal plants, which have existed in the area under threat of extinction and require immediate attention for implementation of conservation strategies. These species are being exploited on a large scale due to their greater contribution to medicinal and trade benefits. The Society has carried out a study in which information has been collected about their medicinal uses, distribution of the plants in the local areas of Udaipur, description of plants in the area. The techniques of preparing traditional medicines have been documented by expert taxonomists. The Society has also identified some of the threatened, vulnerable, and rare species of Medicinal Plants in Udaipur and at Phulwari ka Nal (a sanctuary located in Kotra Tehsil of Udaipur).

The Society has organized number of training programmes among community to create awareness among them regarding the importance of medicinal plants. During the training programmes, information has been disseminated to the local/tribal people on the various issues of their medicinal plants and has also helped in developing new technologies of cultivation, harvesting, etc. of the medicinal plants. IES also explores scope of cultivation and propagation of rare species of Medicinal importance.

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